Google highlights improvements to camera and media functionality, new tools for connectivity optimisation, and expanded profiles for companion devices for Android 17.
Media
In more detail, Google is promising to bring “professional-grade tools to media and camera apps”, for example seamless transitions and standardized loudness.
“We have introduced updateOutputConfigurations() to CameraCaptureSession. This allows you to dynamically attach and detach output surfaces without the need to reconfigure the entire camera capture session. This change enables seamless transitions between camera use cases and modes (such as shooting still images vs shooting videos) without the memory cost and code complexity of configuring and holding onto all camera output surfaces that your app might need during camera start up. This helps to eliminate user-visible glitches or freezes during operation.”
Also, when working with logical cameras that combine multiple physical camera sensors, you will be able to request additional metadata from all active physical cameras involved in a capture, not just the primary one.
Additionally, Android 17 will support the Versatile Video Coding (VVC) standard. Apparently, yhis includes defining the video/vvc MIME type in MediaFormat, adding new VVC profiles in MediaCodecInfo, and integrating support into MediaExtractor. Note, this feature will be for devices with hardware decode support and capable drivers.
Finally, there will be configuration options for constant quality (CQ) mode for video encoders. They will be adding setVideoEncodingQuality() with the aim of enabling finer control over video quality beyond simple bitrate settings.
Canary
Note, the release marks a shift in the way Google brings out new releases to developers, moving from its Developer Preview model to something called the Android Canary program. This is hosted on reddit.
Matthew McCullough – Google’s VP of Product Management, Android Developer – writes:
“We’re going to be moving quickly from this Beta to our Platform Stability milestone, targeted for March. At this milestone, we’ll deliver final SDK/NDK APIs and largely final app-facing behaviors. From that time you’ll have several months before the final release to complete your testing.”
Android 17 Schedule
Google’s plan is for Android 17 to get quarterly updates in a series of quarterly releases.
“The upcoming release in Q2 is the only one where we introduce planned app breaking behavior changes, ” it states. “We plan to have a minor SDK release in Q4 with additional APIs and features.”
As always, the rollout begins with Pixel devices.
It was back in December 2024 that Preview 1 of Android 16 first appeared. It was fully released in June 2025.
