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Android M’s coolest hidden feature needs a lot of work

Published Jun 1st, 2015 8:05PM EDT
BGR

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Last week, we brought you word of an incredibly cool hidden Android M feature: Multi-window support that will let you have two apps open at once side by side. However, Android Police has been playing around with this new feature and has found that Google has kept it hidden for a reason — namely, because it needs a lot more work.

RELATED: 10 hidden Android M features Google didn’t discuss in its I/O keynote

“It’s worth mentioning that this is still very early in its development and is quite buggy,” Android Police explains. “But the idea is there – you can run two things on the screen at one time.”

Tim Schofield has also posted a video on his YouTube channel showing off how multi-window support works on his Nexus 9 tablet, although like Android Police he finds that it’s “super buggy” and doesn’t work as it should. Check out his full video here:

To enable this feature on the Android M developer preview, do the following:

  • First, edit your build.prop and change the user type to “userdebug.” This will cause multi-window to show up in your developer options.
  • Next, go to Developer options and find the box for Multi-window mode. Switch this mode to On.
  • Finally, to fine tune the layout of your multi-window mode you’ll have to access your phone’s recent menu, which shows the apps you’ve most recently opened in a stacked card format. On the upper-left hand side of each card you’ll notice a new icon that’s next to the “X” of each one. Clicking on this will give you different layout options you can choose.
Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.