Google has unveiled its brand-new mobile operating system called Android P.
The new operating system contains a number of major updates but the most significant of them are a series of new features around well-being and mental health.
The first is a new feature called Dashboard that lets you see how you’re using your apps and for how long. It’ll correlate information around when you’re using those apps and try to recommend ways for you to use them less.
The next feature is called App Timer and lets you set actual time limits on how long you can use apps per day. Once you’ve exceeded that time limit the app will be greyed out, reminding you that you’ve used your daily allowance.
Finally there’s Wind Down. This lets you set yourself a bedtime, as you start reaching that bed time the phone will start to turn your screen into black and white, removing the urge to keep checking it before you go to bed.
In addition Samat revealed that YouTube would now start sending you notifications suggesting you take a break if you’ve been watching videos for long periods of time.
“Technology should help you with your life, not distract you from it. So we’ve been working hard to add key capabilities right into Android to help you achieve your desired balance with technology.” explains Sameer Samat VP of Product Management, Android.
Elsewhere Google unveiled a major redesign in the way that you get around Android by introducing a series of new gestures over the conventional home, back and apps button.
Designed to compensate for the fact more and more smartphones have smaller bezels you can now swipe up from the bottom to bring up the phone’s multi-tasking menu.
Finally Google has used it’s AI to introduce two new features called Adaptive Brightness and Adaptive Battery.
Adaptive Brightness monitors the way that you change the brightness on your screen and then uses that to learn how you like to have the screen in different environments.
Adaptive Battery on the other hand uses AI to predict when you’re going to use certain apps and what you’re going to use them for. Google claims that it has already seen a 30% reduction in the processor being unnecessarily woken up to perform a task that actually you weren’t going to perform.
Android P is currently in Beta so you won’t be able to download it just yet, however if previous years are anything to go by you will only have to wait a few months before the company releases it to the wider public.