Android M Is Official

Google has officially announced its latest operating system – Android M at Google I/O 2015. Here are some of the new features and changes that they have made to the operating system.

App Permission

Apps will now be able to ask for permission only when certain features are being used. For example, if the user is chatting via an app like WhatsApp and wants to record a voice message or send a photo, a one-time prompt will appear asking them to grant the app permission to the phone’s microphone or camera.

Improved Mobile Browsing

Google has also looked into improving the browsing experience on mobile devices. One of the new features is called Chrome custom tabs. How it works? Instead of an app sending the user to the browser or using a webview, they can instead use a Chrome custom tab to display the content.

Users will also be able to go back to the app anytime by pressing the back key. Another feature is App Links in which developers can auto verify links to open in their respective apps.

Android Pay

The concept of Android Pay appears to be similar to other mobile payment services. All users have to do is unlock their phones and tap it against an NFC payment terminal and they’re good to go. It is an open platform so different apps can be used to activate the feature.

Standardized Fingerprint Authentication API

Fingerprint support will allow users to unlock their phones using their fingerprints, make purchases on Google Play, and as Google demonstrated with the Target app, it can also be used to authenticate payments for purchases on shopping apps as well.

Improved Battery Performance

Google has introduced a new feature called Doze which detects when your device has been inactive for extended periods of time. From there, it will go into a deeper sleep which will trade app refreshes for better battery life, but at the same time keeping the device awake just enough for certain events like alarms.

According to Google, they did a test with the Nexus 9. They had one device run on Android M and the other on Android Lollipop, and they found that battery life on the Android M Nexus 9 was twice as long.

Other Improvements

There’s a floating toolbar for copying/pasting text. Text can also be selected in chunks as opposed to by character, making it easier and faster, and Google has also finally addressed the volume control feature that many users weren’t too happy with.

Android M has no solid release date yet but according to Google, chances are we could be looking at a Q3 2015 release.

Source: ubergizmo.com