Top Features of Android M or the Android 6.0!

So, whatever reading I have done it does sum up to one thing that unlike Android L, the Android M update of Google is not laden with lots of UI changes. Instead, it focusses on superior customer experience.

Taking you through the new features of the update, the update which is yet to be released in the market. (The developer versions are available but the final launch date is not yet out)

This is my top list of features, may differ for each one of us as per our usage.

1. Dose:  This would cut down on background activity when the app in on idle mode and thus, will increase the standby time of the device. What could be better than having some extra battery life. Pretty happy about this :)

2. Predictive Apps: Top 4 used apps in Recent Apps section on the top of the app drawer. Who likes to scan through so many apps any ways when you are looking for that one app you usually use.

3. Vertical Scroll in the App Drawer: Now we won't need to swipe-swipe-swipe, as in paginate to search for apps. The horizontal scroll is now replaced by the vertical scroll with apps stacked in the alphabetical order. Recent apps do stay on the top... 

4. Now on Tap: This is about those intelligent Google Now cards which do not forget to remind you of a meeting, or traffic way back home, your flight which is due in a few hours. These cards get even more smarter with Android M!

How?

Here, it is:-

Testers of the developer versions have shared that the Now Cards shall be accessible for third party applications.  This is to say that once you are in an app, say an e-commerce app and you are browsing a book; with a voice search command such as "Who is He" - the system will analyse your screen and provide information based on what you are searching for, in this example it could be information about the author.  

The Now Cards shall also be invoked from a long press on the home button while you are in the middle of say a conversation and it will assist you with a contextual card.

Good Job here as well... 

5. Volume Control: Yes it used to get tricky when I lowered the volume for my music application and the settings replicated to my call volumes as well.  Android 6.0 looks forward to curbing these woes with different volume control options for ringer, media and notifications upfront. A Sigh of relief is what I feel!

6. Finger Print Scanner & Android Pay: Not sure if these make me go buzzing with excitement in the Indian market context. But, yes it would be cool to see how these newer features perform globally esp. the Android Pay. By the way Android Pay is Google's answer to mobile payments using finger print to authenticate the transactions.

7. APP Permissions: Similar to the iOS experience, the android users will now also get the independence to control permissions given to an app. An app will now have to seek user permission to use say the contacts, camera or any other application on the user device and yes the users can control the permission management at all times through the settings. Good riddance from giving a host of permissions to apps which we did not want to give in the first place any ways. 

8. App linking: This is to say that the apps will automatically open up links without asking for browser permissions. Links would be opened within the app and not in the browser separately, so the experience would be a lot more seamless.

9. Allow Rotation: Switching this mode on allows even the home screen to turn to the landscape mode. Not sure of its utility though. Does it have cool feature quotient - May be, May be Not! 

10. Other Changes: Do not disturb & ability to manage icons in the toggle, Delete button along with share in the notification drawer for a screenshot, Cleaner Internal Storage Screen layout, Upfront memory management and a few more which don't really need a mention.

As an android enthusiast, all I hope that Android M is not as buggy as the first update of Android L was.

Fingers Crossed! :)