Owners of the Verizon-exclusive Motorola Droid Maxx 2 will be able to enjoy a host of new features as their devices are updated to Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
The Droid Maxx 2 was launched in October 2015 with Android 5.1.1 Lollipop and featured a near-stock build. The 5.5-inch phone is equipped with an IPS LCD at 1080p with 403 pixels per inch. It is powered by a 1.7 GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 and a 1 GHz quad-core Cortex-A53.
Other features included a massive 3,630 mAh battery with an estimated life of up to 48 hours and 21-megapixel rear camera. The 16 GB internal storage can be expanded up to 128 GB using a microSD.
Moreover, with the update, the microSD slot gets a new life as an Adoptable Storage, which allows users to mount their expansion cards as internal storage instead of a portable card.
This feature requires a UHS-1 class high-performance microSD card and marries the card with the phone to allow secure storage through encryption to the individual phone. If the microSD card is mounted in another device, or switched to portable storage, a full wipe will be required before the microSD card is usable again.
Android 6.0 Marshmallow was announced in May 2015, but it was not officially released until October 2015 with the launch of the Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P and the Pixel C tablet. Updates for older Nexus devices, including the Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 7 and Nexus 9 were released on launch day.
Marshmallow includes updates to battery life and power management. The Doze feature conserves battery life when the device is at rest for an extended period by enabling a sleep standby state while still allowing alarms and other notifications to function. Standby analyzes apps to determine usage frequency and limits battery drain on seldom used applications by limiting notifications and running in the background.
Another very useful feature is Now On Tap. This feature provides contextual Google Now cards in applications at a push of a button. These cards allow users convenient access, such as inserting a calendar event from a quick text message, without leaving the application.
Users will also have granular control over application permissions. Apps developed with the Marshmallow software development kit, use the new permission model that prompts users to allow specific behaviors once the application requests access. Older applications still use the original Android permission model that requires all requested permissions at app install.
Droid Maxx 2 owners will begin seeing Marshmallow over-the-air updates in the next few weeks as Verizon is rolling the update out in waves. Before downloading the update ensure your Droid Maxx 2 has plenty of battery life and is connected either to a strong cellular data signal or fast Wi-Fi.
