First of all, to answer the question in the title, i'd like to say THERE IS A LOT NEW!
Yes, Android marshmallow seems to be pretty good keeping in view its new features.
Let me just give you a summary of whats new first, so that it'll be easier for you too see what interests you with the next Android version.
- Android Pay
- Standardised fingerprint support
- Rotating home screen
- App permissions
- Google now on tap
- Doze
- Easier volume controls
- New app drawer
- Dark theme
First of all, you'd like to read this post only if you know whether your phone will get the Marshmallow update. View our post Devices likely to get the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update
I hope that your device is getting the update. Mine is not getting it, yet.
Android Pay
With the arrival of Apple pay and Samsung pay, Google is not left behind and is getting its own payment feature called the "Android pay"
As many of us know, Google had initially come up with Google wallet back in 2010 when gingerbread was released, it didnt turn out to be successful.
The process works by creating a virtual account number, which mean your actual number is not shared with the retailer. This aims to make the process more secure. It's set to work with 700,000 stores in the US and will work with existing credit and debit cards from the likes of Mastercard. For developers, they'll now also be able to introduce Android Pay inside apps to make purchasing quicker and easier.
Standardised fingerprint support
Although the fingerprint technology is not present on many devices, Google has come out with necessary API's for app developers to add fingerprint sensing to any app. This will also be extended to android pay which will help the paying process to happen conveniently and securely. It will also enable extra security for accessibility of personal apps like messaging, WhatsApp, FaceBook etc.
Rotating home screen
Yes you read it correctly, surprisingly we did not expect something like this feature in which our screens will rotate. Did you? I just though this will remain endemic to the tablets only, but well Android M is getting this feature.
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| Photo: Phonearena.com |
The screen rotation function for the home screen has finally made an appearance. Now you can use your phone in landscape format both in apps and on the home screen.
App permissions
We have all been through this, whenever we want to download any app, the app asks for accessibility for apps which seem to be irrelevant.
For the bnifit of users, the users can now choose to allow the app for what it can access and what it can't. These will stick to your camera, GPS and sensor.
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| Photo: Phonearena.com |
Google already used this feature to test with WhatsApp. To call someone on the app, you will get a popup asking for accessibility of the microphone upon which the request will be initiated.
Google now on tap
Google's " Google now" one of the good features of Android, is getting much better. As we know that we hardly get any information on Google now when compared to Siri or Cortana. Google now will show answers to your request for almost any question by searching the web for answers. For example, while watching a video, you will want to know something about the artist in the video, just press you home button to know about it.
I think this could completely beat its competitors if this feature is going to be as we expect.
Doze
I know that we all charge our phones after draining it completely, even wait until it goes to about 1% of charge.
Marshmallow is getting a very good feature for us! It will identify when the phone is on rest and then will reduce the background apps to save your battery. But now you're saying to yourself, but i need to get my alarm or message, DONT WORRY! Doze has the feature with which you can restrict the apps you want to run and you dont want to.
A first of a kind tool which seems to be pretty helpful.
Easier volume controls
If you are a lollipop user, you'd know it is indeed pretty difficult to reduce or increase the volume in Lollipop. Google has heard us, and now gets easier volume controls which allow you to control volume of many things running like the sound from Music or alarm.
New app drawer
This is VERY different from all the app drawers in the history of android.
If you know how Yahoo's Aviate launcher works, Google's new app drawer is pretty much like that. You have to browse through apps vertically and not horizontally. Google is doing this because users will get more space on their screen
I personally didnt like Yahoo's aviate laucher. Hope I like Google's, what about you?
Dark theme
If you have used any Apple product from iOS 7, you will probably know that you can change the colour of the entire software which includes apps, settings menu etc.
Buried within the Android M settings lies something like what Apple already has which is a "Dark theme" option which transforms the menu background to a dark grey color rather than the normal pale shade. Currently this only affects the settings menu, not the app drawer, and its function is purely cosmetic. Still, it looks nice on our Nexus 6 and we hope it gets developed further.
However, some sources tell that this might not be a part of the update
NOTE: This list is updating and might not be totally accurate.
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