Google tells Android developers to get ready for a 5G world

Google tells Android developers to get ready for a 5G world

+Google has asked developers to transform their apps and games for a 5G world which it imagines will be more immersive.

Google suggested 4 new enhancements that 5G enables.

With 5G, what was previously only possible at home on WiFi is now available outdoors.

Google hopes more developers will leverage the new speeds to incorporate high-quality video chat in apps and multiplayer modes to games.

For those apps that are photo-centric, Google suggests that videos or augmented reality content could become the new default.

In the past, videos and AR content would need time to buffer but now they can slot into app interfaces more seamlessly.

The third recommendation is to prefetch content. This will let users get started watching content more quickly than before.

The fourth recommendation to developers is to put content streaming into the mainstream.

Google said that in the 4G world, streaming content was the exception but with faster speeds, streaming can be done reliably and should have a more prominent role inside apps.

Google is also adding new APIs to make features such as these possible.

It has also added features to the Android SDK emulator that let developers build and test apps using these APIs without needed a 5G device or network connection.

If these enhancements seem interesting to you, Google has launched a new page collating all of the new features and how you can build them into your products.