As well as announcing Android P will be with us in the Autumn, with a beta available now, Google also showcased some interesting new features at its Google I/O developer event, too. 

The Android P Beta is available today on Google Pixel, Essential Phone, OnePlus, Mi, Sony, Essential and Oppo handsets. 

That's the Google Pixel and Pixel 2 (plus XL versions), Sony Xperia XZ2, Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S, Nokia 7 Plus, Oppo R15 Pro, Vivo X21, OnePlus 6 and Essential PH‑1 to be precise. 

Battery life is also set to be a key focus of the upcoming Android P operating system, with Adaptive Battery one of several new AI-enhanced features - designed to give "a more consistent battery experience".

These are similar to the efforts of many phone manufacturers to bring AI-enhanced technologies to the new phones of today.  

"Adaptive battery uses on-device machine learning to learn which apps you'll use in the next few hours and which you'll, use [later]" said Google's Dave Burke, head of engineering for Android. "The results are really promising.

Burke says the engineering team has seen a 30 percent reduction in apps waking up the CPU thanks to the technology.

Adaptive Brightness also learns your own preferences and environment so you shouldn't need to adjust the brightness manually anywhere near as much.

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Google

Predicting actions

Last year Android Oreo introduced a feature to predict which apps you want to use next, and now this is called App Actions - predicting what you actually might want to do next such as starting a workout or calling your Mum. You might also get a link to buy cinema tickets when you search for a movie. 

You can also see actions when you search for an app - like the price of a cab home when you search for your taxi app. This uses a developer feature called Slices. 

Google says that last year's feature was able to correctly predict apps 60 percent of the time. 

Google Lens on board

Google Lens is also now integrated into the camera app on all Android phones so you can have explanations for everything you're looking at and it will recognise words and buildings. Screenshots are also being improved. 

Rotation and volume control

A new rotation button appears on the status bar so you can always get full control over your phone rotation even if you've locked the rotation previously.

Google says it has also worked on the volume controls in Android P so there's less risk of you reducing your system volume when you just wanted to turn down a video. 

New Android navigation

There's also a new system navigation with a single home button on the screen - it's very much like the iPhone X.

All apps and overview are combined into one - you can quickly get back to these screens.

There are also predicted apps at the bottom of the screen. You can also scroll left and right on the home key so that you can switch between apps.

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Google

 

Android P Dashboard

A new Dashboard enables you to see how much time you've spent in apps as well as what you've been doing in each app. 

You're also now able to set yourself time limits for time use. Do Not Disturb can now minimise the visual impact of notifications and sounds. By turning over your phone, Do Not Disturb will now automically turn on. Of course, you can always get calls from key contacts. 

There's also a new wind down mode to encourage you to switch off at night that fades the screen to grey and turns on Do Not Disturb. Google says digital wellbeing is a "long term theme for us". 

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