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Android 6.0 Marshmallow

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Android Marshmallow is the 6.0 release of Google’s mobile operating system.

Features |

Granular App Permissions

Following yesterday’s rumors of more granular app permissions, we received confirmation of exactly that. The new app permissions will make it faster for developers to get new users up and running in their apps by only requesting permissions as the app needs them. For users, permissions are now being simplified into several easy to understand categories like Location, Camera, Microphone, and more. Users will also be able to go into the Settings menu of their phone at any time and revoke all or specific permissions as they please.

Chrome Custom Tabs

Google is bringing the features and capabilities that users have come to love from the Chrome browser to in-app webviews. Available in the Chrome Dev Channel today and rolling out to users in Q3 this year, Chrome Custom Tabs gives users looking at a webpage through an in-app webview sign-in and caching of web services, saved passwords, autofill, and multi-process security (i.e. two-factor authentication). Developers will be able to customize the webview to their liking with buttons as well as options in an overflow menu, and also pre-fetch any links before the user clicks on them so they’ll load quickly. The company shared how Chrome Custom Tabs will work with a Pinterest integration showing off a “Pin It” button in the menu bar at the top of the webview as well as a “See related Pins” button in the overflow menu.

App Links

Following up on yesterday’s rollout of App Indexing of iOS apps in Google’s native Search and Chrome applications, Google is revamping its intents system to provide a more powerful cross-app linking capability. App developers can now add an “autoVerify” attribute to their application manifest to indicate to Android that the links they claim they support should be verified by the platform at the time of the app’s installation. Android will then make a request to the servers associated with the links and look for a file containing the name and signature of the application, and if it successfully verifies that the app owns the links it claims to, when a user with the application installed clicks on a link owned by the app, it’ll push the user to the app without opening an intents menu.

Android Pay

Following that Android Pay logo we saw this morning, Google detailed its Android Pay mobile payment service coming to Android M.

Android Pay includes the ability to pay for goods in retail stores using Android phones and NFC while users can also make payments within apps for buying digital goods. Users will be able to plug in existing debit and credit cards from supported banks, and Android Pay has carrier support to ensure Android Pay is setup on new devices sold through vendors.

Android Pay will be available through Google’s own app, and banking apps will be able to integrate the service in their own apps. Google says over 700,000 stores across the United States will be Android Pay ready in addition to many Google Play apps as well.

Fingerprint Support

Android M will include standardized fingerprint recognition support as well to leverage the fingerprint sensors that have been shipping on Android phones for years. Android Pay will use this sensor as a payment approval method as part of the mobile payment process.

Google says that at launch any app developer will be able to make use of the new fingerprint APIs in Android M to add support for fingerprint authentication to their own apps. One example the company provided of how fingerprint support might work in a third-party app was the Target app. Users will be able to, when they install the app, associate their login credentials and payment information with their fingerprint so that when they go to complete a purchase all they’ll have to do to confirm the order is place their fingerprint on the sensor.

Power & Charging

Through a new feature called “Doze,” Google is making Android smarter about managing power. Doze will use “significant motion detection” to learn when a device is being left unattended for an extended period of time, and exponentially back off background activity to go into a deeper state of sleep for longer battery life. While the device is dozing it will still be possible to trigger alarms or respond to incoming chat requests from high-priority messages.

Google says they took two Nexus 9’s, putting Lollipop on one and M on the other with all the same apps installed and processes running, and found that devices on M tend to last up to 2x longer on standby.

In terms of power and charging, the company also announced that they’ve been working closely with device manufacturers to bring new devices to the market which take advantage of USB Type-C for charging. Since Type-C USB cables are bidirectional, meaning you can send data or power in either direction, Android M will provide more control over what you can do with the cable plugged into your device. Instead of just charging your phone through the cable, for example, you could choose to instead send power from your phone to the charger it’s connected to.

Google “Now on Tap”

Last but most definitely not least, Google Now is getting a bit smarter at figuring out what you want more information on based on your context within the phone experience.

Coming soon to over 100 third-party apps, Google Now will proactively surface specific actions from within apps on your phone as it thinks you’ll need them. Examples they provided in the keynote include surfacing the ability to request an Uber from Now once you land at the airport or surfacing your favorite Pandora station when Now knows you’re at a public transit station.

But the company is going even further than that, and will allow you to take advantage of Google Now from wherever you are on your phone and without having to be super specific with your request. So if your friend texts you a restaurant suggestion for dinner, by tapping and holding the home button Now will figure out what you’re wanting to get more info about, in this case a certain restaurant you were texted about, and deliver a card to you from the bottom of the screen with more information on the place. The company also demonstrated this from within Spotify, with a user listening to a song from Skrillex able to ask Now “what’s the real name of this artist” and have it pull up that information without the user even needing to indicate which artist they’re even referring to, because they asked from within the app with the artist already playing. This new feature of Google Now is called “Now on Tap” and will be rolled out with Android M.

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Low-end ZenFone 3 possibly spotted on GFXBench, ZenFone Zoom now up for pre-order

If you’re looking for the specs of the highest-end (and likely most popular) ASUS ZenFone 3, I don’t have anything for you. But a couple new benchmarks appeared on GFXBench recently, and they might be showcasing some specs for two of the upcoming phone’s lower-end variants. The model numbers are ASUS Z010DD and ASUS Z012D, and they seem to be closer to the budget realm rather than being this year’s refresh of the 4GB RAM beast that we saw last year with the ZenFone 2…


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PSA: Verizon’s LG G3 now receiving Android Marshmallow over-the-air

The LG G3 is a tank of a phone, and it still holds up pretty well in 2016 even as the Korean company is planning to unveil the LG G5. If you’re running a Verizon-branded LG G3 as your daily driver, I have some good news: Many people just like you are reporting (via Reddit) that the phone is getting its over-the-air update to Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

As is usually the case with phones any more than a year old, it’s really a gamble whether or not devices will get the latest version of sweet-and-secure Android. Owners of the LG G3 D855 model, F400L/K/S models, and now Verizon owners, have all hit the jackpot as of yet. You can read more about Marshmallow compatibility with the LG G3 here.

Android Marshmallow coming soon to several carrier HTC One M9 and M8 variants, including Sprint, T-Mobile, Rogers, more

HTC’s product management chief, Mo Versi has confirmed on Twitter that several North American carrier-locked variants of the HTC One M9 and One M8 will be getting Android Marshmallow over the coming weeks.

Beginning this coming Monday, January 18th, the Marshmallow OS update will be pushed to Sasktel, Rogers, Wind and Videotron HTC One M9 owners in Canada.

As you’d expect, following that tweet, many HTC One owners with different carrier-locked versions were keen to known an ETA for their Marshmallow update. In response to those, Mo Versi stated that the HTC One M8 on Sprint will get the new software from the middle of next week, while the T-Mobile variant is on schedule for a January 25 release.

Sadly there’s no specific news for AT&T or Verizon users, except to say that HTC needs a “few more weeks” before the update is ready for the HTC One M9 on AT&T.

 

Marshmallow sees measly .2% increase in January’s Android distribution numbers

Despite last month being the time when gifts are received (or rather selfishly bought for one’s self), Marshmallow’s distribution numbers increased very minimally. January’s Android distribution numbers were released today and includes data collected during a 7-day period ending on January 4th, well after when all the presents get opened.


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Huawei officially announces the Mate 8 for international markets

At their CES event today, Huawei officially launched their Mate 8 in international markets. This is a part of their larger play to expand beyond its home market of Asia into North America, Europe, and beyond. In the past few months, the company has released the well-received Nexus 6P with Google and the Huawei Watch.


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Android’s Do Not Disturb ‘until next alarm’ option has randomly disappeared

When Google released Android 6.0 Marshmallow, it removed one of the most useful Do Not Disturb features, and that was the ‘until next alarm’ option. For those unfamiliar, it allows you to turn off all notifications until your morning alarm goes off and saves you being woken up at a ridiculous time. With 6.0.1, the feature returned, but recently it seems to have vanished again.

A thread on Reddit deals with the issue and claims that even users who aren’t running Android Marshmallow have experienced it. Some claim to have seen it disappear from the options while looking at them. I’ve tried to set Do Not Disturb myself, and like the complainants, I don’t see the ‘until next alarm’ option anymore.

Thankfully, there is a sort-of fix: change your phone’s date to before or after the holidays. If, for instance, you change your phone’s date to January 1st 2016, it seems to reappear, suggesting this is a really weird bug, or Google was trying to make sure you spent less time looking at your phone during the holiday period. You’ll get the same result if you change your phone’s date to before December 25th, according to Android Police.

If you don’t want to mess with your phone’s date, the option should return automatically in the new year, once the phone’s date changes to January 1st on its own.

UK Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge owners now receiving Android Marshmallow beta

It’s been a long time coming for owners of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, but Samsung is now rolling out a beta of Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Samsung recently started looking for testers of the new software, and now it appears that owners of Samsung’s latest flagship S-series phones in the UK (but only those that opted in to the program, of course), are now getting the beta firmware…


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Android 6.0 Marshmallow rolling out for unlocked HTC One M9 today, 6.0.1 for One A9

Earlier this month, a leaked roadmap suggested when each HTC device could expect to receive its update to Android Marshmallow. In it, the One A9 and One M9 were allegedly due to get their next updates in the first quarter of next year. While that may be true of some variants internationally, others should start seeing the update land today.

Mo Versi, the company’s US head of product management, tweeted to say that Android 6.0 for the unlocked HTC One M9 and 6.0.1 for the unlocked One A9 should be rolling out at some point over the next 24 hours. Being based in the States, we’re pretty confident this rollout only applies to the US models and — as always — those with carrier-locked, bloatware-laden versions will have to wait a little while longer before they see the newest software on their smartphones.

[tweet https://twitter.com/moversi/status/679481121604808704 align=’center’]

HTC’s One A9 was the first non-Nexus smartphone to launch with Android Marshmallow out of the box. Today’s update for users with that phone just brings some minor improvements, along with new emoji, to the Android-powered iPhone-lookalike.

For One M9 owners, this is the firs time they’ll be able to get a taste of the latest operating system from Google. Marshmallow brings a number of new features to the M9, most notable are the ‘Doze’ mode, which effectively stops the battery from running down during standby, plus the ability to ‘adopt’ a MicroSD card as internal storage.

PSA: First CyanogenMod 13 nightly for Nexus 4 released

CyanogenMod 13 nightlies — which are based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow — have been rolling out for a couple of months now, and now you can grab the custom Android ROM for the Nexus 4. While this may not be a vanilla build of Android Marshmallow, it is yet another method of bringing the latest that Android has to offer to a phone that’s more than three years old…


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Ceramic and Champagne OnePlus X models are now available in Europe & Hong Kong

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Forgetting OnePlus’ annoying invite system, the OnePlus X is actually a pretty solid option when it comes to budget smartphones. Our own Dom Esposito went as far as to say that it’s the “best budget phone available.” Now, as expected, OnePlus says that you can buy both Ceramic and Champagne variants via open sale in Europe and Hong Kong for a limited time…


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The Nexus 5X may not be the hottest phone of 2015, but one unit did spontaneously catch fire

The two new Nexus handsets this year have been received completely differently. While Huawei’s Nexus 6P is widely regarded as one of the best — if not the best — Nexus phones ever, LG’s Nexus 5X has been given the title “worse than the Nexus 5” on more than one occasion. I agree with that sentiment to some degree, and I would highly recommend you go with the Nexus 6P regardless of the size of your hands. There are some great advantages to a rebirth of the classic Nexus 5, but right now the phone is crippled by a software and hardware combo that leads to some unacceptable performance issues.

And now it looks like the phone is crippled by another problem in the case of one owner. Not unlike dozens of other phones over the years, it appears that at least one Nexus 5X unit had a faulty battery leading to a firey explosion…


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Android 6.1 rumored to arrive in June 2016, split-screen support in tow

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Google’s engineers are already working on baked-in split-screen multitasking support for Android. This was after the Pixel C team opened an AMA on Reddit to offer potential and existing customers the opportunity to pick their brains. Unsurprisingly, the topic of split-screen came up more than once. While some OEMs, like Samsung and LG, have built the feature in to their Android skins, Google is yet to bake it in to the core Android software.


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Android 6.0 Marshmallow tip: ‘Adopt’ your MicroSD card as internal storage [Video]

Although Marshmallow doesn’t come with any major user interface changes, it does come with a bunch of useful under-the-hood features that made the platform a little more versatile and customizable. One of those changes includes the ability to use an external MicroSD card as internal storage. Adoptable storage gives users the potential to use a memory card as internal memory, which comes as a huge bonus to anyone without enough built-in storage. If you have an 8GB or 16GB phone, or you’re using a Samsung device (jokes, sort-of) with Marshmallow you can follow a simple process to adopt external storage and use it for installing apps, or storing app data…


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Moto X (2014) getting its first taste of Android Marshmallow as software rollout begins in India

Motorola has something of an advantage over other Android OEMs when it comes to pushing out software updates. Because its phones run a virtually stock version of Android, there’s very little to test and optimize before the update can be made available to users. Android Marshmallow has already started its rollout for users of this year’s Moto X Pure/Style, Play and Force, and now the software is being pushed to users of last year’s Moto X in India.

According to Android Central, the update weighs in at just under 885MB in size and comes with all of Marshmallow’s software features like Now on Tap, Doze Mode, granular app permissions and better volume/media controls.

With it now being available in India, we can expect it to be pushed to customers in other regions soon. Motorola’s software update list states that Moto x (2014) users in Latin America, Canada, Europe and Asia will all receive the update, while only Pure Edition users will get the software in the US. Of course, plans can be (and have) changed depending on customer demand when it comes to software rollouts, but as things stand, only Pure Edition models of the Moto X 2014 will get Android 6.0 in the States.

Leaked roadmap suggests which (and likely when) HTC phones will get Android 6.0 Marshmallow

With Android Marshmallow having been announced more than two months ago, and released on new devices last month, now’s the time when Android owners start getting anxious about when they might see the latest version on their devices.

Most manufacturers have already announced that they will be rolling out Android 6.0. Some, like Motorola, have already started pushing it to customers while HTC was the first to launch a non-Nexus device with Android Marshmallow pre-loaded out of the box. For those with existing HTC phones, that won’t come as any comfort at all, but what might is a roadmap leaked by LlabTooFeR which shows which HTC phones are getting a taste of Marshmallow, and when the manufacturer has planned to push the updates…


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Wikipedia app update adds ‘Search Wikipedia’ option when selecting text in Marshmallow

In addition to improving cut/copy/paste, the redesigned text selection pop-up in Android 6.0 Marshmallow allows developers to take advantage of the new contextual selection feature. The Wikipedia app has been updated so that when text is selected there is now an option to ‘Search Wikipedia’.


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4G LTE Moto E will be updated to Android Marshmallow in select markets, along with DROID Turbo 2, Maxx 2 and X Force

Motorola first announced its Android 6.0 Marshmallow rollout plans in October. At the time, 11 devices were included in the list that was mostly made up of devices from 2015 and 2014. One notable absence was the Moto E, the company’s entry-level smartphone. Thankfully, the list has since been updated and now includes the budget device, although if you have one in the US, you’re out of luck. The update seemingly won’t grace US shores.

Puzzlingly, Motorola has left the States and China out of its list of markets due to receive the Marshmallow update. The 2015 Moto E with 4G LTE will get Android 6.0 in Canada, Latin America, Europe and Asia (excluding China). Moto could still change its plans, and does state in the list that the China upgrade is still being evaluated, although no such statement is made about the US market.

Other handsets added to the list are those which were announced and released after the original list was published. As well as the Moto E, Motorola will bring Android 6.0 Marshmallow to the Moto X Force (which is currently part of a soak test), and the Verizon-exclusive DROID Turbo 2 and DROID Maxx 2. The full updated list of devices runs as follows:

  • 2015 Moto X Pure Edition (3rd gen)
  • 2015 Moto X Style (3rd gen)
  • 2015 Moto X Play
  • 2015 Moto G (3rd gen)
  • 2014 Moto X Pure Edition in the US (2nd gen)
  • 2014 Moto X in Latin America, Europe and Asia2 (2nd gen)
  • 2014 Moto G and Moto G with 4G LTE2 (2nd gen)
  • DROID Turbo
  • 2014 Moto MAXX
  • 2014 Moto Turbo
  • Nexus 6
  • Moto X Force
  • DROID Turbo 2
  • DROID Maxx 2
  • 2015 Moto E with 4G LTE in Canada, Latin America, Europe and Asia excluding China (2nd Gen)

Android 6.0 Marshmallow now rolling out for Moto X Pure, soak tests for X Play and X Force

Moto X Pure owners, rejoice! If you’re in the US and have the new 2015 Pure Edition running on Sprint, Verizon or US Cellular, you should find Android 6.0 Marshmallow landing on your phone relatively soon. David Schuster announced on Google Plus yesterday evening that the full rollout for those devices has begun…


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New Android distribution numbers show Lollipop gaining more ground than Marshmallow

android-versions

Google has released the latest distribution numbers for the various shipping versions of Android, with the latest version, Marshmallow, picking up a marginal increase.

Last month’s numbers showed Android 6.0 running on only 0.3% of devices, while this month’s chart puts it at 0.5%, making it the least-used version of Android except for Froyo.


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Pixel C review roundup: Good hardware, but Android on tablets needs serious work

Affirming last week’s rumors, the Pixel C is now available for purchase. Android on tablets have had a varied history and unfortunately this one suffers from the same usual friction of putting what is essentially a phone OS on a large screen. However, the device is not completely without merit on the hardware side and accompanying software updates might change that in the future.


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Android 6.0 Marshmallow shown running on Galaxy Note 4 [Video]

Yesterday we published an article pointing towards what looked like a sketchy collection of screenshots supposedly showing Android 6.0 running on the Galaxy Note 4. Samsung hasn’t yet pushed the update officially, and given the fact that the images were just screenshots, it was very difficult to confirm their authenticity.

Today, the same person who originally took those screenshots is back with a hands-on video showing the software up and running on last year’s flagship phablet. From the video alone, and its distinct lack of production values, it certainly seems like the real deal. Although, as the video-maker suggests, we think that this is an early pre-release version of software which was accidentally pushed to the user’s device.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaX7j5zMiGE]

Apart from the obvious fact that no one else seems to have the update (as far as we know), there are a couple of indications that this isn’t the final, polished version of Marshmallow which will eventually make its way to all Note 4’s. Perhaps the biggest indicator is that performance is severely hampered. At many times during the video, the phone is stuck showing a blank screen for a few seconds, and there are noticeable instances where animations aren’t at all smooth.

As we noted yesterday, the new software — when released officially — will have a couple of new user interface tweaks. Most notably, the Note 4’s S-Pen feature list will be upgraded to include a number of the Note 5‘s tricks. Those include the new Air Command menu, and the ability to scribble notes on the phone’s screen when it’s locked and in standby. On a more minor note, the settings ‘About Phone’ menu will include information indicating how up to date the phone’s security is.

Android 6.0.1 is out, brings new emoji and redesigned bottom bar for tablets

Update: Factory images are now available for all devices getting the update.

Android 6.0.1 will be rolling out via an OTA update starting today to current Nexus devices. It brings new emoji, brings back an old do not disturb mode from Android 5.1, and a new bottom bar for tablets that moves the onscreen buttons to the sides of the screen.


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Sketchy post suggests Android 6.0 Marshmallow update for Galaxy Note 4 is rolling out, with Note 5 S-Pen features in tow


File this under ‘sketchy’: One of NapiDroid’s editors has apparently managed to get his hands on an early release of Android 6.0 Marshmallow for the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. The Hungarian blog posted a number of screenshots showing some of the anticipated changes. Among them, the one which really stands out is the revamped selection of S-Pen tools.

What’s unclear is how widespread this software release is or if it’s genuine. A major update happening to land on an Android blogger’s phone is a little too coincidental, and there’s no knowing if other Note 4 users in the same country have seen it too. Perhaps it’s blind luck, or perhaps it’s been fabricated. There are no images of the actual device running the software, and the ‘about phone’ screenshot could quite easily have been altered to show the Galaxy Note 4’s details.

As shown in the screenshots below, you’ll notice the new multi-colored Air Command menu redesign, which comes in from the side of the screen, rather than floating on top. What’s more, it looks like the Note 4 will also be receiving the Note 5’s ability to scribble notes on the lock screen, even when it’s in standby.

As well as that, we see one of Android Marshmallow’s settings menu features, which shows when your device last received a monthly security update. In this case, the Note 4 received the December security patch. The screenshots also suggest we’ll see a slight TouchWiz redesign, although the drop-down notifications/settings drawer is largely the same.

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