Android O preview has some great things you can play with, but you are not yet able to test the majority of its features, at least not until developers start working on their implementation. While third-party developers still need to add support for the newest functionality to their apps, Google has already implemented the new Notification Channels feature in the Android System. Try it out to see for yourself how it’s designed to work.
The Android System notifications are useful for the case in which you really need to be alerted about some important core feature of the operating system. For instance, they might show up in case of an OTA update or you might see them at the moment of connecting a new storage device.
Regarding the Android O, you’ll also see them appearing when an application is drawing on top of the screen.
Let’s see the way it is supposed to work. Try long-pressing on a notification and you’ll reach the option to see “All Categories”. If you choose it, it will take you to the app’s settings and here you are going to be able to turn on and off notifications for each channel that has been implemented by the developers. More than that, you are going to be able to make some modifications regarding the levels of importance for each channel. You can also control whether they appear on the lock screen or not. You can set one type of notification to make a specific noise, and the other notifications can remain silent as they appear.
All in all, Notification Channels allows you more control not only over the types of notifications you’re receiving, but also over the manner in which you get them. This adds more customizability to the operating system.
When developers will start to publish apps for Android O, we’ll definitely see more of this, as their apps will start supporting this new feature.
Leave a Reply