Google’s Android operating system has long been lauded as a beacon of open-source collaboration. However, recent years have witnessed a shift in Google’s development approach, leading to a seemingly paradoxical situation: Android development becoming increasingly private, while the project remains fundamentally open source.

This shift raises questions about transparency, community involvement, and the future of Android’s open nature. How can a project be both privately developed and publicly open?

The AOSP Foundation: Openness at its Core

Android’s open-source nature is rooted in the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). This repository contains the core Android operating system, freely available for anyone to download, modify, and distribute. This openness has fostered a vibrant ecosystem of developers, device manufacturers, and custom ROM creators, contributing to Android’s widespread adoption.

The Rise of Private Development:

However, Google’s internal development of Android has become increasingly centralized and private. This is manifested in several ways:

• Closed-door development of key features: Google often develops major Android features and updates internally before releasing them to AOSP. This allows them to control the direction of the platform and ensure a consistent user experience on Pixel devices.
• Delayed AOSP releases: The latest Android source code is often released to AOSP after Google has already rolled out updates to its Pixel devices. This delay limits the ability of other manufacturers and developers to quickly integrate new features.
• Increased reliance on Google Play Services: Core functionalities like location services, push notifications, and app updates are handled by Google Play Services, a proprietary component that is not part of AOSP. This gives Google significant control over the Android experience.
• Focus on Project Mainline: Project Mainline, while providing security updates through the play store, increases the separation of core android functionality from AOSP.

The Rationale Behind Private Development

Google’s rationale for this approach is multifaceted:

• Ensuring platform consistency: By controlling the development of key features, Google aims to provide a uniform and high-quality user experience across Android devices, particularly on its own Pixel line.
• Enhancing security: Centralized development allows Google to quickly address security vulnerabilities and roll out updates, protecting users from potential threats.
• Driving innovation: Developing features in-house allows Google to experiment and innovate without the constraints of public collaboration.
• Commercial benefits: Google is a business. Controlling the development allows it to provide features and services that encourage the use of google services, and thus, increase revenue.

The Implications for Open Source

While Android remains technically open source, the shift towards private development has raised concerns:

• Reduced community influence: The delayed AOSP releases and closed-door development limit the ability of the open-source community to contribute to the platform’s evolution.
• Fragmentation concerns: While google tries to reduce this, the separation of google play services from AOSP leads to a fragmentation between AOSP android, and the google services enriched android.
• Potential for vendor lock-in: The reliance on Google Play Services can create a dependency on Google’s proprietary ecosystem, potentially hindering device manufacturers and developers who wish to create alternative Android distributions.
• Transparency issues: The increased privacy of development can lead to a lack of transparency, making it difficult for the community to understand the rationale behind certain design decisions.

The Balancing Act:

Google faces a delicate balancing act: maintaining the benefits of open source while ensuring platform consistency and driving innovation. The company’s strategy suggests a move towards a “controlled open source” model, where it retains significant control over the platform’s direction while still allowing for community contributions.

The future of Android’s open-source nature will depend on how Google navigates this balancing act. Whether the community can adapt to this new model, and whether Google will continue to provide meaningful contributions to AOSP, remains to be seen.

Google has officially unveiled Android 15, the latest iteration of its popular mobile operating system. This new update promises to bring a host of exciting features and enhancements, designed to elevate the user experience and keep Android at the forefront of mobile technology.

As against earlier versions of Android, Google has deviated from the trend of launching Android 15 on the Pixel devices first. Initially, it is available to developers and beta users, with a broader rollout expected soon. The source code has been made available on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), allowing developers to dive into the new features and start optimizing their apps.

Key Features

• Satellite Connectivity Support: Android 15 extends platform support for satellite connectivity, ensuring users stay connected even in remote areas
• Auracast Audio Sharing: This feature allows users to share audio with nearby Bluetooth LE Audio streams, enhancing the sharing experience
• High-Quality Webcam Mode: Transform your Android device into a high-quality webcam, perfect for video calls and streaming
• Enhanced Foldable Support: Improved continuity features and better cover screen support for foldable devices
• Persistent Taskbar: For large-screen devices, Android 15 introduces a persistent taskbar, making multitasking more efficient
• Health Connect: A new feature that integrates health data from various apps, providing a comprehensive view of your health metrics
• User Experience Improvements: Android 15 brings several user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) improvements. These include a refined brightness slider, partial screen recording, and better optimization for edge-to-edge displays. The new notification cooldown feature helps manage notifications more effectively, reducing distractions
• Improved Performance and Battery Life: Google has optimized Android 15 to deliver smoother performance and extended battery life. This means you can enjoy a more responsive and efficient user experience, without worrying about your device running out of juice.

Release Date and Availability

While Google has not announced an exact release date for Android 15, it is expected to be available to the public later this year. Initially, the update will likely be rolled out to flagship devices from major manufacturers, followed by a wider rollout to other compatible devices.

Get started with Android 15

If you have a supported Pixel device, you will receive the public Android 15 over the air update when it becomes available. If you don’t want to wait, you can get the most recent quarterly platform release (QPR) beta by joining the Android 15 QPR beta program at any time.

In a move long awaited by Android users, Google has finally launched its revamped Find My Device network. This new feature offers a significant boost in lost device recovery, bringing Android closer to Apple’s “Find My” functionality.

During the Google IO 2023 event , Google had announced that it will soon be enhancing the find my device funcitonality of Android devices, so the device owner will be able to find the device, no matter it is online or even when the battery is dead. The Find My Device network ensures that location data is encrypted, so your info is for your eyes only.

Key Features of the New Find My Device:

• Find Lost Devices Even When Offline: Unlike previous iterations, the upgraded network can locate your missing Android device even if it doesn’t have an internet connection. This is achieved through Bluetooth proximity detection, similar to Apple’s system. With more Android devices out there, Google’s network has the potential to be even more powerful.
• Pixel 8 Gets Special Treatment: Owners of the latest Pixel phones, the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, get an extra layer of security. Google has implemented “specialized hardware” that allows these devices to be tracked even when powered off.
• Proximity Alerts Guide You There: A new “Find Nearby” feature utilizes Bluetooth signals to give you real-time guidance as you approach your lost device. No more wandering around blindly – the closer you get, the stronger the signal.
• Track More Than Just Phones (Coming Soon): In May, Google plans to expand Find My Device to include compatibility with third-party Bluetooth tracker tags. This means you’ll be able to locate frequently misplaced items like keys, wallets, or luggage with ease. Additionally, these tags will work with a new “unknown tracker alert” system across both Android and iOS devices, offering an extra layer of security against unwanted tracking.

Security and Privacy Remain a Priority:

Google emphasizes that user privacy is paramount. The Find My Device network utilizes end-to-end encryption for location data and employs aggregated device location reporting to prevent individual user tracking.

This upgrade to Find My Device is a welcome addition for Android users, offering much-needed peace of mind and improved lost device recovery capabilities. With its vast user base and potential for future expansion, Google’s Find My Device network has the potential to become a major player in the lost item tracking landscape.

To keep iPhone users from being tracked without their knowledge using this new network, Google worked with Apple to create an industry specification that lets both ‌iPhone‌ and Android users get alerts about nearby unknown item trackers regardless of the brand of the tracking device. Google waited until Apple implemented support for third-party tracker alerts to launch its network, based on code found in iOS 17.5.

Mercedes-Benz is developing its own operating system, called MB.OS, which will be used in all of its vehicles starting in 2024. MB.OS is based on Linux and is designed to be more flexible, scalable, and secure than the current operating systems used by Mercedes-Benz. It will also be able to receive over-the-air updates, which will allow Mercedes-Benz to improve the functionality of its vehicles over time.

MB.OS is a key part of Mercedes-Benz’s transformation to a “software-defined car”. The company believes that software will play an increasingly important role in the future of automotive, and MB.OS is essential to its ability to deliver innovative and personalized experiences to its customers.

• Flexibility: MB.OS is designed to be flexible enough to be used in a variety of vehicles, from small cars to large SUVs. It is also designed to be scalable, so that it can be used in vehicles with different levels of complexity.
• Security: MB.OS is designed to be secure against cyberattacks. It uses a number of security features, such as encryption and authentication, to protect the data and systems in the vehicle.
• Over-the-air updates: MB.OS will be able to receive over-the-air updates. This means that Mercedes-Benz will be able to improve the functionality of its vehicles over time without requiring customers to take their vehicles to the dealership.
• A more intuitive user interface
• Enhanced connectivity
• Improved artificial intelligence
• ADAS: Advanced driver-assistance systems

MB.OS is a significant development for Mercedes-Benz and the automotive industry as a whole. It is a sign of the growing importance of software in the automotive industry, and it is likely to have a major impact on the way cars are designed, developed, and used in the future.

MB.OS will be set against an already established market full of competitors, some using generic OS, like Android Automotive, Android Auto, Apple CarPlay and CentOS Automotive , tuned for automative industry, while some other manufacturers like Tesla have their own custom OS like Tesla OS.

The automotive operating system market is still in its early stages of development, and it is likely to be a very competitive market in the years to come. The companies that are able to develop the most innovative and user-friendly operating systems are likely to be the most successful in this market.

MB.OS is still under development, but it is clear that it has the potential to revolutionize the automotive industry. It is a key part of Mercedes-Benz’s vision for the future of mobility, and it is sure to play a major role in the way we drive in the years to come.

Google IO 2023 started with CEO Sundar Pichai’s keynote. The key announcements include Google Pixel Fold, Pixel Tablet, Pixel 7a, Android 14 and lots and lots of AI announcements. You can watch the complete keynote here…

Google Search

Undoubtedly Google’s most successful product, search is at the very core of Google’s mission. Google Search will be getting 2 new features.

Bringing Google’s generative AI Bard to its search platform, Generative AI capabilities in Search will help you when deciding what to buy. It taps into Google’s Shopping Graph, the world’s most comprehensive dataset of constantly-changing products, sellers, brands, reviews and inventory.

With the new generative AI experience in Search, you’ll get even more from a single search. You’ll be able to quickly make sense of information with an AI-powered snapshot, pointers to explore more and natural ways to ask.

What’s new from Android

Large-screen Android devices will be better than ever with more than 50 Google apps have been optimized for large screens, including Gmail, Photos and Meet. And your favorite apps like Spotify, Minecraft and Disney+ look beautiful and feel intuitive on larger screens.

With the foldables becoming the driving force to revive the tablets market, Google has been focusing on improving the Android experience on tablets.

The next screen real estate getting popularity is the smart watch market. Wear OS has grown over five times since the launch of Wear OS 3 in 2021, and it is the fastest-growing smartwatch platform in the world. Developers are investing in the platform as well. Soon, WhatsApp is bringing their first-ever smartwatch app to Wear OS, and more great experiences are coming this year from Gmail, Calendar and more.

Bringing the power of generative AI to Android, soon, you’ll be able to give your compose-itions an extra spark of personality. Magic Compose, a new Messages feature powered by generative AI, will help you transform your text message to your desired vibe before you hit send.

Pixel 7a

Pixel 7a, the next generation Pixel phones, is powered by Google’s Tensor G2 chip, 8GB RAM, 6.1 inch screen, a much larger camera sensor and will be going on sale today at the Google Store for $499. As a launch offer, Google is giving away their PixelBuds A-Series free of cost for a limited time!

Pixel Tablet

Large screens still have a lot of potential. PixelTablet is built to deliver uniquely helpful experiences—11 inch display, AI powered Google Tensor G2 chip, amazing battery life and a completely reimagined docking stand!

When the Pixel Tablet is in the docked or as Google calls it, in the hub mode, it turns into a digital photo frame and a voice assisted smart home controller.

Pixel Fold

One of the big announcements, unveiling the foldable Pixel phone. It’s also quite thin while folded, at 12.1 millimeters, the hinge is a big part of that. This is 180-degree fluid friction hinge, which means that you can put it to any place you want.

PixelFold is the thinnest foldable on the market. Comes with and expansive 7.6-inch immersive display and a 5.8-inch front display.

The device houses a three-camera system: a 48-megapixel main, 10.8-megapixel ultrawide and a 10.8-megapixel telephoto with 5x optical Zoom and 20x Super Res Zoom. The front-facing camera, meanwhile, is 9.5 megapixels. Is a IPX8 water-resistant design.

The real secret sauce in the Pixel Fold experience is, unsurprisingly, the software. The app continuity when switching between the external and internal screens is quite seamless, allowing you to pick where you left off as you change screen sizes. Naturally, Google has optimized its most popular third-party apps for the big screen experience, including Gmail and YouTube.

The system is powered by the same Tensor G2 chip you’ll find in the Pixel 7, 7a and Pixel tablet.

Starting at $1799, this ultra-premium device combines personal AI, Google Tensor G2, and innovation for a Pixel smartphone that unfolds into an incredible compact tablet. Google is giving away free Pixel Watch for limited time pre-orders!

Find my device, even when offline

Currently, Find My Device helps you locate misplaced devices that have location capabilities and are connected to the internet. However, Google will be launching a refreshed Find My Device experience that makes it easier than ever to locate your devices and belongings quickly and securely by ringing compatible devices or viewing their location on a map in the app – even when they’re offline.

The new Find My Device network will harness over a billion Android devices across the world to help you locate your missing belongings like headphones, tracker tags, or even your phone via Bluetooth proximity.

RCS adoption

When you are texting in a group chat, you shouldn’t have to worry about what kind of phone everyone is using – sharing high-quality images and video, seeing typing notifications and staying protected with end-to-end encryption should just work. Out with the old (SMS & MMS) and in with the new. RCS is a modern standard that provides end-to-end encryption and supports high quality videos and photos in texts. There are now over 800 million people with RCS, on the way to 1 billion by the end of the year.

Bard – Conversational AI from Google

Bard lets you collaborate with generative AI. Google is not only removing its waitlist for Bard and making it available, in English, in over 180 countries and territories, but it’s also launching support for Japanese and Korean with a goal of supporting 40 languages in the near future.

As a creative and helpful collaborator, Bard can supercharge your imagination, boost your productivity, and help you bring your ideas to life—whether you want help planning the perfect birthday party and drafting the invitation, creating a pro & con list for a big decision, or understanding really complex topics simply.

Bard will soon become more visual in a couple of helpful ways. Bard will incorporate relevant images in its responses. It’ll also become easy for you to prompt Bard with images, giving you even more ways to explore and create.

Google Maps

Google Maps unveiled a new “Immersive View for Routes” feature in select cities. The new feature brings all of the information that a user may need into one place, including details about traffic simulations, bike lanes, complex intersections, parking and more. You can even see air quality, weather and traffic.

PaLM 2

PaLM – Pathways Language Model from Google, a 540-billion parameter, dense decoder-only Transformer model trained with the Pathways system. PaLM 2 will power Google’s updated Bard chat tool, the company’s competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and function as the foundation model for most of the new AI features the company is announcing today.

Sec-PaLM, introduced last month, is trained on security intelligence and powers new Google Cloud offerings that help organizations and security analysts detect, understand and defend against threats.

Med-PaLM 2 can help answer questions and summarize insights from a variety of dense medical texts.

Workspace

From the very beginning, Google Workspace was built for collaborating in real time with other people — and now you can also collaborate in real time with AI!

These new Workspace features can help you turn ideas into action. Simply describe what you’re trying to accomplish, and Google Sheets will generate a plan that helps you get organized.

New AI tools in can help you level up your Slides presentations. Simply pick a slide and use a simple text prompt to generate an original visual that conveys your unique artistic vision.

All of these new features are part of a powerful new way of working that Google is calling Duet AI for Google Workspace.

We have been tracking the development and release of Android 14 since its first developer preview. Today, the second Developer Preview of Android 14 gets released, building on the work of the first developer preview of Android 14 from last month with additional enhancements to privacy, security, performance, developer productivity, and user customization while continuing to refine the large-screen device experience on tablets, foldables, and more.

Android 14 – Upside Down Cake (unofficially named as Google has now moved away from naming Android based on confectionaries) is the next major release of Android. Android delivers enhancements and new features year-round and the reviews and feedback shared as part of the developer previews and Quarterly Platform Relase (QPR) Beta Programs get deliberated upon and integrated into the upcoming releases.

Support for all form factors

The biggest part of Android 14 is going to remain support for tablets and foldable form factors. With smartphone manufacturers going all in to see foldables as the next novel offering in the market, Android having built in support for the same only makes most sense.

Privacy and security

Privacy and security have always been a core part of Android’s mission. The new features included as part of Android 14 are Selected photos access, Credential manager and Safer implicit intents

Improved App Store Experiences

Android 14 introduces several new PackageInstaller APIs which allow app stores to improve their user experience, including the requestUserPreapproval() method that allows the download of APKs to be deferred until after the installation has been approved, the setRequestUpdateOwnership() method that allows an installer to indicate that it is responsible for future updates to an app it is installing, and the setDontKillApp() method that can seamlessly install optional features of an app through split APKs while the app is in use.

Personalization

Regional preferences enable users to personalize temperature units, the first day of the week, and numbering systems. A European living in the United States might prefer temperature units to be in Celsius rather than Fahrenheit and for apps to treat Monday as the beginning of the week instead of the US default of Sunday.

App compatibility

As with every major OS release, there would be some new features while there would also be some features/APIs that get deprecated. In Android 14 you now have a choice to opt-in to give you more time to make any necessary app changes.

The final developer preview or the most stable release for developers would now be expected sometime in June 2023.

Google has just released the first developer preview of Android 14, named the Upside Down Cake!

As we all know, Google has long discontinued the naming of Android versions (since Android 10). However, they do still continue to name them atleast for their internal use with the names of deserts, and thus comes the new desert – Upside Down Cake – a cake that is baked “upside-down” in a single pan, usually a skillet, with its toppings at the bottom of the pan!

As much as we would all be hoping to see as big a set of feature changes as an upside-down cake, atleast for the developers, luckily that is not the case!

It wasn’t too long ago that Android 13 started rolling out on the first set of Android devices, August 2022 to be precise. Today, Google has released the first developer preview of Android 14.

Android continues to deliver enhancements and new features year-round, and your Android 14 developer preview and Quarterly Platform Release (QPR) beta program feedback plays a key role in helping Android continuously improve. The Android 14 developer site has lots more information about the preview, including downloads for Pixel and the release timeline. We’re looking forward to hearing what you think, and thank you in advance for your continued help in making Android a platform that works for everyone.

Some of the prime features that Android 14 would be focusing on would be to continue to support tablets and foldable form factors, to help you build apps that adapt to different screen sizes and the further improvements in battery life.

As we install Android 14 on one of our own devices, we’ll get some more updates soon, along with a lots of screenshots! Stay tuned!

Android, since version 10, has been supporting Modular System Components. This allows to expedite functional and security updates to the Android ecosystem outside of major API level releases and make new functionality backward compatible on already-released Android versions. End-user devices can receive updates to these modularized system components from the Google Play Store infrastructure or through a partner-provided over-the-air (OTA) mechanism.

With Android Extension SDKs, it is possible to extend the support of certain platform functionality to existing Android versions, increasing user reach.

For example, the PhotoPicker APIs previously available only on API level 33 (Android T) and above are now also available all the way back to API level 30 (Android R) through the Extension SDK on devices with an R extension version of at least 2.

The API reference pages for SDK Extension APIs specify the earliest SDK extension version that your app can use to access an API. If the documentation also specifies an Android platform version (referenced by API level), then that API is also available for all devices running that version of Android or higher.

After years, Google finally has brought in a major overhaul to its Android Auto infotainment system.

Android Auto has been around for almost a decade with ever growing acceptance amongst the users and car manufacturers alike. Simply connect your phone to your car display – your Android apps show up onscreen, just like that. Tap to get driving directions or talk to send a text. Even call your mum, hands-free. Also, because Android Auto is compatible with all major carmarkers, the split screen layout is also adaptable to different screen sizes, so it looks great whether your car has a widescreen, portrait or another size screen.

New Design

Now Android Auto, has a new experience that is rolling out to everyone. The new design prioritizes three important goals for drivers: navigating where you’re going, communicating with friends and family, and playing your music or podcasts.

Frequently accessed apps

In addition to the new design, it is now easier than ever to complete some of your most frequent needs in the car. Google Assistant now provides smart suggestions including missed call reminders, quick arrival time sharing and instant access to music or podcasts. On-screen shortcuts speed up message replies and calling favorite contacts.

WhatsApp calls

You can now make even WhatsApp calls, directly from your car’s mic and speakers, so you are no longer limited to only the regular network calls.

Share your digital car key with friends and family

You can already share your digital car key across Pixel and iPhone to make it easier to give trusted friends and family access to your car. Key sharing is coming soon to Samsung phones, and Xiaomi users.

And more…

• High-quality maps and navigation.
• The Waze app is now available on select Renault vehicles.
• Google’s new HD map is now available in select new cars with Google built-in, starting with the Volvo EX90 and Polestar 3.
• Tubi and MGM+ already available to download on your car infotainment and Youtube is coming soon.
• Honda joins a growing list of brands offering cars with Google built-in that includes Volvo Cars, Polestar, Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac and Renault.

As the holiday season kicks in, Android has come up with some new features to spice up your holidays, as part of Android’s December 2022 features update! Some of them even can help you get in the spirit, too.

Have fun and express yourself with new artist-designed styles

With the last Google Photos update, a new feature was added as part of which you can create new Collages with a Styles to Collages editor. With the current holiday update, Google Photos brings unique designs from two new artists — Australian husband-and-wife visual duo DABSMYLA and renowned watercolor artist Yao Cheng Design. Just pick your photos, select your design and rearrange the layout with simple drag-and-drop controls.

Emoji kitchen has been cooking new emojis

Emoji Kitchen allows users to combine to different emoji to create a new one. Since you can combine to create new emoji, there are thousands of different combinations, which can add a bit of unexpected flair when having a conversation. The latest update adds new combinations, some of which are going to be perfect for winter and the holidays.

New reading mode

Android has been trying to get to the chanlleging ones and there comes one again… The new Reading mode on Android creates an accessible reading experience that can be helpful for people who are blind, low vision or dyslexic.

The reading mode obviously includes the ereader interface. Still hoping these tie up to get one standard reading format.

Sharing my car key… I would never!

Android digital car key app now has been added to a sharing interface! Other way to look… Its my car, why would I even want to share the key!

There are many more worthy mentions of the Android December 2022 features.