The Google I / O 2022 does not stop giving surprises and the latest news to tell is Now in Android, a new sample application, open-source and available for download for all interested parties.
Like much other news that we have told you in the last two days – think of the many changes regarding the Google Play Store -, this too is perfectly in line with the real target of the conference, that is the developers of applications for Android. For end-users, after all, it’s more of an interesting curiosity than something actually useful.
Now in Android: what it is and how it is born
As exhaustively told by Paris Hsu (Product & Design, Android) and Don Turner (Developer Relations Engineer, Android) on the official Google blog dedicated to Android developers – who obviously already know -, Now in Android is not been an unprecedented reality, since for two years it existed both as a blog and as a video series on YouTube (the entire playlist is available at this link).
Now in Android was created with the aim of offering all interested parties the latest and most significant news for developers coming directly from the Android team. Starting yesterday, May 12, 2022, Now in Android is still evolving and becomes an application to all intents and purposes: the most curious can find the alpha version on GitHub at this link.
Launching Now on Android as an application is not an end in itself, but rather has two fundamental objectives:
- The first purpose, as told by the team, is to showcase best practices, possible designs and solutions to complex real problems that other sample applications do not deal with. All this is done with an open-source approach, similar to that of other real apps commonly downloaded and used by Android users.
- Secondly, the sample app Now in Android has been expressly designed in order to help developers – which is the only real target it is aimed at – to keep up with the areas of development of the Android operating system of their particular interest. . It is a working application, which is already scheduled for next publication on the Google Play Store.
Now on Android: first alpha version
The development of the new sample Now application on Android is still in progress, so much so that, as mentioned, the version currently available for download on GitHub is an alpha. However, during the announcement, a list was drawn up of what the application already includes:
- UI made using Jetpack Compose.
- Theme components with Material3 (Material Design 3, better known as Material You).
- Adaptive layouts for displays of different sizes.
- Architecture that follows the official guidelines to the letter.
- A responsive programming model with one-way data flow, implemented using Kotlin Flows.
- The offline first approach, with Room and Proto DataStore for local data storage.
- Remote/local data synchronization scheduled through WorkManager with exponential backoff.
Since this is a sample app, the developers do not fail to provide details on the path that led to certain decisions rather than others, here is a prime example of that.
Even in closing, however, it is reiterated that Now in Android is still an application in alpha, therefore it is foreseeable the presence of bugs and missing functions, in reference to which users are encouraged to provide their feedback.
There is no shortage of anticipations on the future of the application, starting with the implementation of functions such as user authentication and loading data from a real backend. Finally, for the more curious, the following dedicated sessions of the Google I / O 2022 are available: