There are many phone companies that are trying to make their foldable phones so innovative. So the main agenda of any foldable smartphone comes to the screen i.e foldable screen. To make it easier or perform the phone faster, Google has introduced the Android 12L for those types of large screens, as well as the new APIs, tools, and more.
According to the latest information, Google officially released a detailed introduction to Android 12L, indicating that more than 250 million large-screen devices are equipped with the Android system, and it is hoped that developers will make more adaptations for large-screen devices.
Android 12L Preview: Feature updates for big screens
In Android 12L, Google optimized the UI of large-screen devices, including notifications, quick settings, lock screen, overview, home screen, etc. For example, for screens above 600dp width, the notification bar, lock screen, and other system surfaces will adopt a new two-column layout to make full use of the screen area. At the same time, the system application has also been optimized.
Android 12L also brings more powerful and intuitive multitasking:
Android 12L adds a new taskbar on large screen devices, and users can switch to favorite applications at any time. The new taskbar also makes split-screen mode easier to implement: just drag and drop in the taskbar to run applications in split-screen mode. In order to create a better split-screen mode experience in Android 12 and later versions, we are assisting users to allow all applications to automatically enter split-screen mode after launch, regardless of whether these applications are declared as resizable or not.
Finally, Android 12L improves the visual effects and stability of the compatibility mode, provides users with a better widescreen display, and optimizes the display of the application by default. Equipment manufacturers can easily customize the color or processing scheme of the widescreen display, adjust the position of the margin area window, and apply custom rounded corners. Google plans to release Android 12L feature updates early next year to prepare for the launch of the next wave of Android 12 tablets and foldable devices.
Google strongly recommends that developers check the operation of the application in split-screen mode of various window sizes. In addition to support for large-screen devices, Android 12L also provides developers with some new APIs, as well as a new API version number .
Easier to build for large screen devices:
The large screen mode is always considered during the design process:
The first step to support adaptive UI is to optimize the application so that the application can show good performance on both small and large screens. Google has developed a new Material Design guide to help the app’s UI adapt to various screens.
Use new navigation components to build a responsive UI:
In order to provide users with the best navigation experience, Google hopes that developers provide a navigation interface tailored to the user’s device window size category. Recommended navigation modes include the navigation bar for compact screens, and the navigation bar for devices with medium screen widths and larger screen devices (above 600dp). For devices with wider screens, the Material Design guide proposes several large-screen layout solutions. For example, you can use SlidingPaneLayout to implement a list/detail structure.
Use Compose to more easily adapt to screen changes:
Compose is a declarative UI toolkit; all UIs are described in code, and the toolkit can easily determine at runtime how the UI should fit the available dimensions. Therefore, Compose is particularly suitable for developing adaptive UI because it can easily handle UI changes of different screen sizes or components.
Use WindowManager API to build a responsive UI:
The Jetpack WindowManger library uses a backward compatible way to process windows in the application, and builds a responsive UI for all devices, adding Activity embedding, Window Size Classes, and folding-aware APIs.
Build and test apps for big screens in Android Studio:
Google has introduced reference devices in many tools in Android Studio, where developers can design, develop, and test UI and layouts. In addition, Google is developing a new visual lint tool in Android Studio Chipmunk to actively display UI reminders and suggestions during layout verification , including which reference devices will be affected.
Google also introduced a new emulator configuration with resizable dimensions that comes with Android Studio Chipmunk. An adjustable size simulator can help developers quickly switch between the four reference devices (mobile phones, foldable devices, tablets, and desktops).
Google Play updates for big-screen devices
Google is updating Google Play to highlight those applications that have been optimized for user devices. Google Play adds new check items and evaluates the quality of each application according to the large-screen application quality guidelines to ensure that the most appropriate applications are highlighted on these devices. For apps that are not optimized for large screens, Google will start sending notifications on the app’s Play Store listing page to remind users of large-screen devices.
