At Google I/O 2014, the search giant lifted the lid on the version 5.0 of its
Android operating system: at that stage known simply as Android L.
After rumours of Android Liquorice and Android Lemon Meringue Pie, Google has now revealed it settled on Android Lollipop. It’ll be launching on the
Nexus 6 and
Nexus 9 devices before making its way out to the rest of the Android manufacturers.
In a welcome turn of events, Google made Android L available for download right after the Google I/O event. But there is a catch. The "Developer version" of Android L isn't the finished product, and is primarily intended as a way of giving developers time to adjust to the new changes and retool their current apps, so that when Android L does go public, everything works as planned.
Still, that hasn't stopped us downloading and installing
Android Lollipop on our trusty Nexus 5 in order to deliver this hands-on preview, covering some of the significant additions, as well as some of the less-welcome drawbacks.
Android Lollipop: New Soft keys
It may be more of a cosmetic change than a functional one, but Google has ditched the traditional look of the Android soft keys at the bottom of the screen and has adopted something rather more stylish.
The "Home" symbol is now a circle, while the multitasking menu is a square. The back button is a reversed arrow that looks like it has been lifted from a 1980’s tape player or VCR unit. It's quite a drastic change and does take some getting used to, especially if you've been using Android since day one.
Android Lollipop: Notifications
This is perhaps the biggest area of change in Android Lollipop. Notifications have undergone a complete overhaul, and now look a lot like Google Now's card-based system. Notifications are displayed directly on the lock screen, and tapping a card allows you to unlock the device and jump straight to that area. You can even expand cards to see more details, such as a list of emails, with the phone still in its locked state (If you don't like the idea of people being able to snoop on your personal messages then you can enable a feature which locks away the detailed info).
It's a very clever move by Google, and one that brings you even closer to the content you need on your handset. Even if you have a security lock in place, the fact that you can tap the notification you wish to see, unlock the phone and then leap straight into the relevant information makes the whole process seem a lot smoother. You can also swipe away and dismiss notifications without actually unlocking your device.
When the phone is unlocked, notifications can be displayed by sliding a finger down from the top of the screen. Rather than showing the data in a slide-down panel, as was the case in previous versions of Android, a series of cards flow over the top of your current view, which can be seen behind the cards at all times. This "flowing" cascade of cards is set to be one of Android L's most striking visual changes. As before though, the slide-down notifications panel has two stages: your finger swipe shows notifications, while a second swipe pulls down the quick settings menu.
While Google is giving notifications a face-lift, it's also making them less obtrusive. If your phone is unlocked and you're involved in another activity, such as browsing emails or playing a game, the call details appear at the top of the display. You can accept or reject the call without having to pause what you're currently doing. Another welcome addition is the Do Not Disturb function, which you can quickly enable to stop you being bugged by your phone.
But what Google giveth, Google taketh away. Lock-screen widgets have been removed entirely, so if you're a fan of browsing your emails without unlocking your phone, then you might be disappointed.
Android Lollipop: Battery
Android L brings with it Project Volta, Google's attempt at giving developers more visibility on what aspects of their apps are draining the most juice. While it's early days here, the majority of the apps we tested had not been configured to make use of Volta, it's a solid move by the Big G, as it gives you a more accurate indication of how long your phone is going to last and what apps are sucking up most power.
Another nice touch is that when you're charging your phone, you're told how long it will take for the battery to be fully topped up. While we've perhaps not spent enough time with Android Lollipop to get a complete picture, it did seem to give our Nexus 5 more stamina than KitKat.
Finally, we have Battery Saver mode. How this works is simple, although the service isn’t anything particularly new – plenty of OEMs already build similar features into their hardware. The idea here is to conserve battery life, so when your battery hits a certain percentage, you can set the Battery Saver mode to kick in and throttle the performance of the phone to ensure that juice lasts a little bit longer.
Android Lollipop: Design changes
While Android L comes with a new "People" app and phone dialler, both of which confirm to the new "Material Design" ethos unveiled at Google I/O 2014, much of the OS looks the same, largely because Google will be rolling out updates to core apps when the update officially goes live.
That means apps like Google Music, Google Mail and your Photos app all look exactly the same as before, because they are the same as before; the "Material" versions of these apps won't be available until release.
With this in mind, it's easy to see why some people could mistake the developer version of Android L with KitKat. Aside from the slightly different font, those new soft keys and a redesigned Settings menu, much remains the same. Still, what is here is very impressive; the new dialler is an attractive mix of colour and boasts new animation which makes it seem a lot slicker than before.
Android Lollipop: The Verdict
When you install the developer Android L build, Google warns you that it's not the finished article and could result in lost data and unexpected crashes. It's a valid warning, but Google should have more faith in its products: we've been running Android L for a few days now and haven't experienced any crashes, pauses or bugs.
It's a remarkably stable release even at this early stage, and if you're tempted to dip your toe in (and don't have any issue with the notion of having to drop back to KitKat should things go wrong) then we'd recommend you give it a test spin at the very least. While it's always good to be aware that this is still an early release, from our experience with Android L we'd say it's very close to being a "daily driver". In fact, when you consider how rock solid this update is, it's tempting to predict that Android L – hopefully complete with a proper name – will go public sooner than previously expected.
Android Lollipop: Release Date
Android Lollipop is coming to the Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 when each launches in November.
Next up after that will be the Nexus 5, Nexus 7 and Google Play Edition devices.
So far no other manufacturers have shared the exact date of when it’ll be coming to handsets. Keep checking back here and we’ll collect all the latest information up into an easy to use guide.
