Here’s my (very biased) takeaways from several talks at Google I/O 2023:
- Kotlin build scripts are now the default for Android projects.
- Google seems to be trying to add features to Android to try and placate Samsung’s zest for killing apps (see dontkillmyapp.com). One such change is that Foreground Services will now require a type.
- Like last year there was a lot of emphasis on better supporting larger screens and config changes (which makes a lot of sense alongside the new Pixel Fold). There’s some new tooling that looks pretty helpful for making this easier such as a new resizeable emulator and new “Device API” (undocumented but discussed here) for Espresso which they claim gives synchronous test device rotations.
And to finish, a poem:
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a cheer for dark theme.