IT House News on December 9th, in October’s Android At the Developer Summit, Google emphasized the growth of large-screen devices such as tablets, foldable devices, and Chromebooks, and how to use the new Jetpack API, tools and guidelines to make it easier for developers to build a good application experience for these devices .Google also released Android 12The developer preview version of L. This is an Android 12 feature update designed for large screens.

Android Developer Summit

https://developer.android.google.cn/events/dev-summit

3 key points for Android to adapt to the big screen

https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2021/11/android-developer-summit-21-large-screens.html

Android 12L

https://developer.android.google.cn/12L

IT Home is informed that through 12L, Google optimized and polished the system interface for the large screen, making multitasking more powerful and intuitive, and improved compatibility support, so that the application has a better visual effect by default. 12L also provides developers with some new APIs, such as spatial audio and improved drag-and-drop operations, to create a better large-screen experience.

Today, Google officially released the first Beta version of Android 12L for everyone to test the application and submit feedback, so as to prepare for the feature update released early next year. You can set up the Android emulator in Android Studio to try out the new big screen features. Android 12L is also available for mobile phones, just register to participate in the test, you can get Android 12L Beta 1 on supported Pixel devices. If you have participated in the Android 12 Beta test, you will automatically get the 12L update. Google cooperates with Lenovo, so that you can also experience Android 12L on the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro tablet.

Get Android 12

https://developer.android.google.cn/about/versions/12/get

Participate in beta testing

https://www.google.com/android/beta

Android 12L Beta 1 content at a glance

The Beta 1 version released today includes improvements to functionality and user experience, the latest bug fixes and optimizations, and the December 2021 security patch. For developers, Google completed the API early, so Beta 1 also includes the official version of Android 12L API (API level 32), updated build tools, and system images for testing. You can use these to test the performance of the application in the various functions of Android 12L.

In Android 12L, Google focuses on improving the user interface on large-screen devices, including notifications, quick settings, lock screen, overview, home screen, and so on. For example, in a screen with a width of more than 600dp, the notification bar, lock screen, and other system interfaces will adopt a new two-column layout to make full use of the screen area.

△ Two-column layout can display more content and is easier to use

Multitasking is also more powerful and intuitive-Android 12L provides a new taskbar on the big screen, allowing users to switch to favorite applications at any time, or drag and drop applications to Split Screen Mode. Please keep in mind that in Android 12 and later versions, users can launch any app in split-screen mode, regardless of whether the app is declared to be resizable or not. So be sure to test your app in split screen mode!

△ Drag and drop the app to split screen mode

Test your app in split screen mode

https://developer.android.google.cn/about/versions/12/12L/summary#what-to-test

Finally, by improving the visual effects and stability of the compatibility mode, Google brings a better black border mode experience to users and helps apps look better by default. If your application has not been optimized for large screens, please test its performance in the new black border mode:

https://developer.android.google.cn/about/versions/12/12L/summary#what-to-test

More APIs and tools to help build large screens

Google’s newly launched APIs and tools can make it easier to create a smooth experience for users when you optimize applications for large screens:

Material mode for large screens-The new Material design guide can help you expand the application interface on screens of all sizes:

https://m3.material.io/foundations/adaptive-design/overview

Jetpack Compose that supports adaptive interface-Jetpack Compose allows you to easily handle interface changes in different screen sizes or components. Please learn the basics of this by building an adaptive layout guide in Compose:

https://developer.android.google.cn/jetpack/compose/layouts/adaptive

Window size classification used to manage the user interface-Window Size Classes is a set of opinion guidelines based on window size as classification (called “breakpoints”), which helps simplify design, development and testing. Adjustable The size of the application layout. This API will be launched in Jetpack WindowManager 1.1 soon.

Window size classification

https://developer.android.google.cn/guide/topics/large-screens/support-different-screen-sizes#window_size_classes

WindowManager

https://developer.android.google.cn/jetpack/androidx/releases/window

Activity Embedding-Through the Activity Embedding API, you can use the extra display area on the big screen to display multiple activities at once, so as to achieve a “list-detail” layout mode, and there is almost no need (or only a small amount) to refactor the application. This API is available in Jetpack WindowManager 1.0 Beta 03 and later versions.

Activity Embedding API

https://developer.android.google.cn/guide/topics/large-screens/activity-embedding

WindowManager

https://developer.android.google.cn/jetpack/androidx/releases/window

Visual lint tool in Android Studio-A new visual lint tool is provided in Android Studio Chipmunk, which can actively give interface warnings and suggestions in Layout Validation to help you identify the layout of the large screen potential problems:

https://developer.android.google.cn/studio/preview

Adjustable size emulator-This is a new emulator configuration launched with Android Studio Chipmunk, allowing you to quickly switch between four reference devices (mobile phone, foldable device, tablet, and desktop) for easy testing .

Be sure to check out the big screen developer resources prepared by Google to learn more about these and more APIs and tools:

https://developer.android.google.cn/about/versions/12/12L#optimize-for-large-screens

Start experiencing Android 12L on your device!

The Android 12L feature update will be officially released early next year, and now it’s time to start optimizing your application for the big screen. For developers, Google strongly recommends to check the working conditions of your application in split-screen mode with windows of various sizes. If you haven’t optimized the app, please check its visual effects in different screen orientations and try the new compatibility mode (if applicable).

To start using the large screen function, the easiest way is to use the foldable device or tablet setup of the Android emulator. Please refer to the complete setup instructions:

https://developer.android.google.cn/about/versions/12/12L/get

You can also flash Android 12L into a large-screen physical device. Google and Lenovo have partnered to allow you to experience the preview version of Android 12L on the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro. Currently, Lenovo provides a developer preview version 1, which will be updated in the next few weeks.

Android 12L will also run in mobile phones. Although the large-screen feature will not appear in small-screen devices, Google also welcomes you to experience the latest improvements in this feature update. Just complete the registration with a supported Pixel device, and you can get the latest Android 12L Beta version via OTA update. If you have participated in the Android 12 Beta test, you will automatically get the 12L update.