After months of rumours and arguments in the office over the version number and name of the next Android, Google has finally ended the dispute by announcing that Android M will be Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
So Milkshake, Mars, Macadamia, Milky Way, Meringue, Milk Dud and other possibles are all out of the window. Also the 5:20 time in the demo mode of one of the developer previews indicating the version number being 5.2 is also incorrect.
Following Android Alpha and Android Beta, Google has always named its Android OS updates after sweet treats, and in alphabetical order. So far google had Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean, KitKat and Lollipop.
"Whether you like them straight out of the bag, roasted to a golden brown exterior with a molten center, or in fluff form, who doesn’t like marshmallows? We definitely like them! Since the launch of the M Developer Preview at Google I/O in May, we’ve enjoyed all of your participation and feedback. Today with the final Developer Preview update, we're introducing the official Android 6.0 SDK and opening Google Play for publishing your apps that target the new API level 23 in Android Marshmallow," said Google.
Android Marshmallow new features:
Android M is an incremental upgrade and focuses largely on bug fixes. Google is concentrating on six areas with Android M: App Permissions, Web Experience, App Links, Mobile Payments, Fingerprint Support and Power & Charging. See also: Android M vs iOS 9 comparison
A few of these categories are particularly interesting. In terms of power Google announced Doze, a new deeper-sleep state for devices running Android M that uses motion detection to learn when a device is not in use and puts them into a sort of ultra power-saving mode. You'll still get important notifications, but Doze has the potential to bring up to two times longer battery life, as Google has shown to be the case with the Nexus 9 running Android M.
When the power finally runs out there will be Android M-wide support for USB Type C, or USB-C, which is a reversible-type connector that not only allows you to charge your phone or tablet three- to five times faster but you can use it to charge another device.
With Android M Google will also standardize support for fingerprint sensors. Not only will these be used to unlock and secure your phone, but they tie in nicely with the new Android Pay mobile payments system, which focuses on simplicity, security and choice. Android Pay is an open API, allowing developer's to add it to their own apps.
App permissions are also changing in Android M. Rather than requesting your permission to use certain features at installation time, Android M apps will request permission for activities the first time it is required.
Many of the new features in Android are developer-focused improvements (as show in the below slide) that will make the whole experience smoother for Android users, although they may not necessarily be obvious changes.
Another new feature in Android M is Now on Tap, which is in essence Google Now but wherever you are on your phone. Say for example you're on WhatsApp with a friend, discussing where to go for dinner and your friend suggests a restaurant that you've never heard of. Activating Now on Tap by holding the home button will bring up a plethora of information on the restaurant, including opening times, reviews, directions from your current location and (if available) a way to book a table there and then. According to Google, it'll get more accurate the more you use it too.
As well as these main features, Android M also brings with it a plethora of smaller improvements. These improvements include easy access to Voice Action from the lock screen - simply swipe from the left corner to activate Google's Voice Action technology. There are also new window animations in Android M, with elements now appearing from their point of interaction, providing a nice 'flow'. As well as this, there's also an improved notification system that resembles Apple's banner notification, allowing for unintrusive notifications on your Android device.
Google has also included an 'Intelligent Prediction Engine' that sounds like Apple's 'Proactive' assistant in iOS 9. Google has said that Android M will monitor your habits and produce a tray of app shortcuts that it thinks you'll be using, at various different times of the day. It should become more accurate the more you use it, too.
Android Marshmallow sample apps
Google has unveiled three new sample apps for Android Marshmallow that show how some of its features will work. They are not designed for consumers, however, and Are available to devs through the Google samples repository on Github or through Android Studio.
Rich Hyndman introduced the new apps in an Android Developers blog post, where you can learn more about each of them. However, to summarise, Android Direct Share provides APIs to make sharing data between apps more intuitive and quick for users, while Android MidiSynth and MidiScope are both associated with new MIDI support in Android 6.0.
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