Smartphones have become intertwined greatly within our everyday lives. Being disconnected from the online world for even a day makes us feel like we’ve missed out on important developments.
Considering the inordinate amounts of time we spend attached to our devices, it’s natural that every technology business is fighting to gain a competitive edge. This means that users are receiving the very best experience possible, which is also a great opportunity for a company to enhance customer interaction.
What can we expect from Android in 2019?
With every new year, we see a flurry of precited trends that will change the smartphone world. Android and IOS have long been regarded as the top dogs, but more recently, Android has seen their market share soar. Android adoption has grown enormous amounts, with people looking for alternatives to the iPhone.
In this article, we’re analyzing the future of Android, and see what trends 2019 brings in terms of design and capabilities.
Intelligent Shortcut Assistant
The rising popularity of digital assistants has made way for a new range of clever apps. Android app development has gone through the roof, which is why concepts called ‘Actions’ and ‘Slices’ were introduced. These are deep links to different apps that appear at various places on Android based on the individual’s usage. This is essentially an assistant of sorts, whereby the user will be able to open up Google Assistant and start typing an instruction. The app will then predict what the user is looking for, creating a shortcut for users.
Blockchain Will Become Integral
The idea of blockchain becoming further integrated into our smartphones in 2019 isn’t exactly surprising. The technology has been on the rise for some time, and it’s now ready to be incorporated in other types of apps. A blockchain is transparent, and there is no master copy for any data. It can keep a record of every transaction, holding information about where it originated and where it ends up.
Much like AI and machine learning, blockchain is already being used in retail, education, healthcare and law. HTC has already launched its first blockchain-based smartphone, encouraging others to step up their game.
Instant Experience
There’s no denying there are a lot of unnecessary apps on our devices, most of which we never use. With Google Play Instant, users can now try apps without having to install them first. What’s more, Android instant apps are stored and operated from the cloud so there’s no space taken up on your smartphone. Furthermore, with the Internet of Things (IoT) rising in popularity, on-demand apps are going to be increasingly used, with many of them being IoT compatible.
Machine Learning Chatbots
Chatbots are being used more and more frequently as an effective way to offer customer service. Gone are the days where users would call up a company and stay on hold until they’re put through to an adviser who can’t help with their query. Chatbots are always instant, quick and knowledgeable. Through machine learning, computers have been able to adapt their responses to be the most effective, learning from their mistakes and providing more adequate answers each time. These evolutions have led to companies like Google and Microsoft to use chatbots more often. The use of chatbots is said to increase to 25% by 2020, with Android being a keen adopter of this customer service method.
Introducing Android Protected Confirmation
Android Protected Confirmation comes with the concept of ‘Trusted UI’. Essentially, it’s a hardware-protected interface that can perform interactions fully outside the main mobile operating system. This Trusted UI protects the choices a user makes online from fraudulent apps or a compromised operating system.
When an app invokes the Android Protected Confirmation, control is based to the Trusted UI. The user then needs to confirm or deny the sources’ correctness. Once confirmed, the user’s intention is cryptographically authenticated and relayed.
This ensures that the user is protected when using the site. For example, this process may take place when a user logs into their banking app.
Multiplatform Development On The Rise
The Flutter framework is made by Google. It allows developers to build native apps on Android from a single codebase. This provides a new architecture, such as customizable and extensible widgets. A brand new option is to use Kotlin, a language already used by Android developers to share code between platforms. This runs on a JVM but can also transpile to Javascript.
The capability to write Kotlin code is useful for both IOS and Android. It allows us to share code like models, business logic, repositories, and presenters. Most importantly, it’s set to dramatically change the way that app developers work. The Kotlin native is predicted to become more popular as we get further into 2019.
Android Enterprise
Just after IOS devices, Android smartphones are the most popular devices by those who use their phone for work. Android Enterprise is a Google-led program that establishes best practices of Android app in an Enterprise ecosystem, as well as providing complete control over apps and data owned by a business or organization. This provides tools for developers which offer integrated support for Android.
The Future Of Android
There is set to be a major shift to Android in 2019, as the future of Android application development has a lot to offer. The mobile market has been on the rise for some time, but there’s never been a definitive preferred platform. Between blockchain, machine learning, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence, there’s a lot for Android to tackle. Google’s operating system is moving towards a fast-paced, unified experience that puts the users first. Most of all, Google wants to satisfy its customers. While mobile trends tend to come and go, the latest technology shows a significant movement in the industry, that goes far beyond Android.
Author Bio:
Paul Matthews is a Manchester based business and tech writer who writes in order to better inform business owners on how to run a successful business. You can usually find him at the local library or browsing Forbes’ latest pieces.
