Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Google confirms Android N supports pressure-sensitive displays

By

Android N Developer
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
The second Developer Preview for Google’s upcoming Android version — dubbed Android N — rolled out last week, and in it was a feature called Launcher Shortcuts. Google has confirmed the feature will work with pressure-sensitive displays, providing confirmation that Android N supports such displays.

Launcher shortcuts allow you to place a shortcut for an app action on your home screen. For example, you can create a shortcut icon in Google Maps to navigate you home, so you’ll never again need to open Google Maps and type in “home” to start the navigation. Another example is to add a shortcut to play the next episode of a TV show through a media app.

Recommended Videos

Developers would have to add shortcuts to their apps for this to be utilized.

These launcher shortcuts will work with pressure-sensitive displays, Google confirmed to Mashable, and they operate in a manner that is similar to Apple’s 3D Touch. While there aren’t many of these types of displays on Android devices, it’s noteworthy that Huawei has implemented this functionality on the Mate S, and last week news surfaced of Huawei trademarking the name, “Huawei 7P.” This could be for a successor to the Nexus 6P, or Huawei could be tapped to make the rumored 2016 Nexus 7.

Either way, Android has supported pressure-sensitive input since the very first version — but we may finally be able to see it officially implemented soon. Phandroid worked with Nova Launcher’s developer to test out the launcher shortcuts through gestures. You can take a look at how it would work in the video below.

This is 3D Touch in Android N

Note that a swipe-down feature is used to activate the shortcut — of course, with a pressure-sensitive screen, you would just have to tap the icon a little harder to have the shortcut pop up.

We’ll likely hear more about the 3D-Touch-like feature and Android N at the upcoming Google I/O developer conference in May.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Julian Chokkattu
Julian Chokkattu
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Julian is the mobile and wearables editor at Digital Trends, covering smartphones, fitness trackers, smartwatches, and more…
Google just announced 8 big Android updates. Here’s what’s new
A photo of many Android figurines on a white wall.

At Moblie World Congress (MWC ) 2024, Google is bringing a healthy bunch of new features to Android. In line with the AI push all across the industry, some notable AI-driven enhancements are on the table. There are also a handful of core Android features that sound practically amazing.
The first in line is Gemini. The generative AI chatbot recently got a standalone app for Android, and now it’s headed for the Google Messages app. Users can chat with Gemini directly in the messaging app and use its generative capabilities for a host of things, like drafting replies, refining a message, and more.

Another feature that was showcased a while ago is finally ready for prime time. Android Auto is gaining support for message summarization for standalone texts and group chats, and it can also suggest replies. With a single tap, users will also be able to drop a message, start a call, and share an estimated arrival time. The idea is to deploy AI for crucial tasks so that it can minimize distractions while driving.
Lookout, an accessibility-centric feature for users with vision challenges, is also getting meaningful AI love. On Android phones, Lookout will now read AI-generated captions and descriptions for media content. For now, the AI boost to Lookout and Messages is limited to the English language.

Read more
Google just announced Android 15. Here’s everything that’s new
The Android 15 logo on a smartphone.

Android fans, it's time to start your hype engines. Google just released the first developer preview for Android 15 — kicking off the release of the next big Android update.

This is just the first step in a months-long process of Android 15's rollout, which will see numerous developer previews and betas before the final release later this year. So, what's new, when is Android 15 officially releasing, and should you download it? Here's everything you need to know.
What's new in Android 15

Read more
Google is launching a powerful new AI app for your Android phone
Google Gemini app on Android.

Remember Bard, Google’s answer to ChatGPT? Well, it is now officially called Gemini. Also, all those fancy AI features that previously went by the name Duet AI have been folded under the Gemini branding. In case you haven’t been following up all the AI development flood, the name is derived from the multi-modal large language model of the same name.

To go with the renaming efforts, Google has launched a standalone Gemini app on Android. Moreover, the Gemini experience is also being made available to iPhone users within the Google app on iOS. But wait, there’s more.

Read more