Google on Thursday at its eighth I/O annual developers' conference, held
at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, revealed the next version of
Android operating system dubbed Android M alongside announcing a new
standalone service called Google Photos, which will store photos and
videos for free. (Also see: Google Photos With Free, Unlimited Storage: 10 Things You Need to Know)
The Mountain View company also released the new
Android M developer preview, just like how Android Lollipop was released
as Android L at last year's I/O conference. Similarly, the official
name of the new OS version will only be revealed at the time of the next
Nexus device launch, expected in October. Google also stressed that for
Android M, the company has focused on improving the core experience of
Android and has made some changes to the fundamentals of the platform
apart from fixing several bugs. During the Google I/O keynote, the
company also revealed that this time it will provide a clear timeline
for Android M Developer Preview for testing and feedback to the preview
build.
Here are biggest changes to Android that Google has introduced with Android M.
App Permissions One
of the biggest additions that Android M brings to the Android platform
is the revamped app permissions. The company, as rumoured previously,
announced increased user control of app permissions in the M release.
Android M also changes existing permissions system by breaking down user
permissions into specific categories, and having apps ask the user for
permission at the time access to a feature is required.
This changes how
apps handle permissions, with apps now prompting requests for
permissions when running, which means popups will flash in the right
context and let users grant permissions for specific features.
Additionally, users can manage all their app permissions in settings.
The company has advised developers to design their apps in a way that
they prompt permission requests in context, and even account for
permissions that are not granted. "As more devices upgrade to M, app
permission behaviour will be a critical development flow to test,"
writes Google.
Now on Tap With Android M, Google Now gets a
major revamp with the Now on Tap feature. It brings a major overhaul to
how Google can provide contextual information within an app itself. It
works within any app and automatically searches the context present on
the screen by just long pressing the home button.
The Now on Tap search
(see below screenshot) is different from conventional search as it presents cards with data and
actions. Google gives an example of a texting app where you receive a
text from a friend asking about dinner at a new restaurant - now you can
ask Google Now to search about the new place without leaving the app.
The company wants developers to implement App Indexing for Google Search
to let users discover and re-engage with apps through Now on Tap.
Web Experience Google
at I/O 2015 also revealed a new Chrome feature that will change the Web
experience for Android users, called Chrome Custom Tabs. Instead of
embedding a Web view in an app, developers can enable a Google Chrome
overlay on top of the active app.
This overlay or Custom Tab will give
users the convenience of Chrome's power and security along with their
saved settings and passwords. The feature will become available on a
stable version of Chrome for Android sometime in Q3 2015.
App Links The
next improvement in the latest Android M release is intended towards
handling Web links. This means Google wants its OS to easily handle
links between apps with its Android M release. Until now, clicking a
link within an app prompted a popup message asking user to open it
within the app or to open it in a Web browser. Instead, with Android M,
developers can have the operating system verify whether a link should
open within an app or open via a new one. Google details that developers
can add an autoVerify attribute to their app manifest so that users can
be linked deep into the native app without any disambiguation prompt.
Mobile Payments Google
was rumoured to be working on its new Android Pay mobile payment system
for a long time and the company made it official at the I/O conference.
The company revealed that Android Pay was developed on its work with
Near Field Communications (NFC) in Android Gingerbread (v2.3) and Host
Card Emulation in Android KitKat (v4.4). Android Pay will allow users to
pay via their Android smartphones in stores or even in Android Pay
partner apps. The new system will securely store details of credit
cards, loyalty cards, and other payment-related data on the device.
Google did not reveal the timeline of Android Pay's rollout but said it
would be available on Google Play for download soon.
Fingerprint Support Fingerprint
scanning technology on smartphones has been around for some time;
though has been limited until now to select OEMs and their individual
implementations. Google with its Android M release wants it to change
and has added fingerprint APIs for developers to add into their apps.
Google believes that native fingerprint support enhances the Android Pay
feature that will allow users to confirm the purchase with their
fingerprint. Apart from Android Pay, the feature will allow users to
sign-in or authenticate themselves on apps, as well as on websites via
Google Chrome.
Power Management Every year we see Google
coming up with a new feature in its latest Android release to improve
upon battery usage. Last year it was Project Volta and this year Google
is coming up with a new feature called Doze. The company believes that
the new feature will make Android devices smart about managing power.
With Android M release, the OS will realise via tracking motion
detection whether the device has been left unattended for a while.
Following this, Android will limit or 'exponentially' back off
background activity of an app with the purpose of extending battery
life. The best example of this can be the Twitter app which keeps on
adding new tweets on top for the user to see only to use more data or
Wi-Fi thus affecting the battery life. This will change with Android M.
New RAM manager Google
is also bringing a new RAM manager that will offer more details about
memory usage than just readouts for running apps. The new RAM manager in
the Android M Developer Preview will be available in Settings >
Apps. The manager will now show users how much memory recent apps are
eating up and will rate them "good" and "average". Much like before, it
will show individual app information. This new feature will let users
recognise the most memory-hungry apps installed on the system and can
help them to get rid of them.
Adoptable Storage Devices We
already know that Google for several reasons forgoes an SD card slot for
its Nexus range of devices. However, the Adoptable Storage Devices
feature might be the first sign that Google is changing its strategy to
add some more space into the device 'smartly.'
With Android M,
Google is adding the Adoptable Storage Devices
feature which will treat external storage devices such as SD cards as
internal. In order to do this, Google wants you to format your microSD
card adding encryption which will make it only work on your device. The
company will then let you use your microSD card on stock Android devices
either as a portable storage or an internal storage. If the latter,
users can then choose to store apps, app data, and other data on the SD
card. As for external storage devices like USB drives, the new feature
will let users assign as portable storage, and use it with the native
file manager and get notifications for quick actions on the drive.
New App Drawer The
Android M Developer Preview also brings redesigned app drawer. With
Android M, the app drawer along with widget picker will scroll
vertically instead of sideways in previous generations. The colour
design and icons looks similar to Android Lollipop.
Auto Backup and Restore for Apps With
Android M, Google will also be bringing what may be one of the most
useful features for users often migrating between devices or formatting
their smartphones - auto backup and restore for app data. With Android
M, users will get their all apps backed up automatically to Google Drive
- specifically settings and app data less than 25MB in total.
The
company confirmed that
the automatic backups will occur every 24 hours and will not count
towards the user's personal Drive storage share. Interestingly, the data
of the app is uploaded to the user's Google Drive account after
encryption. The feature would allow people signing into their Google
account on new Android devices, or on a device after a factory reset, to
recover all their app settings and app data once they reinstall their
apps and sign-in.
USB Type-CSupport Google at I/O 2015 also announced that Android M will support USB Type-C ports. While this is great in terms of reversibility, and that with new Android devices with the port built-in users will never have to worry about which way their cable is facing, it also adds some other features. Since the standard allows for transfer of power, video, and audio in both directions, users can rely on just one port for their A/V needs, and, also charge other devices - this last was emphasised by Google at the announcement as well. With the new USB standard, users will also be able to charge their Android devices 3-5 times faster than earlier. Alongside, Android M will also get USB support for Midi devices.
Much like Android L, the new Android M
Developer Preview includes an updated SDK with tools, system images for
testing on the official Android emulator. It will be available for
testing on Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 9, and Nexus Player devices.
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