Cool New Features of Android L That Google Didn’t Announce

we expect to see it in the fall. There are a lot of new and exciting features, but there are some that Google didn’t mention in the announcement.

These are some of the features that were in the developer preview of Android L, and it’s possible some or all of them may not show up in the final version. However, you might find it fun to take a look at what they didn’t mention:

Do Not Disturb

Until recently, Android has not had an ability to block all notifications, which might be handy if you need some peace and quiet. In Android L., just open up the Quick Settings panel in the notification shade and you’ll find a notifications toggle. There, you can enable a Do Not Disturb mode that can be set to silent.

Search within the Settings App

The Settings app has a number of useful functionality, but if you happen not to know exactly what you’re looking for, it’s not easy to find it. It looks like the new app will come with a search box. You probably won’t need it for common things like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, but if you’re searching for the setting that enables color correction for blue-green color deficiencies, the new search box may be a huge help.

Estimate Time until Battery is Charged

Google promised to bring a lot of new battery saving features in Android L., and one of the things that it neglected to mention was that Android can now estimate how long it will take to fully recharge the battery. After your device is plugged in, the lock screen displays how long it should take until your battery is fully charged. Also, while unplugged, the battery section will give you an estimate of how long your battery should last, and when your phone is going to die. How accurate these estimates are is probably going to depend on your usage and the battery saver settings, but it looks like some nice info to have.

Adaptive Brightness

Auto-brightness might be a feature that works for some of you, but for most of us, it’s horribly broken. In the older version, you either set your phone’s brightness level manually, or you set it to auto and your phone gets complete control.

In Android L, Google is introducing a new feature called Adaptive Brightness. It attempts to combine manual and auto brightness by allowing you to manually adjust the brightness level to a state that you are happy with. Once it’s set, your screen adjusts to a level that’s based on ambient light, so it stays at the same brightness that is relative to the light around you. What a great idea! Now you can set the screen to your preferences without it going dark when you walk into the sun.

Android Beam is Easier to Use

Android Beam is one of those features that used to sound a lot better on paper than it actually worked in practice. You opened up your photo, contact, or the file you wanted to share, then pressed the two devices together, and tapped holding the screen until a connection was established.

Now in Android L, you can initiate a transfer with Android Beam via the Share menu. Then, all you do is tap the two devices together and the connection is complete. The amount of time you need to keep the two phones pressed is, thankfully, drastically reduced. It may actually be a feature you can use now.

Swipe to Access the Dialer from Lock

Display PDFs without a Separate App

Even if you don’t often really need to read a PDF on your phone, when you do it’s irritating when you can’t do it natively. If you have a pre-installed app like Quickoffice, you might not have noticed, however if you don’t have an app that has a PDF renderer included, it’s a lot of trouble finding one, especially when all you want to do is read a simple document in a hurry. Android L now is going to include a built-in reader. According to Android Police, this is not currently activated, but since these new features are in a preview build, it’s reasonable to assume that it will be available when it’s time for the final release.

Turn Off Notifications Per App

You already can disable an app’s notifications completely by going to the app’s system settings and unchecking the “Show notifications” button. Now, Google has made it a little easier to turn off notifications from more than one app at once. In the Settings app, simply tap Sound & Notifications > Showing notifications > App notifications. Then you will see a list of all the apps on your device. When you tap a given app, you’ll see the “Show notifications” check box. I’s not really much different than trying to dig through the app list, but it’s somewhat simplified, plus you don’t have to dig all through the Downloaded/All sections, or wind up getting cluttered up with some other settings.

When Android L is finally released, these features may or may not appear, but some of them are quite interesting. With so many new and exciting features, hopefully the ones you like will show up in the final version this fall.