Android

There are lots of updates from the GoogleIO this week. Honestly, I have not yet watched most of the videos, but I'm certainly planning to watch some that got my attention.

• Exciting updates about Pixel 6a, Pixel 7, and Pixel watch hardware. My current phone works just fine, so I won't be able to justify buying a new phone. I got the first ever Android watch LG G Watch back in 2014, stopped using it after about a year, and have not bought a smartwatch or fitness trackers yet. Maybe it's time to get into it again with the Pixel watch this year?!
• What's new in Android is a great video to cover all the new things quickly
• Lots of Jetpack compose talks, including the lazy list one. I miss working on UI. I've not been working on UI for almost six months now due to the project I'm working on these days. As soon as I get an opportunity, I want to get deeper into compose.
• Ton of focus on large screens, designs for large screens, etc. They also introduced new size classes like compact, medium, and expanded. There is a lot to learn about Android's sudden new large screen and tablet-focused updates. I hope that the Android tablet market takes off, so companies and devs start paying attention to the design aspect for big screens.
• The predictive back navigation API in Android 13 sounds interestingly weird. Not sure about the motivation and problem that drove that feature. It's an optional API anyway. I'd look more into it.
• Camera API updates are promising, including HDR video stuff.
• They mentioned the new Google Code Scanner feature through Play Services. It can scan variety of codes like barcode/QR codes. It looks like now we have an official Google library for that?!
• I'd also be watching the talks around accessibility and security updates, as those topics are close to my heart.

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Android team also launched Now in Android— a new, open source, real-world sample app .

They've used latest design, compose and other jetpack libraries. So it becomes a new showcase app to learn how to integrate newer APIs. Just like how Google IO app used to be.

Blog

After writing two blogs in the Kotlin/JS series back in March, I suddenly lost motivation or track of time. I'm feeling sad about this. I would have to push myself this week to finish the third blog that's already half complete. Hopefully I'd get motivation back to continue with the series.