Google Releases First Preview of Android 14 – Here’s What’s New

Google has released the first developer preview of Android 14, offering the first hints of what’s to come with this year’s major operating system update.

The preview, which is not intended for consumers and is released so that developers can begin the process of updating their apps, suggests that Android 14 will have a few overarching priorities. These include better support for larger screen sizes and improved battery optimization. , accessibility and user safety.

In a post on Android Developer BlogGoogle says Android 14 will continue Android 12L and 13 with improved support for foldable devices and tablets. This preview includes additional tools to help developers build apps that easily adapt to different screen sizes.

“With every release, our goal is to make it easier for you to optimize your app across all Android platforms,” says Android Chief Engineer Dave Burke.

Google is also focusing on improved customization with an accessibility feature whereby users will be able to scale their text up to 200% (was 130%), which will be helpful for people with visual impairments.

Android 14 will also try to optimize app backgrounds, which users should see benefits when it comes to battery life. For example, a developer can provide background work when users are connected to Wi-Fi.

The company is also working on a new Grammatical Inflection API that will allow app developers to add support for languages ​​in which sentences change based on grammatical gender. For example, the translation of the phrase: “You are subscribed to …” into French.

To provide a similar phrase in French, there are several options:

Masculine form: “Vous êtes abonné à…” (English: “You are following…”)
Form with a feminine bias: “Vous êtes abonnée à…” (English: “You are following…”)
Neutral wording to avoid kinks: “Abonnement à…activé”

“Today we are releasing the first developer preview of Android 14, and your feedback in these previews is an important part of making Android better for everyone,” says Burke. “Android 14 continues our work to improve your productivity as developers, along with performance, privacy, security, and customization improvements. This preview is just the beginning, and as we move through the release cycle, we’ll have a lot more information.”

Of course, this is just the beginning for Android 14. We will start to see some features for users in future releases and certainly in the spring when public previews become available.