Freeform windows may no longer be the bane of your Android UX app
Over the years, Google has taken small steps to adapt Android to larger screens. With Android 10 came the advent of a generic desktop mode while Android 12L contained a full suite of optimizations for tablets and foldable devices. But with Chromebook owners who seem eager to seek the usefulness of Android apps no matter how broken they may be with poorly formed user interfaces in free-form windows, this just-announced addition to Android Studio seems way overdue.
The Chrome OS team encourages developers to mimic their projects with the new desktop Android virtual device on the upcoming Electric Eel version of Android Studio.
The Android 12-based virtual desktop will let users see how their app behaves when called upon to resize to different states, work with other apps in multi-window mode, show notifications, and show toggles activity from the taskbar.
While Google has seen a 50% increase in the use of Android apps on Chrome OS over the past year, and two-thirds of Android Police readers with Chromebooks use them at least occasionally, this will be another surface. that app makers will have to worry about on a regular basis. base, especially with game publishers who want a piece of Google Play Games on PC.
But hey, knowing is half the problem. The new AVD is part of the other half.
