Google launches next developer preview of Android 12

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Google has released the third developer preview of Android 12, the latest version of its mobile operating system, as scheduled. According to Google's roadmap, this will be the last developer preview before Android 12 enters the beta version, which is usually the first over-the-air update we may see for non-developers who want to try it out.

For now, developers still need to flash device images onto their supported Pixel devices.

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Google noted that with the arrival of the Beta phase, developers now begin compatibility testing to ensure their apps are ready. Currently, Android 12 is scheduled to reach platform stability by August 2021. At that time, all app-oriented features will be locked and finalized.

So, what's new in this preview?

As always, there are lots of smaller new feature tweaks and changes, but this time the focus is on the ability for developers to provide new haptic feedback experiences in their apps and new app launch animations.

This new app launching experience is probably the most noticeable change for developers and users alike. The new animation will take an app from launching to a splash screen showing the app icon, and then into the app itself.

Google explains: "The new experience brings standardized design elements to every app launch, but we've also customized it so apps can maintain their unique branding." Developers will have a lot of leeway in how they want to customize this splash screen with their own branding. However, the most basic launch experience will be enabled by default.

Rich haptic feedback is also new in this version, providing an immersive and enjoyable experience for gaming, and attention-grabbing haptics for productivity.

Other new features in this version include new call notification templates, which are designed to provide users with easier management of incoming and ongoing calls. Google said these new notifications will be more visible and scannable. In addition, the neural network API for machine learning workloads has also been improved, and a new API is provided to support a wider range of ultra-high-resolution camera sensors.

For Android 12, Google deprecated the use of RenderScript API to run compute-intensive tasks in favor of GPU compute frameworks such as Vulkan and OpenGL.