The feature is available on Samsung Note phones and tablets

Mar 11, 2015 09:04 GMT  ·  By

If you have ever handled a device like the Samsung Galaxy NotePRO 12.2 (or any from the Galaxy Note family for that matter), you’re probably familiar with the multi-window feature.

The technology allows users of these devices to multi-task by dividing the display into two halves that run different applications.

Well, it has now come to our attention that more Android devices will soon be getting this feature. Google’s I/O conference will take place in May, and during the event, the search giant might have some pretty big news for us in terms of Android changes.

Multi-windows might be made available on any Android phone

A day after Google officially rolled out the Android 5.1 update, the folks at Phandroid dug up a reference to the “multi-window” functionality from the AOSP framework Code Commit.

Surely, at this moment, multi-window is just a mention and we can’t give you any details about how such a feature could end up being implemented in non-Samsung phones and tablets.

Google’s I/O 2015 will be held between May 28-29, so the search giant might talk about what we should expect from future Android updates, and multi-tasking could be one of the features we’re going to see break-cover.

While multi-tasking isn’t all that useful on a smaller display, it could still bump things in terms of productivity for owners of phablets and tablets. So the addition could be a good idea.

Android 5.1 just went official

Google has just rolled out Android 5.1, which brings support for multiple SIM cards, Device protection and high definition (HD) voice on compatible phones.

While the new build adds lots of improvements and important bug fixes, we can’t say it constitutes a major update. This is probably reserved for Google’s upcoming big event.

However, the addition of the Device Protection option is pretty important. When stolen or lost, the device with Android 5.1 Lollipop will remain locked until the owner signs in with their Google account, even if someone resets it to the factory settings.

Google says that Device Protection will be made available on most smartphones and tablets shipping out with Android 5.1.

The new operating system build is currently being offered to the Nexus family, and a bunch of Android One smartphones taking advantage of Google’s latest are also shipping out to customers in Indonesia.

Multi-tasking on a Samsung tablet (4 Images)

Example of multi-tasking on the Samsung Galaxy NotePRO 12.2
Multi-tasking on the Samsung Galaxy NotePRO 12.2Multi-window on the Samsung Galaxy NotePRO 12.2
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