Today`s hot topic, everyone wanted to know, what will the next step of android, If we piece together
some of the rumors swirling around what Android 4.4 will entail and combine it
with what we know about how Google has been updating Android and its pertinent
features over the last year, we get a pretty good idea.
It leads us to a new
Android experience. What some people are calling “the Google Experience.”
Waiting For The Big Android Update
Android 4.4 KitKat is
expected to be announced by the end of October. The hype cycle is beginning to
hit full tilt as stream of leaks and rumors illuminate what Google will unveil
the next version of Android and the flagship smartphone that will accompany it,
the Nexus 5.
KitKat will be the first
new named version of Android in more than a year since Jelly Bean 4.1 was
introduced at Google’s I/O developer conference in the spring of 2012. Google
has offered up two updates to Android since then—versions 4.2 and 4.3—that have
both been rolled up in the Jelly Bean moniker. Now that Google is almost ready
to unveil the “K” desert version of Android (Google normally names each new
version of the operating system after sweet treats in alphabetical order),
users, developers, manufacturers and consumers are expecting a lot.
The last two versions of
Jelly Bean haven’t given us a ton to be excited about. The biggest feature in
version 4.3 was the integration of Bluetooth Low Energy to the Android hardware
specification along with OpenGL for Embedded Systems. These are good updates
for app developers out there but leave much to be desired for users that are
looking for a fresh coat of paint and improved user experience.
The Google Experience
In that vein, the rumor
mill points towards a major feature that will change some of the fundamental
usability of Android: the “Google Experience.”
The Google Experience
Launcher is rumored to be a hub launcher for Google apps and widgets on Android
devices. Google Experience will be a form of launcher within Android that will
not be tied specifically to version 4.4 KitKat but will rather be an app
through the Google Play app store that will be compatible with devices running
Android back to version 2.2 Froyo.
A launcher is also known
in general terms as a “skin” but the terms are not mutually exclusive. The
Google Experience Launcher is rumored by the blog Android Police to be a widget that live on the
Android homescreen in which Google features like Search and Google Now are
heavily integrated, can read the data within the widget and update itself. A
launcher would also control aspects such as app folders and homescreens (which
are rumored to be infinite instead of limited to five as they are in current
builds of Android).
What would Google
Experience mean for Android users? Speculation is that KitKat 4.4 will enable
support for lower-end Android devices. Google Experience would likely be the
vehicle for that.
If you have been
following the evolution of Android as an operating system, you will note that
the Google has made some pretty significant changes to how Android works on a
smartphone. In the past, Google used to tie almost all of the functionality of
its own apps to the Android kernel. That meant developers and consumers would
need a certain version of Android to get new features. Wanted the latest update
to the Google Play app store (formerly Android Market)? You needed to update
your Android software. How about the latest APIs and user interface in Google
Maps and Navigation? Update Android. Gmail, Calendar, Talk (now Hangouts) or
any other Google service? It was tied to the Android kernel.
Google changed all of
that with the release of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, decoupling its own apps from
the Android operating system. Instead of being tied to Android, features and
APIs like Maps either stand alone as their own apps that live in the Google
Play store and/or are tied to what is called Google Play Services.
Google Experience As A Front-End Extension Of Google Play Services
Google Play Services is
what is known in the computing world as a “shim.” Here is the definition of a
shim, from Wikipedia:
In computer
programming, a shim (from shim) or shiv is a small library that transparently
intercepts an API and changes the parameters passed, handles the operation
itself, or redirects the operation elsewhere. Shims typically come about when
the behavior of an API changes, thereby causing compatibility issues for older
applications which still rely on the older functionality. In such cases, the
older API can still be supported by a thin compatibility layer on top of the
newer code. Web polyfills are a related concept. Shims can also be used for
running programs on different software platforms than they were developed for.
In Android, Google Play
Services is a stand-alone app that runs in the background. It updates itself
with functionality directly from Google without the user doing anything. It
downloads its own code and enacts its own functionality. For example, if there
is an update to the Google Play Store or Maps, it is downloaded and implemented
through Google Play Services.
If the Google Experience
is really going to be a primary feature in KitKat 4.4, as the rumors say it
will, then what Google is doing is giving Google Play Services a front-end user
interface for Android devices.
By extension, the Google
Experience can be transported back to older versions of Android. If we look at
the definition of a shim in that, “the older API can still be supported by a
thin compatibility layer on top of the new code” then it is possible for Google
to bring just about all of the Android features and functionality that are not
explicitly tied to hardware back to any phone running a previous version of
Android.
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