Android M rumored to cut down on RAM usage, focus on better battery life
Android M Features
Update: Security
With smartphones being increasingly used for, well... everything, security is something which grows ever-more important. Google recently introduced a "find my phone" feature to Chrome, and a "kill switch" option in Android 5.1 to make stolen phones useless, and now it seems like it will include one-touch login for supported apps in Android M.
This was brought to our attention by Buzzfeed, which claimed that the new functionality would "allow users to log in to all of the supported applications on their Android devices without entering a password". This could potentially restrict app entry to the device owner, while simplifying the way in which it is accessed.
This would rely on devices having a built-in fingerprint scanner already (like on the Galaxy S6, for example), but if it becomes a useful part of the Android ecosystem, we'll likely see more devices released with fingerprint scanners in the future.
Smart home
Android 5.0 Lollipop already focuses on consolidating everything Android has brought us thus far and makes attempts at providing a more stable and quality-assured platform.
On the broader front, the Smart Home will be an increasingly important feature of Android, with complete control over your connected devices at home and in the office via Nest and other third-party makers.
Improved notifications
Notifications are always being improved upon because they are so frequently complained about. We want relevant notifications, which only appear when we need them, and currently, this is not an exact science.
Rumor has it that the next step Google is taking with notifications is to unify them across all platforms. A notification seen on your PC would not appear on your phone or tablet, for example. It’s early days, but we’re expecting some changes to the way notifications are both displayed and interacted with on Android M.
Android Wear
With reports that the Apple Watch has already shipped one million units (more than Android Wear devices did in the whole of 2015), Google will be searching for a way to fight back. Android M will undoubtedly bring some improvements to how smartwatches and smartphones interact, and probably with regard to notifications (once again) and voice input.
We may even see some AI robots introduced on which Android M will be demoed... or perhaps I'm just getting a little carried away. Whatever happens, we're pretty sure Android M will be all about bringing Android to as many new frontiers as possible: from your pocket, to your wrist, to your car and home to who knows what else.
Android M design and interface
We expect Android M to be what iOS 8 was to iOS 7: the big changes in Android’s interface, like the adoption of Material Design, have already been implemented. We doubt Android M will look vastly different to Android Lollipop: expect evolutionary change and refinement rather than a gee-whiz new look.
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