Despite the fact that users Android traditionally appreciate any updates that make it to their smartphones from time to time, almost no one tolerates the installation process itself. Everyone knows how boring it is when the device unpacks the update files, implants them into the operating system, simultaneously rebooting several times in a row. In this sense, application updates are not particularly different from system updates. After all, even if the update rises exactly, at these minutes it is impossible to use the updated application or game from the word at all. But Google wants to partially fix this flaw in one of the following versions Android.
The new filesystem that appears in Android will be called incremental
Google is working on a new – incremental – filesystem for Android, which will debut in future updates Android. This is an advanced analogue of the virtual file system Linux. It will allow you not only to use applications during the installation of updates, but also to activate them during the initial download. That is, in order to launch the game, it will be enough just to click on the download button in Google Play, and the game world will begin to load gradually as you progress.
File system Android
New file system will allow applications to run before they are fully loaded
Due to the way the new file system is implemented, developers probably won't even have to make any meaningful changes to their applications. The operating system will automatically detect the important information blocks that form the game or program, and load them first. As a result, the user will practically not feel any difference between the downloaded software and the one that is being downloaded. Only in some areas of the application or game, the performance of any manipulations can be temporarily limited to reload the necessary components.
This is actually a very common practice. Sony and Microsoft have long allowed branded game console users to launch games before they finish downloading. By and large, there is nothing strange in this, because in order to open the first level in a particular game, no more than 100-200 MB of downloaded content is enough. And since the necessary sections of the games appear as they load, you can continue the game almost seamlessly.
What's new in Android 12
Based on the information contained in the source code of the operating system Android, Google is currently testing the incremental file system on the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL. However, it is most likely not to debut in Android 11 due to its complexity. To fully implement the idea, Google developers will have to carry out many different tests and work on debugging the new system, as a result of which it may turn out that the company cannot cope without the help of the creators of third-party software. After all, it is not yet a fact that Android will independently be able to break software or games from Google Play into fragments that will be downloaded in turn.
Google already had a similar experience. As recently as last year, the company was going to introduce Scoped Storage as part of Android 10. It was supposed to split the built-in storage of compatible devices into many independent cells, thus limiting the ability of third-party applications to request data from others . However, the developers said that for this it is necessary to change the layout of programs in a special way and demanded from Google to postpone the introduction of the innovation until 2020.