Google officially announces Android M, preview coming today!

It was only a year ago now that Android Lollipop, then known as Android L, was first shown off to the world. Bringing Material Design and tons of under the hood improvements, Android L was the biggest change Android had seen in years, but the tech world doesn’t hold still. Today at Google I/O, Android M was officially unveiled!

Just like with Android Lollipop’s I/O announcement last year, the final candy-flavored naming convention and release version number have yet to be outed, though we can expect these details to be divulged with the final release later this year.

Android Lollipop’s biggest call to fame was Material Design, which offered a new look and feel for Android. Beyond this, there were also a ton of under the hood changes such as the adoption of 64-bit support and the movement to ART as the default runtime. Android M keeps Material Design at the front and center, and at first glance feels like a much more humble upgrade than its predecessor. But don’t let this fool you, there are still plenty of improvements and additions with M with Google aiming to squash tons of bugs and simplify certain features to make our lives easier.

One of the biggest changes is granular permissions support with Android M. In short, you now can approve permissions as you first encounter them, instead of merely granting all permissions when you first install an app. You’ll also be able to go into settings and add and revoke certain permissions whenever you see fit. The only downside to this new system is that it requires to Android M SDK, and therefore legacy apps won’t allow these granular control until they are further updated.

That’s just the beginning of Android M, with M also introducing improved battery life through a new feature calling dozing, simplified volume control that improves the somewhat wonky controls from Lollipop support for Type C USB, and so much more. Google is also improving the payment process with Android Pay, which will play nicely with Android M’s integrated fingerprint reading abilities — making it even easier to make safe, secure transactions from the phone.

With the announcement unfolding only moments ago (at the time of this writing), we are still digging in deep — so stay tuned to this page as we’ll be adding more over the next few hours.

We can tell you that a developer preview is heading our way later today for the Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 9 and Player with Q3 release expected for the final software.

….. Developing …

Google is bringing granular app permissions control to Android M

Earlier this morning we reported on the news that Google would be announcing granular permission controls at Google I/O 2015, and that’s exactly what happened during this morning’s keynote. Google has just announced Android M, and a big part of the new version of the OS is more user control over individual app permissions.

Up until now, when installing an app, you granted permission for everything with no control over exactly what you were approving. With the new system, you’ll be asked to approve each category of permissions the first time the app tries to access that feature of your phone, instead of approving all of them upon installation of the app. Users will be able to allow or deny app access to six different permissions – contacts, phone, camera, location, microphone and SMS.

You’ll also be able to modify app permissions on the fly. Simply head to the app’s settings menu, and you’ll be able to edit what permissions that app has access to.

This news was just announced a few moments ago, so stay tuned to this post over the next few hours as we compile more details on Android M’s new app permission controls.

…Developing…

Android M supports fingerprint authentication for use with new Android Pay system and other apps

Bio-metric authentication has been a hot topic in the mobile community for some time now. Well over a decade ago, Fujitsu was including fingerprint sensors with their top-tier feature phones in Japan. While HTC dabbled with it more recently, things really started rolling once Apple introduced Touch ID. Samsung was quick to release the Galaxy S5 with a swipe-based reader, and later Huawei also include the feature. This year’s Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge introduced a more inspired way of acquiring a fingerprint.

It seems that Google has taken notice in a big way, as announced today at I/O 2015 is news that when Android M releases later this year, fingerprint support will be included, and it’s going to be integrated into Android Pay. The technology builds on NFC and host card emulation, and will allow users to safely and simply pay in stores. Android Pay allows you to simply unlock your phone, place it on an NFC reader/terminal, and like magic the transaction has finished: there is no need to open an application.

Security is a big part of this project and thus no card information is shared with the merchant. Choice is important, and so you can choose from any number of possibilities: Google itself, your existing credit cards like Visa and MasterCard, or even with carrier-based payment options from providers like AT&T and Verizon.

Initially, 700,000 different stores in the US will accept Android Pay with presumably more in the future as Google negotiates new partnerships and the technology truly takes off. Partners include Best Buy, Gamestop, McDonalds, Whole Foods, and more. Apps such as Groupon and lyft and uber will also accept the payment option thus making life with more convenient than ever.

Android M, with its fingerprint support, will allow for more advanced authentication-based security. Simply touch the biometric sensor and the phone will begin the NFC exchange with the terminal. It would seem that unlocking the device itself may not even be necessary, although it’s possible that if the security settings are set to block any notifications from displaying while locked you may need to do just that.

New APIs will be made available for any interested developers to integrate fingerprint support into their apps, which will in turn, allow for instant in-app purchases without the need to sign in or type a password each time. This could potentially work well for those users with small children as an extra layer of security to prevent them from making unauthorized purchases even should they know your password.