Android L Features - Droid Life

Android L Features: A Brand New Dialer

Kellen July 2, 2014 93

One of the bigger changes in Android L that also shows off Google's new Material Design came in the form of the new Dialer. Like many of the other features we have highlighted in the Android L preview, the Dialer still performs like a dialer, but it looks and...

Android L Features: New Quick Settings Panel is Mostly Improved

Kellen July 1, 2014 56

Our coverage of Android L features continues this afternoon with a look at the newly restyled Quick Settings Panel (QSP). For those not familiar, the Quick Settings Panel was previously accessed as a secondary pulldown from the notification shade that gave you...

Android L Features: New Multi-tasking

Kyle July 1, 2014 129

Android's current implementation of multitasking is serviceable, but hasn't substantially changed since Honeycomb. With the Android L release, the team at Google has radically redesigned the Recents menu's UI and framework to make switching between apps faster...

Android L Features: Notification Manager Introduced in “Sound & Notifications”

Kellen June 30, 2014 28

In the past, if you didn't want an app showing notifications on your Android device, you had to either long-press on a notification from the app, then head into the app's specific info page, and disable notifications or take the longer route to unchecking its...

Android L Features: Heads-Up Notifications Will Eventually be Awesome

Kellen June 30, 2014 88

One of the more iOS-like features introduced by Google for Android L during last week's I/O, were Heads-Up notifications. Think of them as floating notifications that appear at the top of the screen no matter what you are up to. Not only do they allow you to...

Android L Features: Android Beam Now a Part of Share Menu

Kellen June 30, 2014 30

In Android L, Google has included Android Beam in the sharing menu, making it arguably easier to share items using NFC. When you go to share an item now in the L version of Android, you will see an icon for Android Beam, along with your icons for Drive or Box...

Android L Features: Battery Saver Tries to Extend Battery Life

Kellen June 30, 2014 29

One of the many new features introduced with Android L is Battery Saver, a setting that attempts to lengthen the single-charge life of your phone when a charger or outlet is nowhere near. Other manufacturers like Samsung and HTC (Extreme Power Saving Mode)...

Android L Features: Keyboard Switching Now Happens in the Navigation Bar

Kellen June 30, 2014 41

If you have ever installed a third party keyboard on an Android device, like the new Android L keyboard, then you have probably seen the input menu that appears in the notification area that allows you to change keyboards on the fly. This menu shows as a...