14 DAY TRIAL // Google recently released the first Android O Developer Preview and some interesting new features for Android users were revealed. One of them is self-dismissing notifications, which would disappear automatically after a certain amount of time.
Google is aiming to bring various improvements to Android O's design and functionality, and some of them regard the notifications area. Specifically, Google recently informed Android developers of an exciting new feature, notification timeout.
The feature will allow notifications to dismiss themselves automatically, unless the user interacts with them in a certain amount of time. This should be quite useful when users receive notifications from games or alerts that are of little importance at a certain moment in time.
Developers will set timeouts for various notifications
Android developers will be able to set a timeout for notifications, and when the countdown ends, they would disappear from the screen. The new Android version will include a slew of improvements to the smartphone’s battery life and the device’s interactive performance.
In addition, Google intends to introduce notification channels to the world, so that several categories would be set for notifications and information would be arranged in a more intuitive way. Developers will have the capacity to control various types of notifications, while users will be able to block or change the behavior of each channel individually.
Visual and grouping tools were also added, while adaptive icons will be displayed in various shapes, and will provide a more dynamic experience using visual effects like parallax and pulsing. Google is also working on a new settings menu, with a different layout and similar items bundled into one menu, so that the clutter would be reduced and the user experience would be more intuitive.
Moreover, Google is testing a new SystemUI Tuner menu for users to change the default lock screen shortcuts to an application or activity of their choice. Android O is expected to arrive later this year to Pixel smartphones and possibly in 2018 to more users.