Android 7.1: Night Light, Smooth Updates, Fingerprint Gestures and Daydream VR
If you watched the Made by Google event yesterday or read our roundup, you will be forgiven if you missed that there is a brand new version of Android. Google itself didn’t seem to notice . Here’s what we know about it.
The new Pixel phones will be the first to run Android 7.1. Notably, unlike Android 7.0 Nougat this summer, there was no specific announcement for this version of Android, nor is there a beta (yet) for users to try out. In fact, it wasn’t even clear from Google’s announcement which Pixel features are part of Android 7.1 and which will be available on all phones.
After the event, Google finally decided to sort out this mess. Here’s a list of the new features coming in Android 7.1 (at least that’s confirmed by Google for now):
- Night light
- Touchscreen / display performance improvements
- Move (swipe down on fingerprint – enable)
- Smooth A / B system updates
- Daydream VR mode
- Developer Features: Application Shortcut / Shortcut Manager APIs Support for Round Application Icons Inserting an Image on the Keyboard Fingerprint Gesture to Open / Close the Notification Shadow Manual Storage Manager Intent for Applications Enhanced Virtual Reality Stream Scheduling Enhanced Wallpaper Metadata Support for Multiple Endpoint Calls Supports Various MNO Requirements PCDMA privacy property Source type support for configuring Visual Voicemail for video telephony control
- Manual storage manager – identifies apps, files and apps using storage
If you were hoping for Google Assistant or that sweet unlimited photo download, you might feel a little disappointed right now. It looks like Google is trying to make Pixel phones more than just “stock Android” (since it’s still pointless these days ). Night Light is more than a welcome addition , but you’ll need to buy a Pixel phone if you want to take full advantage of Google’s new popularity.
Android 7.1 Nougat changelog here, includes both exclusive and non-pixel changes | Police Android