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Google Android 6.0 M is Marshmallow : All you wanted to know

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Android M Developer Preview

After 4 months of wait & preview of the Android M, Google has officially announced the name for Android M which stands for Marshmallow.

Android M Marshmallow PhoneRadar

After showing the number of smartphones running Android OS, Google’s Sr. VP for Products, Sundar Pichai introduced something new that was well expected, but added just more excitement to it. Android M Developer Preview is announced, and there are some core features Google has worked on, for this particular version. Android M is going to be released in the third quarter of 2015.

Top features in Android M

App Permissions

The new set will have a total of eight permissions, and apps only will ask for the permission for a particular feature when you are using it, rather than asking for everything when you first install it. Some permissions, as shown in the example WhatsApp, include Contacts, Camera, Location, Microphone, Phone, SMS, and Calendar.

The user can dig into it to check which apps are using a particular feature, for example, GPS. So now, whenever there was an update available for an app, the permissions are not asked again.

Web Experience Android MWeb Experience

There’s a new Chrome Custom Tabs section with support for saved passwords, autofill, multi-process security, and account sign-in. What looks like an in-app browser will be Chrome with all the support like the proper Chrome app.

This feature is going to be available from today, to the developers.

App Links

Now, the user doesn’t have to always select which app has to open when a link is tapped on. For example, if an email has a link to Twitter tweet, you don’t have to select Twitter app, as the intent system from Android will automatically decide which app suits the best for it, and will open the Twitter app directly. The verification is done by Android itself, and you don’t have to keep doing the app selection.

Android Pay – Mobile Payments

Android Pay uses NFC and Host Card Emulation, and it is, according to Google, all about simplicity, security, and choice. There is no extra code needed now for Android Pay transactions to be done, as the first step of unlocking the phone is enough.

Since Android Pay is an open platform, it is a choice of using either Google’s security, or bank’s application to active Android Pay. This function is going come pre-installed on the new devices via AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile.

Fingerprint Reader Support

Google is officially bringing the support for fingerprint reader, thankfully, because till now these were all dependent on the OEMs, and it was the manufacturers incorporating the feature.

Power & Battery Life

A new feature called Doze is introduced.

Doze Feature in Android M

Doze is all about a smarter management of power in the device, and that includes Motion detection, where if the phone isn’t moving, then the apps are cut off from the background. Only a few selected features are kept active, like the alarms and high-priority chat messages.

Google team seems to have done the tests on Nexus 9 running Lollipop, and Nexus 9 with Android M having Doze feature, and the latter seemed to have lasted up to two times longer than the former.

USB Type C: There is an official support for USB Type C for connectivity on Android M. This reversible connectivity can help charge anything else using the Android phone.

Other features we see included in Android M

  • Features while connecting the phone: There is a new Power supply feature that will let the Android phone charge the other connected device.
  • Silence Android, new Volume controls: The new volume control setting can be dropped down as a menu, and the options will now let the user properly get the phone into silent mode. Remember the problem in Lollipop OS?

When is Developer Preview going to be available?

The developer preview will be available today, for Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 9 and Nexus Player.

There are a lot of other features included as well, but the list above is the major features that were announced today, and we’ll be making this list only longer as we get to learn about them.

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