Google has announced Android support for foldable phone screens – BGR



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Phones with foldable displays could never be more than a niche product. Again, if you are Google and you face a seemingly endless reality of fragmentation between Android device manufacturers with all kinds of different screens, sizes, and form factors, it may be wise to intervene on the ground. Floor and offer Android assistance to foldable phone manufacturers such as Samsung in the hope that you can start promoting some uniformity sooner, at least with respect to the application experience, which allows for a transition seamless between different screens, including flexible displays.

That's what motivated Google to announce today, at the Android Developers Summit, that Android is officially supporting a category of "Foldable" devices. The Vice President of Android Engineering, Dave Burke, said that Google was basically planning to improve the operating system "to take advantage of this new form factor with as little work as it needed .

Beyond this announcement, there is not much else in terms of details yet. Although there is a "Foldables" session this week at the developer summit, she would have more to share.

The Android developer blog has a few other things to say, including the fact that several Android manufacturers, such as Samsung, are about to be, who presented a taster today and is considering to offer it next year.

"There are two variants in the broad sense," says the post. "Dual-screen devices and one-screen devices. Once folded, foldable items look like phones, slipping into your pocket or purse. Once unfolded, their characteristic is what we call screen continuity. For example, start a video with the smallest screen folded – and later you can sit back and unfold the device to get a screen the size of a larger tablet, for an immersive experience of any beauty.

"As you deploy, the application seamlessly moves to a larger screen without wasting time. We are optimizing Android for this new form factor. And make changes to help developers around the world take advantage of the opportunities offered by incredible new experiences, new ways to engage and delight your users. "

The message goes on to point out that as of Android 1.6, different screen sizes and densities have been taken into account so that the platform can support new form factors and new experiences such as Android TV , Wear OS, etc.

All this to say that the "support" that Android offers for collapsible applications currently seems to be primarily an orientation in the form of developers direction towards the screen continuity feature that mentions the above mentions . Sagar Kamdar, director of product management for Android, said The edge There are different ways to reduce the fragmentation between devices and collapsible experiences, but Google has nothing else to announce. At least today.

"The company is not yet ready to tackle some of the most basic questions, such as is Google going to create a default home screen for collapsible objects?" The edge reports. "Will better support for drag and drop on a full screen display be available? Will device manufacturers need to sign a different type of Android license to create a foldable phone?

"Nevertheless, the most important question is whether Google is present or not to prevent the fragmentation of this new form factor. The answer seems to be yes. "

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