# Android 5.0/ Android L  Developer Preview Announced



## rish1 (Jun 25, 2014)

In what is a change to its usual manner of handling new Android releases, Google has announced a developer preview of the upcoming Android L release. Previous the search giant would unveil a new version of its platform at the I/O event, making it available for download almost immediately.

Now, we've got a developer preview that will only serve for developers to play with and optimize their apps with the actual public release coming later on.
The Android L (final name and version number yet to be confirmed) brings various changes to the UI, with refreshed status bar, dialer and just about every other system apps. Google has also redesigned the transition animations so they look cooler and more natural.
The notifications have been enhanced and are now available on the lockscreen. You can either tap a notification from there and be taken to the app responsible for it, or you can swipe it right off.
The Chrome browser, which has been the default Android browser for some time now has been upgraded as well. It offers a new fluid design with the different parts of its UI changing size to give you easier access to the most relevant options. Its performance has also been tweaked and the GUI rendering has been fixed at 60fps making scrolling around appear extra smooth.
The new runtime environment in the L release is ART, launched as an alternative to Dalvik in KitKat. ART allows apps to run faster and is compatible with ARM, x86 and MIPS architectures. In addition to performance gains, it also provides better memory benefits and is supports 64-bit.

Performance isn't the only thing Google wants to improve with the L Release. The battery performance is also important and to make it better, Google introduced Project Volta.
There's a new Battery Saver mode, which can tune down the CPU, turn off the phone's radio and as a result extend its power autonomy. On the Nexus 5, for example, this should earns you 90 minutes additional usage time.

The factory images for the Android L release on the Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 will be released tomorrow for developers to play with them. Over the air updates for end-users will arrive in the Fall.

Material design - YouTube

source - 
Google announces Android L developer preview - GSMArena.com news


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## amjath (Jun 25, 2014)

Dont bash with Flat design and windows phone design forget everything, that thing looks damn awesome.

BTW look at this
Google's Project Volta Fights Dying Smartphone Batteries With Science

and 
Android One 

Come on Google you owned


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## HBK007 (Jun 26, 2014)

I think we should have a new thread dedicated to Google I/O 2014. I mean Google just nailed it and taught Apple how it is done.
Andoroid TV is awesome, the new Google drive is probably gone take a majority of Office 365 users with it, Android phones can now be mirrored with chrome cast,l Google fit is here, they improved the concept of Continuity which was launched by Apple, Occulus rift just got a new competitor named Google cardboard, hey are ready be inside our cars with Android Auto and smartwatches never looked better thanks to Android wear.
BTW, The Verge has a very nice live blog and collection of things Google is announcing at the I/O.
Google I/O 2014: everything you need to know | The Verge


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## quagmire (Jun 26, 2014)

^Anandtech's blog is great too : AnandTech | Google IO 2014 Keynote Live Blog


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## Hrishi (Jun 26, 2014)

When I saw Google's Cardboard , I was like WaW, WTF is that ?


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## $hadow (Jun 26, 2014)

Still waiting for a new nexus device. Too much of a card layout may freak out many.


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## ratul (Jun 27, 2014)

Flashed.. 

*i.imgur.com/q73hwS2.png


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## rish1 (Jun 27, 2014)

^^ congrats...!! how's your experience , do you like it ?

and whats the available free ram before and after update ?


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## ratul (Jun 27, 2014)

rish said:


> ^^ congrats...!! how's your experience , do you like it ?
> 
> and whats the available free ram before and after update ?



very smooth and still haven't faced any major bugs, just small hiccups here and there.. 
Most of the Gapps still haven't received the Material Theme update, so they seem to be same as in 4.4.4, calculator and keyboard looks awesome.. 
didn't checked the free RAM after update , it started installing all my previous apps as soon as i booted the device for the first time, probably synced the older account settings, but currently, installing apps as well as transferring all my media on the device using adb, it shows 700MB used and 1.1GB free, quite good i'd say as i usually used to get about 800-900MB used during my regular use and almost 90% of my apps have been installed by now, so seems to be slightly improved RAM usage.. Will report the free RAM once all the applications are installed and device freshly booted.. 

*Update:* so after installation of all apps and all media sync completed, 9.3GB used and over 100apps installed, it stabilized at about 670MB RAM, must say it's improved from 4.4.4, where i used to get about 800mb usage after boot, so definitely a improvement from my side.. 
*i.imgur.com/EJJcfjz.png


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## anirbandd (Jun 27, 2014)

looks sexy!!

give us a look if the keyboard too


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## root.king (Jun 27, 2014)

Wow  that's awesome


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## ratul (Jun 27, 2014)

anirbandd said:


> looks sexy!!
> 
> give us a look if the keyboard too



sure.. 

*Keyboard:*

*i.imgur.com/vFhFrh8.png

*Home* (New App Drawer Icon):

*i.imgur.com/gWzl4UV.jpg

*Task Manager:*

*i.imgur.com/XrW1CCP.png

*Lock Screen:*

*i.imgur.com/9kMDlwm.jpg

*Notification Center:*

*i.imgur.com/B18KALe.png

*Dialer App:*

*i.imgur.com/8UmpAsp.png
*i.imgur.com/AwCywgU.png


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## TechnoBOY (Jun 27, 2014)

Aww loooks awsom lov it


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## SunE (Jun 27, 2014)

Even I flashed it yesterday. The smoothness is iOS level. It's pretty stable but there are a few bugs. Twitter and Firefox don't work. Neither does Dropbox. Gained root access but as soon as I opened Greenify it boot looped. So flashed again and now am unrooted. Will have to wait for some stable rooting solution I guess. Overall seems much better than KitKat. Now waiting for the gApps to be updated.

Also it's better to backup all your apps and data using adb into a .ab file and restoring it instead of downloading all the apps over again. Don't forget to backup all your media too.


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## abhidev (Jun 27, 2014)

oh man the UI looks simply beautiful..will the N4 get this update?


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## ariftwister (Jun 27, 2014)

The dialer app is so awesome. But didnt like the Keyboard layout, its kind of naked.


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## ratul (Jun 27, 2014)

abhidev said:


> oh man the UI looks simply beautiful..will the N4 get this update?



Officially, no.. 
Through XDA, probably yes, someone might port it, they have great developers over there...


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## pfx^ (Jun 27, 2014)

I am so happy I am an Android user  this is great news!


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## warfreak (Jun 27, 2014)

ratul said:


> Officially, no..
> Through XDA, probably yes, someone might port it, they have great developers over there...



Nexus 4 users will get a stable release though, thanks to the beta testing by N5 users


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## SunE (Jun 27, 2014)

[MENTION=122731]ratul[/MENTION] is it running good for you? Is it stable? On mine it's very unstable. It kept on restarting for no reason this afternoon. I wasn't even doing anything to it. It was just lying there and it kept on restarting. Had to press the power button for 20 sec to completely turn it off. Now it's not restarting but don't know whether it's any good yet. It's charging right now.


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## $hadow (Jun 27, 2014)

Flashing done. This one is actually a rocking rom. And in love with this multitasking menu.


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## ratul (Jun 27, 2014)

warfreak said:


> Nexus 4 users will get a stable release though, thanks to the beta testing by N5 users



we are perfectly fine with beta testing, after all beta testing is like a playground for a geek.. 

- - - Updated - - -



SunE said:


> [MENTION=122731]ratul[/MENTION] is it running good for you? Is it stable? On mine it's very unstable. It kept on restarting for no reason this afternoon. I wasn't even doing anything to it. It was just lying there and it kept on restarting. Had to press the power button for 20 sec to completely turn it off. Now it's not restarting but don't know whether it's any good yet. It's charging right now.



Mine is completely stable apart from few application incompatibilities, like firefox not opening, Kaspersky Internet Security hung on starting, facebook comments popup is messed up, root not being complete so is busybox, which is causing some applications to work with root, and some not, but all these are app related and could be resolved by the corresponding developers.
What you described seems like you didn't clean flashed the rom, this is a new rom, so you need to wipe EVERYTHING from the device, flash all the img files given in the tar, and reset factory settings after that, and it should work fine, follow the *Method 2* mentioned here for a proper installation: *[TUTORIAL] How to flash a factory image | Return to stock | Unroot/SAVE your Nexus 5*

You can flash the TWRP or any other custom recovery while flashing the recovery in that method, TWRP is working fine for me..


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## amjath (Jun 27, 2014)

[MENTION=122731]ratul[/MENTION]: is it running ART in default. Is the app size is large and OS load time is slow??

- - - Updated - - -



$hadow said:


> Flashing done. This one is actually a rocking rom. And in love with this multitasking menu.



drool worthy, this news ate ios 8 excitement.

- - - Updated - - -
 [MENTION=122731]ratul[/MENTION]: TFS the screens bro


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## Vyom (Jun 27, 2014)

I am going to flash Android L very soon on Nexus 7!


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## ratul (Jun 27, 2014)

amjath said:


> [MENTION=122731]ratul[/MENTION]: is it running ART in default. Is the app size is large and OS load time is slow??



yes, there is actually no dalvik in this release, dalvik is now history , can't say about the app size and load time as i switched to ART as soon as i got my hands on this phone in Jan, but yeah, certain apps seems to be faster than Kitkat here, but most seems to struggle right now due to not being optimized tofor this version of android, hopefully developers will soon update their apps for compatibility for this "developer" version...


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## amjath (Jun 27, 2014)

^ thx, gonna check xda what they are discussing for my phone [galaxy s2]


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## rish1 (Jun 27, 2014)

[MENTION=122731]ratul[/MENTION] great job 
thanks for sharing the information and screens


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## Flash (Jun 27, 2014)

So, is this like 'Windows dev preview' for Android?


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## ZTR (Jun 27, 2014)

Vyom said:


> I am going to flash Android L very soon on Nexus 7!



The preview is for Nexus 7 (2013) and not the older version lol


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## amjath (Jun 27, 2014)

Flash said:


> So, is this like 'Windows dev preview' for Android?



Yes..


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## Vyom (Jun 27, 2014)

ZTR said:


> The preview is for Nexus 7 (2013) and not the older version lol




Guess, I need to wait a little. But it will come soon for my Nexus.


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## ZTR (Jun 27, 2014)

Vyom said:


> Guess, I need to wait a little. But it will come soon for my Nexus.



Unofficially yes
Officially no


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## Vyom (Jun 27, 2014)

ZTR said:


> Unofficially yes
> Officially no



You *may* be right. But I have a little hope. My device still get OTA updates. It is showing 4.4.3 update right now. I am sure since its a Nexus device, an update to L might be on the assembly line. Or if Google remains strict on their 1.5 yrs support pattern, then XDA is always at rescue. (That's why the wink in my previous post).


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## $hadow (Jun 28, 2014)

amjath said:


> [MENTION=122731]ratul[/MENTION]: is it running ART in default. Is the app size is large and OS load time is slow??
> 
> - - - Updated - - -
> 
> ...



I don't see any more reason to be excited about ios since this is actually going to kill it.


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## rish1 (Jun 28, 2014)

Ios will always sell no matter what.. there are too many rich guys now .. when they will see 4.5-5 inch screen in iphone they will go nuts and buy it.. 
 there isn't even  a competition between Ios and Android anymore.... 

windows phone was picking up momentum but Microsoft killed it's prospects by buying Nokia's division ...


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## SunE (Jun 28, 2014)

[MENTION=122731]ratul[/MENTION] I did do a clean flash. Twice to be sure.  But still I'm facing some problems. Will use it for a day or two and if it still doesn't work well, I'll revert to 4.4.4 with L as dual boot in MultiROM. Right now I'm completely stock.


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