600 CHAPTER 16: The Future of Android: The 64-Bit Android 5.0 OS
Security has been improved via a Dynamic Security Provider, which now offers an alternative to
the current secure networking APIs. This allows security patches to be updated more rapidly (to
keep ahead of hackers). I mentioned the App Indexing API in the previous section. It allows content
inside of your tablet or mobile applications to be accessible to Google search, which will drive end
user engagements with your application.
There is a new set of APIs targeting wearable devices, called the Android Wearable Services
APIs. These make it easier to interface with an app that is running on an Android wearable product.
These APIs are designed to be “low latency” (fast and efficient), as well as to sync the peripheral
automatically with the parent device.
There are also Enhanced Ecommerce Analytics features that developers can analyze to determine
where in the overall purchasing process an end user may be abandoning an initiated transaction.
Developers can measure product clicks, add to carts, checkout initiations, transactions, refunds,
promotions, and reviews of product details.
Finally, there is a new set of Google Play Game Services APIs that include the Quests APIs and
Saved Game Snapshot API, which take features that are normally “inside” of your (client-side) game
programming logic and transfer them to the server side so that they can take on social media (friend
and public view) attributes. There is also a new Game Profile feature, which allows developers
to provide “experience points” for their game players, similar to a public-facing top score list on
physical arcade game hardware in the arcade.
The Quest APIs provide developers with the ability to set up time-based “goals,” or quests, for their
players, and to provide rewards to these players on the “server side” without having to update the
game on the “client side.” This means that the Quest Engine is a service on the Google Play Services
5.0 server that runs independently of your game (or any other type of app) and receives information
from your game when your players achieve your predefined milestones, such as reaching a new level
or finding rare hidden treasure, for instance.
The Saved Game Snapshot API is also a service, which I like to call an “engine,” that runs on the
server side and that will save a player’s progress in your game (or any other type of app) to
“the cloud” (a server) so that the user can use the game across the different types of screen types
(consumer electronic device categories) such as smartphones, iTV sets, tablets, game consoles,
eReaders, smartwatches, home media centers, and the like. You can also store the game splash
screen (or cover image), gameplay description, and minutes played, along with the game snapshot
(progress) information, for re-engagement and viral marketing purposes. The next section covers
the new UI design features that Google added to Android 5.0.
Material Design: Multi-Platform UI Design
There’s another new UI Design feature that Google is calling Material Design and it will replace
the concept of styles and themes, but that is essentially the same thing other than for the new
terminology and additional features. The reason I give it its own section is because it allows
developers to take an entire OS User Experience (UX), which is essentially the OS User Interface (UI),
across all Google’s platforms, including Android OS, Chrome OS, Chrome Browser, Google Apps,
Gmail, Google+, and Google Voice.