Get Android 9 Pi features now
Don’t wait until your next phone for the new toys inside Google’s latest Android release. Darren Yates looks at Android 9 Pie and shows how to get some of its key features now.
There’s no doubt it’s an interesting time for Android. According to telco analyst firm Telsyte, sales of smartphones slowed in Australia in the first half of 2018, as we wait for the arrival of new 5G tech. Yet while the data also suggests more Australian consumers are gravitating toward the top-drawer models, the pressure is on Google to continue delivering new features into Android to keep those flag-ship model sales humming. That’s why the arrival of Android’s next iteration, dubbed ‘Android 9 Pie’, will be crucial. Significantly, the new OS expands the role of Artificial Intelligence (or more practically, machine-learning) in achieving improvements, most notably in extending battery life and learning you’re app usage patterns. But while some of these features are baked into the new Android release, others exist outside it already. This month, we look into Android 9 Pie and how to get some of its features into your current Android device.
ANDROID 9 PIE
Google surprised many in early August, getting on the front foot to release Android 9 Pie to its Pixel and Pixel 2 phone range as an Android update. However, we’re told the update doesn’t provide full functionality just yet – that won’t be until after the official release, which should have happened by the time you read this and coinciding with the launch of the new Pixel 3 phone family. However, Google has stated that devices from Sony, Nokia, Oppo and others that took part in the Beta Program, plus Android One phones that qualify are also expected to receive Pie updates before the end of the year.
NEW ML FEATURES
Android 9 Pie comes with a raft of new features — some of them are more obvious, such as the new Digital Wellbeing suite of functions, along with the new gesture-based navigation system. Others are less so, but equally as important.
Among the more intricate of these lesser-seen additions is the use of machine-learning to boost battery life through new ‘Adaptive Battery’. Squeezing more life out of the onboard power source between recharges has been a key focus for Android engineers since at least the days of Marshmallow/6.x. But what’s interesting about Android 9 Pie is that not only does the new OS use machinelearning to improve battery life by learning which apps you use and when, but according to reports, the machinelearning occurs on the phone itself. This is a significant change – in all previous Android releases, any machine-learning functionality had to be relayed back to cloud computing. But to now do machine-learning on the phone itself is an important milestone for Android for a couple of reasons. First, it tightens up security because your app usage data doesn’t have to
disappear up into the cloud. Second, it’s a sign of just how far phone CPU SoC (System on a Chip) tech has come. Machine-learning is an intensely CPU- and RAM-heavy task, yet Android 9 Pie phones will be expected to have the on-board horsepower to make it happen.
WHEN WILL MY DEVICE GET PIE?
That’s why we reckon if you’re wondering about when your existing Android phone will get a update slice of Pie, it’s probably best you stop right now. Seriously, even the most ardent Android supporter would have to admit the whole Android update thing has been a disappointment. There are Nougat/7.0 phones still waiting for promised official Oreo/8.0 updates, yet as phone profits are squeezed at all segments except the top-end, there’s little short-term incentive for many phone makers to cough up new updates.
Moreover, the growing complexity of Android is also likely forcing the hand of phone makers, as the demands of the OS outpace the hardware capabilities of older devices.
Still, consumers who backed HMD Global and bought a recent Nokia Android phone look to be in the box seat, with reports Android 9 Pie updates are expected later this year.
PIE HARDWARE EXPECTATIONS
We’ve seen no official guidelines for the minimum hardware required to run Android 9 Pie, but while the new front-facing features in each new Android release always garner interest, the increasing reliance on machine-learning, not to mention the ever-growing security needs, are seeing hardware requirements continue to grow.
One simple area where this change is noticeable is RAM. In fact, look at flagship Android phones over the last five years and you’ll see how far RAM capacities have expanded. The 2GB of RAM inside Google’s 2013 Nexus 5 set the tone, but from there, progressed to 3GB for the Nexus 6 of 2014, 4GB inside the first and second generations of Google Pixel and now to 6GB for the upcoming Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL series, which are due right about now.
You could argue this is just Android expanding to fill the availability of RAM, rather than causing it to expand. However, when it comes to security, the hardware requirements become more definitive. Android 9 Pie will support hardware-based security through a module called the ‘StrongBox Keymaster’, where crypto algorithms will protect and secure your most important data. It’s interesting, then, that the Android developers’ guide seems to suggest a StrongBox security chip won’t be a prerequisite for an Android 9 Pie device, making it a feature you’ll likely only see on flagship models for now.
In any case, the growing hardware demands will likely make it more difficult for older devices to handle the feature load and still deliver reasonable levels of performance, which is why few previous-generation Android phones will see an Android 9 Pie update.
GET ANDROID 9 PIE FEATURES NOW
But it’s not all doom and gloom – not by a long shot. Quite a few of Android 9 Pie’s features are new to the Android OS itself, but having an Android 9 Pie device isn’t the only way to get them. We’ve found sources elsewhere for a number of those features, from unofficial ports ripped out of Android Developer Preview releases and made available by the Android community for side-loading into existing devices, to others you’ll find already exist in
“Google has stated that devices from Sony, Nokia, Oppo and others that took part in the Beta Program, plus Android One phones that qualify are also expected to receive Pie updates before the end of the year. ”
similar form as third-party apps on Google Play. While, as we’ve seen, some Pie features will be inescapably linked to next-gen phones, having even just a basic understanding of how a new feature works could well lead you to alternatives that already exist. That’s what we’ve found for a number of Pie’s new toys.
DIGITAL WELLBEING
One of the major selling points of Android 9 Pie announced earlier in the year at Google’s I/O talkfest is its new suite of ‘ Digital Wellbeing’ features. Phone addiction is finally becoming a serious topic and Google is developing new tech to help users address their phone usage patterns. Not surprisingly, Apple has also recently attempted to tackle the issue through its new Screen Time feature in iOS 12.
However, as far as Android 9 Pie is concerned, Digital Wellbeing aims to help you spend time on the device more efficiently. The features include new screen and app timers keeping track of how long the screen has been up and particular apps have been running. You can also use the timers to notify you after a particular period. Prior to Pie’s official release, the Digital Wellbeing app was made available on Google Play at tinyurl. com/ya49a5fm, although, it requires a Pixel device with the Pie OS already installed.
Still, things like screen and app timers aren’t necessarily that complex. In fact, you’ll find a couple of apps on Google Play providing at least something broadly similar already.
One of the more popular apps is ‘Forest’ ( tinyurl.com/md2ecsj). It gamifies your efforts to stay away from your phone by using the simple and elegant concept of planting a tree seed. The longer you stay away from your phone, the more the tree grows. Come back to your phone too often and it withers. The app will work with most devices with at least KitKat/4.4, it’s free to install, but you can pay in-app to unlock the premium version.
Getting closer to Google’s Digital Wellbeing app is ‘Instant’ ( tinyurl. com/ka2v3pr). This app features screen and app time tracking, it also allows you to set goals and supports integration with Google Fit and FitBit devices. It’s free and only requires a device with at least Ice Cream Sandwich/4.0.x.
MARKUP SCREENSHOT EDIT AND SHARE
Another new feature in Android 9 Pie is Markup, which lets you edit and share screenshots taken on your device. While Markup is more-or-less exclusive to Pie, an unofficial port is available from the xda-developers website ( tinyurl.com/yasdu9ju). It should work on Android releases down to Lollipop/5.x, but there are no guarantees. Also, as it’s a third-party app you must side-load into your device, we’d suggest only installing it if you’re aware of the possible risks to your device and data from side-loading unknown apps. Don’t expect any warranty here.
Of course, any image editing app on Google Play can also edit your screenshots – it’s just most apps won’t be as elegant as being able to capture, edit and share all in the one app that Markup provides.
VOLUME BUTTONS DEFAULT TO MEDIA
It’s pretty clear that many of us are using social media more and making phone calls less, yet Android has persisted in defaulting the phone
“As far as Android 9 Pie is concerned, Digital Wellbeing aims to help you spend time on the device more efficiently. ”
volume buttons to ringtone volume rather than media. That changes in Android 9 Pie, where the device’s ‘volume rocker’ will now default to media volume. However, it’s also another feature you can have through an existing third-party app, this time, direct from Google Play. Rocker Locker ( tinyurl.com/y824ta8e) essentially performs the same role, locking the rocker to control media audio levels. What’s more, the app works with devices packing versions of Android going right back to Ice Cream Sandwich/4.0.x. And, yep, it’s completely free.
GESTURE NAVIGATION
It’s being called by some the biggest shake-up to how you navigate through Android seen in the last ten years. New ‘gesture navigation’ allows you to replace the traditional back, home and overview buttons with (for the most part) a single pill-like slider. However, what’s also notably different is how the gestures operate. You can tap it and it’ll act like a home function, but instead of just tapping the overview button to see recent apps, you now drag and hold the slider instead. There’s an up-swipe move to launch the app drawer and the original back button does appear on occasions, although it’s coming-and-going may be disconcerting for some. However, the new system is an optional extra at the moment – you need to head to Settings, System, Gestures, then turn on ‘Swipe up on Home Button’ to activate it.
There’s no doubt it’s a big move, but gesture navigation is also not strictly exclusive to Android 9 Pie. If you have a device with at least Lollipop/5.x, you can get something very similar to it right now. Head to Google Play, grab Navigation Gestures ( tinyurl.com/ ya68dc4m) and you’ll get something that, while not exactly the same as Pie’s new gesture navigation, comes reasonably close. The Navigation Gestures app was developed by XDA Developers ( xda-developers.com), is free (there is a paid-premium upgrade) and, best of all, doesn’t need root access. In the first instance, it adds a similar gesture-based pill-sized control just above the traditional three-button navigation on your phone. You can also choose to hide those three buttons, however, the warning is you must unhide them before removing the Navigation Gestures app, otherwise worldwide destruction ensues (meaning you lose navigation altogether). Still, at time of writing, you must run an ‘adb’ (Android Debug Bridge) command from your PC to your phone via USB to hide the buttons, so for now, it’s not something you’d do by accident.
What’s really impressive about the Navigation Gestures app, though, is just how customisable it is. You can choose the actions for different taps and swipe gestures via the app’s settings menu. Set it up the way that works for you.
THE FUTURE OF ANDROID
Unfortunately, as with previous releases, unless you’re in the market for a Google Pixel phone, Australians will likely be waiting at least until 2019 for the rest of the market to catch up and start releasing more affordable Android 9 Pie devices — certainly if our experiences of Oreo are anything to go by. There is potential for Android One-compliant devices to see a slice of Pie sooner rather than later, but the Android update issue continues to remain a problem for the rest of the ecosystem. In that situation, your best bet in getting Android 9 Pie features now could be to see what might be already available in the Google Play store.
One thing is clear, however — artificial intelligence and machinelearning in particular will drive future Android advances and go a long way to redefining what it is to have a ‘smart’ phone.
“New ‘gesture navigation’ allows you to replace the traditional back, home and overview buttons with (for the most part) a single pill-like slider. ”