Google has released Android 12L, which it describes as “a special feature drop that improves Android 12 on big displays.” To put it another way, Android 12L is designed for large-screen devices like tablets and foldable phones.
Google has improved the user interface (UI) on large displays with the Android 12L update, including notifications, fast settings, lock screen, overview, home screen, and more. Google claims that any screen with 600 density-independent pixels (DP) or more would display the notification shade, lock screen, and other system surfaces as a new two-column layout to maximize screen space.
Google has also improved the system apps to provide a better experience for users. On wide displays, it even adds a new taskbar that allows users to quickly move between their favorite programs. The taskbar also makes it easy to switch between split-screen and full-screen modes.
To launch an app in split-screen mode, just drag and drop it from the taskbar. In Android 12L, all applications may enter split-screen mode, which is very useful when dealing with foldable phones.
Google’s Play Store has also been updated to emphasize apps that are optimized for large displays. The business will provide additional tests to evaluate the quality of each app against Google’s large-screen app quality criteria. Large screen-specific app ratings can also be found. All of these changes will become apparent beginning next year.
In a blog post, the firm stated that the Android 12L feature will be released early next year, just in time for the next generation of Android 12 tablets and foldable. Android 12L developer preview is now available for emulators, and it will be released for Lenovo’s Tab P12 Pro shortly.
A public beta for Pixel users will be launched in the near future, and this update will also be accessible for smartphones, albeit most of the functionality will be hidden on smaller displays.