Wednesday, 26 August 2015

Android 6.0 Marshmallow – Google’s latest android mobile OS

Google has recently revealed that its latest Android mobile OS will be called Marshmallow, continuing on from previous incarnations, called Lollipop and Jellybean. Not available until later in 2015, the new Android 6.0 Marshmallow update has some interesting changes for users.

·         App permissions: With Google’s current Android OS, you have to agree to all app permissions when you first install them, but that has now changed. With Marshmallow you can now decide which app permissions you want to allow, rather than being forced to give a blanket acceptance and you can revoke these permissions at a later date as well.

·         Custom tabs: Instead of having to switch out of an app and into your Chrome browser to search the internet, you can now open a browser within your current app. The browser simply runs in the background and when you click on any of the app links, they are opened up directly in your current app.

·         Contactless payments: Android Pay will replace the Google Wallet app, so you can pay for goods or services in any store that uses tap-to-pay services. You don’t have to open an app to do this, it will be all automatic – you just add your card details to your phone and you can make contactless payments whenever you want.

Android 6.0 Marshmallow

·         Fingerprint sensors:A neat feature where you can pay for goods via Android Pay, make purchases in Google Play Store or unlock your phone, simply with your fingerprints.

·         Increased standby time: When your phone hasn’t been used in a while, it will go into standby mode, saving your battery, but still coming awake when you receive notifications or need to use the phone.

·         Floating toolbar: A great addition is the floating toolbar with cut, copy and paste options now easily accessible whenever you need them.

·         Home screen rotation: You will be able to use your home screen in both portrait and landscape profiles for both apps and your home screen as well.

·         Vertical scrolling app drawer: The new app drawer is now easier to scroll and faster to navigate with more app icons on the page, but still only offering vertical and not horizontal scrolling.

·         Status bar icons: You can now remove any of the icons in the status bar to free up space on your screen. This is a great feature when you always have the same icons showing day after day and don’t need them to take up valuable space.

·         Storage icon: With the new storage bar you can always see exactly how much space you have left and what is eating up your storage space the most.


So if you are looking forward to the new Android 6.0 Marshmallow update, check out the latest features of Samsung Galaxy S6 offered by iiNet. It already has a finger scanner, a fast charging battery, a heart rate monitor and a real time HDR rear camera - great mobile hardware in line with Marshmallow's added feature, superb!