The time has come once again for Google’s annual software and hardware extravaganza known as I/O, a developer conference filled with new toys and surprises. This year, instead of giving out thousands of free Pixel Chromebooks, Google dished out bits of cardboard, to show off its new VR app called… Cardboard.
One of the most anticipated (rather, hoped-for) announcements was a new version of Android, and whatever improvements it might bring. After Apple showed off the major overhaul of both its mobile and desktop OSes with iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, there’s been some bated breath in the Android community. How would they respond? Would they even try? This was particularly important as the last few releases have stayed within the 4.x branch.
So, the latest version is called Android L, which finally brings us up to version 5.0. Along with a slight graphical evolution, there are over 5,000 new APIs available to developers, ranging from camera improvements to improved Bluetooth support. For the brave, there should already be a developer preview available for Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 (2013). You can see a few of the new APIs in the slide Google showed off yesterday.
Among the massive list of API changes, are two very interesting ones in this screenshot:
- USB audio; and
- low latency audio recording
Details are still scarce, barring the above photo, but we can take a pretty good guess at what they mean.
USB Audio
USB audio is probably the main bulletpoint to catch, and with it Android should finally universally have the ability to hook up an audio interface via the micro-USB port and an OTG (on the go) adapter. Apple’s mobile OS has had working audio via the camera adapter for a long while, and it’s about time Android caught up. From a market standpoint, Android must be attractive for hardware and software makers, it’s simply that the technology isn’t there.
Low latency audio recording
This new addition might be more useful for the producers out there. The low latency audio recording API should give DAWs and music software a much sturdier platform for recording and sequencing music, particularly live audio.
Anything else?
Too a lesser extent for DJs, another interest part of ‘L’ is something called ‘Project Volta’. You might remember that when Android 4.0 came out, Google had a system named ‘Project Butter’, designed to push the UI to levels of fluidity not previously accomplished on Android, without compromising background tasks. And it did the trick. Even 18 months on, my old Nexus 4 still feels as fresh to use as when I got it.
Well, Google have now turned their attention to another area that Android is lacking: the battery life. Battery is definitely an area of weakness for the OS, partly because apps have much more access to the systems than on iOS. But if Google do as good a job as they did with Project Butter, the benefits will be huge.
Final thoughts
Although Android L is not the cosmic leap in technology we dreamed of, there are some improvements that us DJs might get to make the most of. The competition with Apple means that in this case, the user wins out overall, though I suspect that, much like the DJ industry, we will soon see a plateau in innovation, perhaps as they spin-off the so-called ‘wearables’ market. Who knows, maybe we will see people DJing via their watch or Google Glass?
Now, it’s very early days with regards to this Android release, so it’s hard to tell what impact these changes will have, if they indeed have any. The hardware is all there and ready to use, from the OTG cable to the controllers. We just need the software.