Google released the preview today on the Android developers’ site along with extensive documentation and an Android 12L emulator to take it for a spin without putting it on one of your devices (via Ars Technica).
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While the basics of resizing for the larger screen have been in Android for years, this goes much further with changes throughout the operating system that affect the size and layout of on-screen elements for the larger screen. Multitasking is a huge focus for Android 12L with a new taskbar that allows users to more quickly and easily switch between apps. With just a tap or a tap and drag, you can bring up a new app or change the layout of your split-screen apps. Another problem Android tablet and foldable owners often run into is that apps aren’t always optimized for large screens. And while Android 12L can’t fix that completely, it does add an improved compatibility mode to deal with these apps. Device manufacturers will be able to set defaults for how these apps are handled with specific aspect ratios and design details like rounded corners to make it a more pleasant user experience. While compatibility mode will help with apps that aren’t optimized for tablets, Google is also taking steps to ensure that Android 12L users are better able to find apps that are optimized for their devices. This includes checks against large-screen app quality guidelines along with changes to Google Play that will allow users to specifically rate apps based on their performance on large-screen devices. And while addressing foldables in their unfolded large-screen state is important, Google is also providing tools to do a better job of shifting between folded and unfolded with stacking and unstacking activities. Google is targeting Q1 2022 for the official release of Android 12L to AOSP, which I could easily see slip to a May release in time for Google I/O 2022 and perhaps an announcement of the rumored Pixel Fold. While the iPad absolutely dominates the tablet market, there are still Android manufacturers like Samsung making fantastic hardware, and combined with the emergence of foldables this may be the motivation Google needed to give more attention to large-screen Android devices. We’ll be watching the progress of the Android 12L developer preview with interest.
