Telia experts present five main innovations of Android 15, including not only satellite communication, but also a new way of loading accessories.
“The operating systems of our smartphones are so advanced that for the last few years, new versions of Android have been limited to fairly minor improvements in the quality of use. Android 15 won’t be a big revolution either. The update will make it safer to listen to audio recordings, mute annoying application notifications, and help you pay for purchases in the store more smoothly on your phone.
The biggest innovations of the operating system should be the ability to send SMS messages via satellite connection and charge various smart accessories using the NFC communication module,” says Telia’s smart devices expert Marijonas Baltušis.
Communication via satellite
For the second year, the iPhone has allowed its owners to contact emergency services using a satellite connection, and Apple has already managed to share more than one story of how this feature was able to save people in the epicenter of natural disasters or in trouble.
Android smartphones have not been able to boast of such capabilities until now, but Android 15 will finally offer a full-fledged alternative to it. Unlike the iPhone, the devices based on the world’s most popular operating system will not make calls, but send SMS messages via satellites covering every patch of Earth.
“Satellite communication will make it possible to contact loved ones or emergency services when on a cruise ship or in remote mountainous areas where the usual mobile network does not work. However, it’s important to note that satellite communications on your phone will require hardware that enables it, and the service itself will likely require a paid plan and will be available in a limited number of markets.
Therefore, it is likely that, at least at the very beginning, only buyers of the latest and most luxurious devices, who live in the USA or other major countries, will be able to use this innovation”, M. Baltušis believes.
Safer content listening
Many headphone wearers have experienced the unpleasant effect of deafening sound when they decide to listen to Spotify or watch Netflix following a quiet phone conversation.
Android 15 will introduce the new Loudness Control function, which will constantly monitor the volume of the content you are listening to and always keep the volume at the same level, regardless of the sound source. In other words, the smartphone itself will be able to mute excessively loud audio tracks, so you will never once more have to freak out when a quiet YouTube video is interrupted by a loud commercial.
A smoother process for bank payments
Today, almost every bank operating in Lithuania offers mobile payment options, which is why smartphones are no longer replacing physical payment cards for some of us. Unfortunately, the checkout process itself is not always the most pleasant for Android devices. It is not uncommon to have to hold the phone to the scanner at the cash register several times before the mobile wallet application is activated on the smartphone and the transaction takes place.
Android 15 should free users from these inconveniences by allowing the phone to establish a connection with the payment terminal even before the payment is made. Having done this in advance, the device will simply wait for a click on the screen confirming the payment or a fingerprint scan, which will provide an additional level of security for contactless payments.
Charging via NFC module
NFC communication is used quite widely in modern smartphones – contactless payments are made through it, files are transferred from one device to another, and digital business cards are scanned. However, few people know that in 2020 industry representatives approved the specifications of the NFC wireless charging (WLC) standard, opening the door to much more convenient use of various accessories.
It seems that Android 15 will bring this technology out of the drawer and make it a reality following almost four years, according to traces found by programmers in the code of the new operating system.
“The NFC chip is much smaller than the induction coils used for traditional wireless charging, so it can be installed in devices as small as digital pens, item trackers and headphones.
The ability to be conveniently charged simply by placing it on the back of the phone would free these devices from having to replace batteries or the need to use a separate port to charge them. In addition, in this way, even cheaper smartphones, which usually do not have the necessary components for traditional wireless charging, would gain wireless charging capabilities,” the expert explains.
Silencing annoying notifications
A number of modern applications do not stop attacking the user with various messages from the first time they are turned on. App developers constantly offer various promotions, encourage participation in games and announce updates. It interferes with our concentration and distracts us from important things, and we don’t always have the opportunity or the ability to turn off app notifications.
Android 15’s functionality called Notification Cooldown will offer a solution to this problem. It will monitor how many messages each app sends in a short period of time, and when it notices the smartphone owner being attacked with one informational message following another, it will simply silence them.
Since a lot of messages can be sent by our friends in various chat channels in a short time, and we can’t always answer them immediately, temporarily muting the sound of messages is a much better alternative than turning off the application’s notifications completely.
The final version of Android 15 is expected to be released in October this year, and should reach phones from the most popular manufacturers by the end of this year.
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2024-04-24 09:31:02
