More details about Android N have surfaced after the second developer preview release, and one main feature on the upcoming operating system may be similar to 3D Touch of iOS. Tech blog Phandroid recently demonstrated the feature though a weather app run on custom home screen software, Nova Launcher .
A video demonstrates how a user can pull up the 5-day forecast for a weather app by doing a swipe down motion on the application icon. As there are currently no Android smartphones equipped with 3D Touch feature, the developers used the swipe down motion to trigger the launch of this drop down aspect. Once Android devices are equipped with the full features, users should be able to use different pressure points to call up different actions. The developers also show the difference between the force touch and a long press, which would allow users to move the app icon about their home screen.
Currently, Google refers to the feature as Launcher shortcuts. “These shortcuts contain an Intent into specific points within your app.”
Among other new features found in Android N developer preview 2 are, the Vulkan gaming API and support for emoji unicode 9, among other API changes and bug fixes.
Google is expected to reveal more in depth details about Android N at Google I/O in May. Android N is expected to release sometime during the summer.
