(Credit: René Ramos, Bob Al-Greene; Google)
It now looks a little more obvious why Google introduced the first developer preview of Android 15 last month with a space-launch logo: Developer Preview 2, announced Thursday, extends existing support for satellite roaming.
A post by engineering VP Dave Burke leads off with that change, saying the release “includes some UI elements to ensure a consistent user experience across the satellite connectivity landscape” and adds satellite-connectivity support to both its own and third-party messaging applications.
An included screenshot shows Android popping up an “Auto-connected via satellite” notification advising the user that “You can send and receive messages without a mobile or Wi-Fi network.”
Satellite-to-phone connectivity—whether limited to messaging as in Apple’s Emergency SOS and in the earliest versions of T-Mobile’s future Starlink roaming or including broadband as planned in AT&T’s partnership with AST SpaceMobile—is one of the biggest changes coming to the wireless industry. Last month, Google said it would work with AST SpaceMobile to advance satellite connectivity.
Other Android 15 features revealed in this preview won’t require rocket launches before users can appreciate them. Our pick: Burke’s post describes “substantial improvements” to Android’s PDF code that will enable apps using that framework to offer search, text-selection, and annotation features.
Another part will add system-level support for the external “cover screens” that some Android foldable phones use to display notifications (for readers of a certain age, the concept may also evoke the “Windows SideShow” concept Microsoft failed to popularize in Windows Vista).
Developer Preview 2 also includes NFC tweaks to allow a phone’s NFC-compatible software to listen to nearby readers to allow smoother tap-to-pay transactions, a privacy defense that will enable apps to report to their users when a screen recorder is active, and “AutomaticZenRules” to customize Android’s Do Not Disturb feature.
Developers can test this update on newer Pixel phones—the 6, 7, or 8 series, plus the Pixel Fold and Pixel Tablet. Google continues to project a “platform stability” release in June, followed by an official release “several months later.”