This new Android 16 feature might give a big performance boost to older phones - here's how

Kerry Wan/ZDNET Android 16, which might arrive as early as June, should bring a number of exciting changes and upgrades when it debuts -- but one upgrade is specifically designed to give older phones a boost when installing new apps. Also: I changed 10 Samsung phone settings to seriously level up the user experience Google calls the new feature cloud compilation. Android Authority, who first discovered this trick in the code for an Android 16 beta, dives into the technical specifics of the new feature, but here's how it works in short. When you install an app, your phone processes parts of the code (artifact files) to ensure the app runs properly. This can take some time, especially on an older device with a less powerful processor. With cloud compilation in Android 16, you'll get the app and the processed artifacts all at once. This makes for a larger file size, but it also makes for a shorter installation time. New or flagship phones might not notice much of a difference, but th ... Read full article.