Few days ago Google unveiled the presentation of the first test version of the mobile platform «Android 13″, in which it stands out that a system interface for selecting photos and videos has been implemented, as well as an API to selectively grant the application access to selected files.
With that it is possible to work both with local files and with data hosted on cloud storage. One feature of the interface is that it allows you to provide access to individual images and videos without giving the app full access to view all media files in storage. Previously, a similar interface was implemented for documents.
Another of the changes that stands out that will be in Android 13 is that it was added a new Wi-Fi permission type which allows apps that scan for wireless networks and connect to hotspots to access a subset of the Wi-Fi management APIs, excluding location-based calling (previously, apps that connect to Wi-Fi were given and location information accessed).
In addition to this, it is highlighted that added an API to place buttons in the settings section at the top of the notification dropdown menu. Using this API, an app can issue a request to place its button with a quick action, allowing the user to add a button without leaving the app and without going to the separate settings.
Also word wrapping operation has been optimized (Separation of words that do not fit on the line using a hyphen). In the new version, transfer performance has been increased by 200% and now has almost no effect on rendering speed.
Moreover, added support for programmable graphics shaders (RuntimeShader objects) defined in the Android Graphics Shading Language (AGSL), which is a subset of GLSL adapted for use with the Android rendering engine. Similar shaders are already used on the Android platform itself to implement various visual effects, such as pulsing, blurring, and stretching when scrolling past the page boundary. Similar effects can now be created in apps.
The core Java libraries platform and application development tools upgraded to OpenJDK 11. The update is also available through Google Play for devices based on Android 12.
As part of the project mainline, which allows you to upgrade individual system components without upgrading the entire platform, new upgradeable system modules have been prepared.
The updates affect non-hardware components that are downloaded through Google Play separately from the manufacturer's OTA firmware updates. Among the new modules that can be updated through Google Play without updating the firmware are Bluetooth and Ultra wideband.
Of the other changes that stand out:
- Modules with Photo picker and OpenJDK 11 are also distributed through Google Play.
- Improvements have been made to building app interfaces for larger screens on tablets, multi-screen foldables, and Chromebooks.
- Simplified testing and debugging of new platform features. Changes can now be selectively enabled for apps in developer settings or through the adb utility.
- You can adapt the background of the icons of any application to the color scheme of the theme or the color of the background image.
- Added the ability to link individual language settings to applications that differ from the language settings selected in the system.
Finally if you are interested in knowing more about it, you can check the details in the following link
Android 13 is expected to be released in the third quarter of 2022. To evaluate the new features of the platform, a preliminary testing program has been proposed using firmware builds that are prepared for Pixel 6/6 Pro, Pixel 5/5a, Pixel 4/4 XL/4a/4a (5G) devices.