Android P may introduce stricter call blocking

According to some new commits that were discovered by XDA-Developers Android P might be bringing a new feature to the stock dialer app. This commit was part of a new set of commits that were added to AOSP from a Sony Engineer.

This new feature would allow you to block all incoming calls from any number that isn’t in your list of contacts. Text strings found in the commits suggest there will be option to block numbers based on the following criteria.

Phone number not in contacts list

Phone number not disclosed by the caller (Private number)

Phone number is from a pay phone

Phone number does not have any caller ID information

This feature would be disabled in the event that you make an emergency call in the event that responders need to reach you after dialing 911 or your local emergency call center number.

Finally, it appears that the feature can be disabled at the carrier’s discretion. So it’s possible we’ll see carriers try to sell you a service for blocking unwanted phone calls.

The feature isn’t actually a part of Android just yet, but it’s entirely possible we’ll see it starting with Android P. Personally, this is a feature I welcome because I constantly get phone calls about reducing my non-existent student loans.

Check out the Source link for more insight on the commit found about this new call blocking feature.

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Android Pistachio Ice Cream to embrace the notch, integrate Assistant even more

This year's Android update is reportedly codenamed Pistachio Ice Cream internally, though Google may choose to go with another moniker when it launches. Android P is expected to better accommodate handsets with an iPhone X-like notch at the top of the display, according to "people familiar with the situation".

Google Assistant will be even more integrated into the OS and emphasized by it, as developers will be able to use it inside of their apps. The Google search bar widget may also finally integrate with the Assistant, but apparently these two features are so complicated to implement that they aren't finalized for introduction this year.

The notch that started it all

Android P should come with further improvements to battery life, and support new smartphone designs, like multiple screens and foldable displays. This is interesting because it means Samsung may finally out the much-rumored Galaxy X with a foldable screen by the end of the year.

The report goes on to claim that one of Google's key goals this year is "to persuade more iPhone users to switch to Android devices by improving the look of the software". We're going to assume this refers to the Pixel line, because the software on Samsung and Huawei phones looks pretty different from Google's vision, so it's likely that any such improvements won't make the jump anyway.

Source