Android O Tipped to Bring Improved Notifications, Adaptive Icons, Picture-In-Picture Mode, More

In a new development, the upcoming features of Android O may have been leaked, and it may include revamped notifications, adaptive icons, picture-on-picture feature, automatic text copying, and more. If Google follows tradition, then Android O may be released at I/O only for developers to tinkle with, and the final version will be launched with the new Pixel devices later in the year.

As per a 9to5Google report, Android O will have improved notifications, however there's no detail on how the feature will be revamped. There is speculation that the new version will adopt the notification style that was part of Andromeda leaks last year, and if this is true, synced notifications and smarter ordering may be introduced.

Android O will also reportedly bring app icon badges for active notifications, which means that app icons will keep changing based on notifications. The icons are also expected to be adaptive, which means that the Calendar app icon will keep changing based on the date. The update could also bring iOS style notification badges as well.

The big feature reported is the picture-in-picture mode that essentially lets a video float in a small window while you multi-task away on other apps, similar to what was introduced on Android TV last year. Another big feature is the 'smart text selection floating toolbar with Assistant integration' which sounds a lot like the Copy Less feature leaked last month. With this feature, users will not be required to go through the process of copying and pasting but would rather get the text as a suggestion automatically.

Another vague feature is 'restricted background activities' from apps like Chrome 57, and this may have more to do with increasing battery life by reducing usage of power by background running apps. Chrome 57 introduced stricter throttling that result in 25 percent less busy background tabs recently. Lastly, the report states that the MediRecorder API will also be improved, and that there will be 'tons of enterprise stuff' with Android O as well.