Oneofthemostinterestingnei-cameraAPI.Sincemanymodernphonesnowhavedualfrontorbackcameras(withGoogle’sownPixelbeingtheexception),GoogledecidedtomakeiteasierfordeveloperstoaccessbothofthemwiththehelpofanewAPItocancallafusedcamerastreamthatcanswitchbetweentwoormorecameras.Otherchangestothecamerasystemaremeanttohelpimagestabilizationandspecialeffectdevelopersbuildtheirtoolsandtoreducethedelaysduringinitialcaptures.Chancesare,then,thatwe’llseethemoreFrontback-styleappswiththereleaseofAndroidP.
Onthemediaside,AndroidPalsointroducesbuilt-insupportforHDRVP9Profile2forplayingHDR-enabledmoviesondeviceswiththerighthardware,aswellassupportforimagesintheincreasinglypopularHighEfficiencyImageFileFormat(HEIF),whichmayjustbetheJPEG-killertheInternethasbeensearchingforfordecades(andwhichApplealsosupports).DevelopersnowalsogetnewandmoreefficienttoolsforhandlingbitmapimagesanddrawablesthankstoImageDecode,areplacementforthecurrentBitMapFactoryobject.
IndoorpositioningisalsogettingaboostinAndroidPthankstosupportfortheIEEE802.11mcprotocol,whichprovidesinformationaboutWiFiround-triptime,whichinturnallowsforrelativelyaccurateindoorpositioning.Devicesthatsupportthisprotocolwillbeabletolocateauserwithanaccuracyofonetotwometers.Thatshouldbemorethanenoughtoguideyouthroughamallorpopupanadwhenyouareclosetoastore,butGooglealsonotesthatsomeoftheusecaseshereincludedisambiguatedvoicecontrols.