Android 15 Developer Preview 2 Released: Satellite SMS, NFC and SDR/HDR upgrades

Though a bit late, Google finally began releasing Android 15 Developer Preview 2. The Android 15 DP2 is now available for the Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 6a, Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel 7a, Pixel Tablet, Pixel Fold, Pixel 8, and Pixel 8 Pro.

Developer Preview 2 of Android 15 introduces “UI elements to ensure a consistent user experience across the satellite connectivity landscape.” Once updated, a system-level “Auto-connected to satellite” prompt surfaces citing how “You can send and receive messages without a mobile or Wi-Fi network.”.

As for the Google Messages app, “Android 15 provides support for SMS/ MMS applications as well as preloaded RCS applications to use satellite connectivity for sending and receiving messages.”

Image: Google

In addition, the company just confirmed to uplevel NFC tap-to-pay experience with Android 15. Here’s what Google said about NFC: More seamless and reliable –

• On supported devices, apps can request the NfcAdapter enter observe mode, where the device will listen but not respond to NFC readers, sending the app’s NFC service PollingFrame objects to process. The PollingFrame objects can be used to auth ahead of the first communication to the NFC reader, allowing for a one tap transaction in many cases.

As far as security and privacy are concerned, the v15 of Android will allow apps to detect when they’re being (screen) recorded and in turn inform users. Also, the new OS comes with more options for apps that customize Do Not Disturb rules:

• Adding types to AutomaticZenRule, allowing the system to apply special treatment to some rules
• Adding an icon to AutomaticZenRule, helping to make the modes be more recognizable.
• Adding a triggerDescription string to AutomaticZenRule that describes the conditions on which the rule should become active for the user
• Added ZenDeviceEffects to AutomaticZenRule, allowing rules to trigger things like grayscale display, night mode, or dimming the wallpaper

Android 15 allows developers to control HDR headroom when both SDR and HDR content appear:

• The image on the left shows a view with SDR content. The image on the right simulates perceived headroom issues with SDR and HDR mixed content, which we can avoid by setting the desired HDR headroom.

If your Pixel is running DP1, it should have got OTA to DP2, simply upgrade it. General users should not switch to Developer Preview build as the Public Beta is all set to be opened next month.

Image: Google

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