Google's Android M – the follow-up to the popular Android Lollipop – is set to be announced at Google I/O 2015.
While some suggest that Android M won't be a very big update – considering how big Android Lollipop was – it's likely that Google will have a few tricks up its sleeve.
It's however unlikely that Android M will feature too many user interface changes, largely because of the fact that Android Lollipop introduced things like material design and other big UI tweaks. That's not necessarily a bad thing — it suggests that Google will be focusing on Android runs under the hood.
The first thing to expect in Android M is better performance. While Android Lollipop was the first to support 64-bit processing and use Android runtime, Google still has a few things to fix as far as battery life goes. Google started working on better battery life with Project Volta, and many hope that it will continue to innovate in the area.
One feature Android users have been asking for is full device backup. While iOS users can completely back up their device for data transfer or in case of theft, Android users have to resort to rooting their phone in order to achieve the same thing.
Another feature that has been requested over the last few years is multi-window support, or the ability to have multiple apps open in different windows at once. While this would be somewhat hard to utilize on a smaller device, it could really come in handy on larger tablets.
As technology improves and devices become capable of doing more, these gestures are increasingly important. Apple is rumored to be adding Force Touch to the next iPhone — technology that was developed through the Apple Watch, that has made its way into things like the MacBook computer.
Google, with Android, hasn't really innovated when it comes to gestures for a while. Google's partners, like LG, have introduced things like KnockON, allowing users to control a screen by tapping a device. Features such as these haven't yet made their way into stock Android. With Android M, though, Google will likely introduce a number of new gestures to control Android devices.
Last but not least, many Android users are hoping for better customization options. Many feel that Google has not taken advantage of Android's reputation as a highly customizable operating system. We anticipate that this will change with Android M.
