Most eligible smartphones are yet to receive a stable version of Android 12, but plans are well underway for the development of the next major Android update, Android 13, internally called “Tiramisu”. A report by XDA Developers has provided a trove of information of possible changes and updates that the new version of the popular operating system might bring sometime next year.
Before we get our feet wet with what is on the way with the Android 13 update, XDA Developers note that the build they looked at is quite early, and what we find in the end might slightly differ from what they had access to.
Release date
With Android 12 getting its release less than 3 months ago, Android 13 will most likely get its public release in Q4 2022. However, we will get Developer Previews of the operating system preceding it, which will be available much sooner. This will be in line with the timeline of previous Android releases.
New features
The first major change is that Google is working on setting the language on a per-app basis. The feature has been code-named “panlingual” and would allow for a multilingual person to change the language of a specific app while the system UI and other apps do not get affected by the change. For instance, one will be able to set social media apps to Swahili while the rest of the apps and UI remain in English.
The second major change is that Google might add a new runtime permission in Android 13 called POST_NOTIFICATIONS. This will mean that apps have to ask for permission before they can post notifications. It will work the same way new apps ask for permission before using the camera, mic, location or contacts. Currently, in Android 12 and lower, you can only revoke the ability for an app to send notifications through settings, but this is opt-out rather than opt-in which Android 13 will introduce.
Another interesting change mentioned is TARE, which stands for The Android Resource Economy. TARE will change how applications queue tasks through APIs like AlarmManager and JobSchedular. Previously, individual apps would be allowed to queue tasks as they please until they reach the maximum number of jobs, which was 50.
TARE will change this and instead assign “Credits” to apps to spend. The total number of credits TARE will have access to will depend on things like the current battery level, while the number of credits TARE gives to an individual app will depend on the task that the app wants to queue.
Android traditions and name origins
Previously, Android used to name previous versions of their OS after desserts, and the tradition continued till Android 9 Pie. Android 10 marked the first version which Google failed to name after a dessert, and instead just stuck to the version number.
However, every Android release has an internal codename, which still happens to be named after a dessert. Android 13 is no different with the internal name being Tiramisu which is a coffee flavoured Italian dessert and is frequently seen as a flavoured adaptation onto cakes, ice creams, and other desserts.
Featured image source: Online Culinary School
