An Android P preview

Google announced on Wednesday the first developer preview of Android P, the newest version of Android.

Many new features have been added to the new preview of Android P: Indoor positioning with Wi-Fi RTT, display cutout support, improved messaging notifications, multi-camera API, ImageDecoder for bitmaps and drawables, and much more. 

In addition, Google announced multiple security improvements.

For example, Android P will offer better security for apps by introducing a more consistent UI for fingerprint authentication across apps and devices. Android apps can also trigger the system fingerprint dialog using a new FingerprintDialog API.

Android P will also enhance privacy for users, such as restricting access to mic, camera, and all SensorManagersensors from apps that are idle. Google will also enable in Android P encryption of Android backups with a client-side secret.

In addition to security, many other foundational enhancements were mentioned in the Android P preview to include ART performance, optimized Kotlin, enhanced power efficiency (such as refined Doze, App Standby, and Background Limits), and improved app compatibility through public APIs.