For many users one of the most frustrating things about Chinese phones from Xiaomi and Miuzu and other Chinese brands catering mostly to the China market is that they don’t support dynamic notifications. We echo this sentiment, and while Xiaomi etc… have gone to great lengths to make what they feel is a more functional Android, lack of interactive notifications is a huge gap between AOSP (vanilla) Android and OS such as MIUI.
Google is making a step forward in changing that by updating the terms of use for Android Nougat. According to Google’s new terms in their Compatibility Definition Document (CDD), OEMs using Android 7.1 will be required to comply with supporting interactive notifications.
Interactive notifications allow users to, for example, reply to an email, or a message in WhatsApp, directly in notifications. Or, to drag down on your Gmail notification to see all new messages without actually needing enter the applications.
The aim of the new mandate is to provide a uniform Android experience across all devices running Android 7.1 or later.
The consequences if brands don’t comply
While this will touch brands selling officially outside of China, it’s unfortunately unlikely to affect models which are sold officially only in China. The reason for this is that the consequences for not complying is that OEMs using Android 7.1 are that manufacturers will not be legally permitted to include Google apps in their OS. Since Xiaomi and many other China brands don’t include Google apps anyways, the new CDD mandates are a moot point.
Still, it could mean we begin to see interactive notifications implemented in Xiaomi devices which have official Global ROMs, such as Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Pro, and Xiaomi Mi5. That is, assuming Xiaomi updates these ROMs to Nougat 7.1 at some point.
The more likely possibility, is that Xiaomi will just ignore the mandate, as it would be very difficult to legally challenge Xiaomi in countries outside of the USA and EU.
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