Android 15 Beta 2 Released; Battery Life, Performance & Privacy Improved

Google has announced the release of Android 15 Beta 2, as revealed by David Burke, VP of Android Engineering, during the company's annual developer conference, Google I/O. The beta version of the operating system is now available on devices from various manufacturers, including Google, iQOO, Lenovo, Nothing, OnePlus, Sharp, Oppo, Realme, Tecno, Vivo, Xiaomi, and Honor, and is compatible with smartphones, foldable devices, and tablets.

Android 15 focuses on key areas such as minimising battery impact, enhancing productivity, ensuring smooth app performance, and protecting user privacy and security.

One significant change in Android 15 Beta 2 is the introduction of a 6-hour timeout for foreground services related to data sync and media processing. This change aims to reduce battery drain caused by apps running in an active state for extended periods. Additionally, stricter requirements have been implemented for foreground services when the app is running in the background, along with more battery-efficient practices like debugging network and power usage.

Android 15 also introduces support for devices using larger page sizes, with the addition of 16KB pages alongside the standard 4KB pages. This enhancement is expected to improve performance for memory-intensive workloads, resulting in lower app launch times, reduced power draw, faster camera launch, and improved system boot time. As more manufacturers continue to build devices with larger amounts of RAM, the support for 16KB page sizes will help optimise device performance.

Furthermore, Google is making improvements to the Vulkan graphics API to reduce CPU driver overhead, leading to better app and game performance. Android 15 also includes ANGLE, an optional layer for running OpenGL ES on top of Vulkan, which is expected to provide better stability. Going forward, Android ANGLE will serve as the GL system driver, and future OpenGL and ES will be available via ANGLE. Google is also modernising the Android Canvas graphics system.

The AV1 software decoder has been improved, leveraging technology from VideoLAN, the maker of the popular VLC player for Windows and Android. This enhancement, available for devices not supporting AV1 decode in hardware, is up to 3 times more performant, enabling HD AV1 playback.

Privacy improvements in Android 15 focus on providing more transparency and control over data while enhancing the core security of the platform. New features like Private Space allow users to keep sensitive apps and data behind a separate user profile. The access to the photos app is also being made more selective, with apps only able to highlight the most recently selected photos and videos when granted partial access. Permission checks are being added to content URLs as well.

Google is also taking steps to secure background activity launching, preventing malicious apps from launching on their own and taking over the device.

For premium devices, Android 15 brings improvements to multitasking and a better overall experience with smoother transitions and a more helpful UI. Larger screen devices benefit from better multitasking options, such as the ability to pin the taskbar on the screen for quick app switching or saving favourite app combinations for easy access. Richer widget previews are also being introduced.

In addition to these major updates, Android 15 includes numerous quality of life improvements aimed at making the operating system more responsive and user-friendly.