5 Important Features of the Latest Android 9.0 Leave a comment

After Nougat and Oreo, Google’s new OS Android 9.0 Pie is here! As the newest version of a select group of smartphones, the latest Android is packed with amazing features. Similar to other Android versions, this delicious ‘Pie’ is stirring a lot of buzz. Every gadget-lover wants to know what Google will be offering now.

This post from RTC Electronics will answer several questions about the new Android 9.0 version. Take a look at the five important features!

1) New Gesture Navigation

Unlike the three navigation buttons, home, back and overview at the bottom of the screen, the new version offers gesture navigation system. The traditional buttons are replaced with a pill-shaped icon that moves. Instead of three separate buttons, you can use this single control for the functions you need. Tap it to go home, pull it up to open the app drawer, flick it up to view recently used apps and hold it down to active your Google Assistant. The back button appears whenever you open an app, however, the overview button disappears.

2) Digital Wellbeing

Digital Wellbeing is a collection of Google’s anti-smartphone addiction tools that enables your phone to work for you and not the other way around. It’s one of the major highlights of this latest version, as it helps limit the amount of time you spend on your smartphone. But, it’s in beta testing for a few users. For example, with the dashboard feature, you can see how much time you’re spending on your phone and in the apps. With the App Timer, you can set limits for specific apps and with the Do Not Disturb (DND) function, you can silence both audio and visual alerts.

3) Adaptive Battery and Brightness

Another feature of Android Pie that can make your smartphone more personalized is adaptive battery and brightness. This system learns your usage patterns, predicts which apps you will use in the next few hours, and directs the power to only those apps. Similarly, the artificial intelligence in your OS will automatically adjust the screen brightness by learning from your manual adjustments in different lighting environments. This is a customized touch that will help increase the battery life of your device.

4) Slices

Slices, as the name suggests, displays information about the app directly when you search it on Google. For example, if you type Uber in the Google search app, a small ‘slice’ of the Uber app will appear below the search suggestions. A preview of the time and price for the trip to your destination will also appear. This is a great improvement for Android, as it allows you to find results from the internet and from your device at the same time. You can now search for ‘data’ and expect relevant web results, while having quick access to your device’s mobile data settings. It is truly an interesting ‘slice’ of Pie.

5) Privacy

With each version of Android, Google is improving its security features to make your smartphone more secure and to prevent the risk of data breach. In Android 9, Google has revamped the way the OS handles background apps that have permission to access your device’s location, camera, microphone and network status. Now, these apps won’t be able to access this information when idling in the background, making it harder for other devices to steal your information or spy on you without your knowledge.

The latest version of Android is packed with several ‘tasty’ upgrades. Apart from the above-mentioned features, there are improvements that focus on enhancing the overall performance of your phone. Try the Android 9.0 today and let us know which part of the ‘Pie’ you liked the most. To learn more about the latest gadgets or find the best certified electronic accessories, contact RTC Electronics.