Google bans Android phones from having three or more notches
Google is building official notch support into Android P, but it's laying down some ground rules first: two notches is the limit. In a blog post for developers yesterday, Android UI product manager Megan Potoski wrote that Google is working with device partners "to mandate a few requirements" for app compatibility purposes. Among those are limits on notches.
The mandate says that Android P phones can't have "more than two cutouts on a device." Only one notch is allowed per side, and notches are only allowed on the top and bottom edges — not the left and right.
At this point, we haven't even seen phones with two notches, so the ban on tri- or quad-notch phones and left- and right-side notches is all theoretical. But the switch over to notched phones felt like it happened overnight (well, in the span of a few months), so putting some restrictions in place before things devolve should be helpful for making sure that apps continue to run properly on these strange new screens.
But I want a notch on my notch.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Wednesday August 01 2018, @03:41PM
The notch is the phone protruding into the screen. The pictured device in the article has one notch at the top.
Google's limitation is one notch per edge, and top and bottom only. As the article states, phones with two notches do not exist yet.
I'm curious notches will turn into a requirement in the future, similar to soft buttons or the 16:9 screen. Even when it is not a hard requirement, app developers struggle handling different screen formats and LED manufacturers will only want to supply the most in-demand market.