The first Developer Preview for Android 15 was released last month, and today’s version is available. Public betas are still a ways off; the first is scheduled for April. The second preview is also meant for developers to check their apps against, similar to the first preview.
With Android 15 DP2, satellite connectivity is one of the biggest new features. It includes UI elements that are designed to “ensure a consistent user experience across satellite connectivity landscapes”, according to Google.
Apps can detect when a device is connected to a satellite, so they are aware of the reasons why full network services may not be available. Furthermore, SMS/MMS and RCS applications preloaded on the device use satellite connectivity to send and receive messages.
Also, PDF viewing has been improved, allowing developers to render password-protected PDFs as well as annotations, as well as search, edit, and select items in PDFs. It should also be faster and less resource-intensive to view PDFs locally. Google Play system updates will update the PDF renderer independently of Android version updates.
A seamless and reliable NFC experience has also been implemented, as well as automatic language switching for audio recognition. Android 15 now allows developers to display their apps on the small cover screen of flip-style foldables.
With Android 15, apps will detect when they are being recorded, and there is now support for a loudness standard that avoids loudness inconsistencies between different audio files. Lastly, you can now customize the Do Not Disturb mode, so you can give some rules more importance than others, and you can set rules to turn off the display, turn on night mode, or dim the wallpaper by triggering them with certain rules.
