Google has officially taken the wraps off its next iteration of Android, currently dubbed Android M.
The new mobile operating system features a number of upgrades over Android Lollipop, with the company highlighting a total of six areas of improvement in Android M.
The first area is in app permissions, which have long been an area of concern for users who don't want to hand over their data to unknown companies. Android M will now request permissions on a permission-by-permission basis, and they are simplified to location, camera, microphone, contacts, phone, SMS, calendar and sensors. Not only that, but permissions will not be requested until the first time an app needs to use that permission. So, for example, if a user downloads a third-party camera app, after the app has been installed and the user opens it for the first time, Android M will request permission to access the camera for that app. Users can also revoke the permission later on in their settings.
The second area of improvement is in Web experience. The company unveiled Chrome Custom Tabs, which will essentially overlay a Chrome tab over an app when a user clicks on a link. That tab will be in the style of the app itself, and users will easily be able to go back to the app.
Next up is app links. In previous versions of Android, if, for example, a user clicked on a Twitter link in an email, they would be asked each time if they want to be taken to the Twitter app or if they want to be taken to Chrome. Now, through coding magic, Android M will make a request to the server of Twitter, in this example, to identify that the Twitter app is indeed the best place to take the user. The user will no longer be asked where they want to be taken each time they click on a link.
Google is also introducing Android Pay in the Android M release. Android Pay works much the same as Apple Pay in that it uses a token system to never reveal the user's card information. It works with any phone that supports NFC, will work in 700,000 stores around the U.S., and carriers like AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile are all on board with the new system.
Somewhat related to Android Pay is fingerprint support, which will be built into Android M. Users will be able to scan their fingerprints directly on the touch screen of Android devices, and can use their fingerprints to unlock their phone and pay for items with Android Pay, among other things.
Last but not least, Google has been working on ways to conserve power in Android M. The operating system will feature what the company is calling Doze, and devices will essentially enter a sleep mode when the feature detects that it has been left unattended for a long period of time. Devices will still react to high-priority notifications during this sleep phase, but Doze will save a lot of battery power. The extra battery juice can then be put to good use to charge other Android devices, with Google announcing that once devices include USB Type-C ports, users will be able to charge one Android device with another.
There is no official release date for Android M, but Google has said that the operating system will be available in the third quarter of this year. The company has, however, released a developer preview for it, which is available for the Nexus 5, 6, 9 and Player.
