A quick look at UI changes in Android 7.0 on a Nexus 6P

Overnight my Nexus 6P received the latest new Android 7.0 (coded named Nougat) so I thought I record a video looking at some of the UI changes. One of the reasons why I pick Nexus devices over other OEMs Android phones is that Google push out OS updates directly so it’s doesn’t take long to get the new version once Google push out the final version.

Just like Microsoft have done with Windows 10 many of the day to day features of the OS are broken out in to specific apps like Gmail, photos and contacts so OS updates tend to be around notifications, settings and some UI features.

Notifications

The first thing I noticed are the changes to notifications. The notification cards are now clearer and less Google Now like, they actually say what app generated notification and how long ago the notification came through, eg Outlook 17 mins. You can also replies directly from the notification, so if you get a text message or twitter message you can directly reply without having to open the app. You can also tap and hold on a notification and then select “show notification silently”, “Block all notification” or “Don’t silence or block”. So it’s easy to quieten down a noisy app. There is also a Clear All option to get rid of all notifications with one press.

Notification Shade

I also noticed the notification shade has changed to show quick actions which is not unlike how Windows 10 Mobile works. There is a button to show more actions and you can customise the order they appear just like Windows 10 Mobile. So you can place the most important actions to you on the top row for fast access, I like having the hotspot and wifi buttons at top.

Split Screen

One of the main changes seems to be the addition of a Split Screen mode. You can hold down the task switcher button and it splits the screen with the currently opened app at the top and then the list of other open apps bellow it, you can then select an app and you will have both on screen at the same time. It seems to work very much how Windows worked back in the Windows 8.1 days and works well on a small device. Not all apps support it and the OS will warn you with either “it may not work” message where it will try to split it any way or a “this app will not work” message where selecting that app will switch back to full screen mode. Split screen works pretty well in portrait mode and is probably more useful in landscape mode.

There are a lot of other subtle changes which I haven’t covered like settings section and there are improvements to battery life and app management. So overall nice subtle changes are improve the overall experience with the phone.

Here is my video: