Apple isn't the only firm to announce a major update to its mobile OS this month: Google has been busy, too. At its annual Google I/O developer conference, the company announced Android L – the follow up to Android Kitkat – which we've been using courtesy of an early beta on a Nexus 7 tablet.
It's all about "Material Design" with Android L: a new, cleaner look that, in conjunction with a revamped set of animations, gives the OS a more modern feel. The design draws heavily on Google Now's card-based design; expect to see plenty of rectangular panels whizzing around the screen.
Despite the cleaner, flatter visuals, though, there's some depth to Android's new visual approach: by allowing developers to specify the position of UI elements with Z (depth) as well as X and Y co-ordinates, Android L's flat elements have the ability to rise and slide above the other elements, with subtle effects such as drop shadows giving the feeling there's more to the OS than simply minimalism.
Android L preview: notifications and lockscreen
This is most obvious in Android L's notifications system, which has been completely redesigned: before, notifications were largely white on black; now they're displayed on collapsible and expandable white "cards". The two-fingered downward swipe for access to the quick settings has been abandoned, too, but the settings are still there. Instead, you pull down once to access notifications, then again to reveal the quick settings panel, which has also been redesigned and simplified.
These redesigned notifications also make it onto the lock screen, where it's now possible to scroll through them and expand, dismiss and launch into apps directly. With Google Now cards appearing at the bottom of the list, and quick settings also available here, it means you can get a lot done without having to unlock your device.
It isn't only the Notifications that have been perked up, however; the settings menu looks completely different, too. On our Nexus 7, items were arranged across two columns, rather than one, allowing you to see more at once. The Recent Apps view, meanwhile, goes from a flat thumbnail view to a smoothly animated, Rolodex-style 3D card view.
The most extreme aspect of the redesign comes with the new onscreen keyboard. This is completely flat, with the "keys" losing their outlines altogether and blending into the background. It looks odd initially, but we found it easy to get used to; if anything, it feels more spacious than before, since you're less worried about hitting the centre of each key.
Security has been revisited, too, via the personal unlocking feature. This allows your phone or tablet to be unlocked automatically when in proximity with another trusted device or in a trusted environment. Alas, it wasn't working in the release we tested.
Android L preview: new runtime
However, all this is mere window dressing next to the most significant update in Android L, which is the introduction of the ART runtime. The main difference between ART and the current Dalvik runtime is that it employs ahead-of-time (AOT) compilation, by which apps are translated to machine code on installation. This contrasts with in-time compilation, which compiles on an as-required basis. There's also support for 64-bit CPUs (in anticipation of them appearing in handsets).
The move to AOT should improve the speed at which apps launch and run and reduce stutter, at the cost of slower install times and a larger storage and memory footprint. Another benefit should be longer battery life, since AOT reduces CPU usage. In conjunction with the new battery-saver mode, we expect to see a jump in battery life when the next generation of Android tablets and phones appears.
Android L certainly felt more responsive on our Nexus 7 than KitKat, with snappier, punchier transitions and animations and less judder all round; in other words, what you'd expect. Headline benchmark figures, on the other hand, showed no improvement whatsoever, although this perhaps shouldn't be surprising. Since most benchmark utilities are already built using native code they wouldn't benefit from ART anyway.
Android L preview: verdict
The first Android L devices won't see the light of day until the autumn, but Android L feels like a major step forward for Google's mobile OS, even at this early stage. A slicker look and feel, combined with improved performance and, potentially, better battery life, should further strengthen Android's hold over the smartphone and compact tablet market.
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