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Cloud storage is pretty awesome for keeping files available across all of our gadgets while freeing up space on mobile devices. Unfortunately, accessing files in the cloud creates a layer of indirection that may complicate things a little bit, but things become even more complicated when the Storage Access Framework adds yet another layer to the equation. Historically, the SAF could only serve up files that were stored locally, which meant they had to be downloaded and stored before a URI could be returned to the requesting app. That took time and wasn't always necessary, depending on what the client really needed. Android N adds an alternative that may be useful in these situations: virtual files.
There's an unsurprising correlation between developers that respond to reviews and the average ratings on their apps. Apps with a higher number of responses often have above average ratings, especially when they can turn an unhappy user from 1 star to 5 stars with a helpful tip. Sure, there are exceptions, especially if the responses are combative, but a few simple words can turn around the angriest of customers.
The first updates to Google Play Services v9.0 began rolling out a full two weeks ago, but with no notable user-facing features and nothing to report in a teardown, it remained a fairly quiet update until today. Google just put up a blog post with details of what's new in the framework, and it's all about the developers. This is the first major update to Play services since December, and it's actually pretty small compared to other releases in recent history. Only four major APIs affected. This version adds an API for in-app video recording, updates Nearby to make permissions a bit easier, and gives a few improvements to both the Ads and Player Stats APIs.
If you cruise by the Android developer site with any frequency, you may have noticed that it looks a little different. There aren't a lot of tiny individual adjustments, but rather two immediately obvious changes to the look and layout.
