Adroid L Feature Spotlight: Notifications Panel

Adroid L Feature Spotlight: Notifications Panel

Google I/O has brought us Android L, the latest and greatest iteration of Google’s mobile operating system. We don’t know yet when Android L will be released for the public or what its final name will be, but we already know what the search engine giant prepared for us in the new update.

As you may know, soon after the I/O announcement, Google released Android L Developer Preview for Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 2013 for testing purposes. They even issued an update a few weeks ago that you can check here.

Android L is no doubt the biggest Android update ever. It’s even bigger than the jump from Gingerbread to Ice Cream Sandwich, bringing tons of new features and new functionality. This article aims to bring you an insight over the Android L Notifications Panel.

The first thing you’ll notice about the Android L Notifications panel is the new color scheme. Moreover, the panel now has a transparent background so you can still see what’s on your screen. The Notification Panel can be accessed using the classic swipe down move, but you will definitely enjoy the new animation. You will be able to swipe left or right to dismiss notifications or tap to look at the notification.

The Quick Settings button is gone, but the Quick Settings menu is still there. In order to go to Quick Settings you need to swipe down once you bring up the Notifications Panel, then swipe down again. The Quick Settings menu has been redesign now showing toggles for WiFi, Bluetooth, Mobile Data, Notifications, Airplane Mode, Locations, Cast Screen, and Auto Rotate. Yes, we Google has finally made a toggle for Auto Rotate.

Android L also introduces Heads-up notifications. So, if, for example, you receive a call while doing something full screen like reading or gaming, the call won’t totally take over your screen, allowing you to decide whether to take the call or continue what you were previously doing.

As I was mentioning above, Google failed to reveal when the Android L update will be ready for prime-time. Anyway, the reports seem to indicate that the first devices will get the new update sometime late September or early October.