Google on Thursday unveiled Android M, its newest major Android release that focuses on significantly improving the overall user experience. The company talked on stage about a bunch of new features, including new ways to manage app permissions, battery improvements, Android Pay support, fingerprint sensor support, and new Google Now capabilities. But there are plenty of other Android M features under the hood that Google didn’t have time to properly explain, and some of them are really quite interesting.
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- Swiping from left to right on the lock screen will not bring up the dialer anymore. Instead, it will open Google Now.
- The Google Now Launcher also now lets you uninstall apps by loong-tapping an app on the home screen and dragging upwards to the right.
- Android M has a new RAM Manager, which was previously rumored, that gives you detailed information about RAM performance oforf each app. You’ll find the new RAM Manager in System and then Apps, after tapping the three-dot menu button and opening Advanced and then Memory. In there, you can see the memory performance of every single app that’s currently running on the device, and even stop processes that might be consuming too much RAM.
- Speaking of memory, Google has also improved the way Android M handles microSD storage. MicroSD cards can be turned into system memory, which may be a handy feature on devices that have limited built-in storage. However, if you format the microSD card as internal storage, you won’t be able to use the same card on any other devices that have microSD ports.
- Android M now comes with USB-OTG support, meaning it’ll be able to recognize a variety of storage devices via USB. As a result, you’d be able to further expand your storage on a smartphone or tablet by hooking it up to compatible USB storage devices.
- When it comes to applications, Android M introduces a new option to have app data automatically backed up to a Google account. The data is backed up in a private folder in Google Drive, and it doesn’t count towards your Drive storage limit. The feature should help users restore app settings and preferences when upgrading their hardware.
- Connectivity-wise, Google has introduced HotSpot 2.0 in Android M, which supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands.
- In addition to support for USB-C charging and data transfer, which Google announced on stage, Android M also supports MIDI devices including keyboards — a feature musicians should appreciate.
- When it comes to saving battery life, Android M’s Doze mode can be turned on and off on a per-app basis.
- Finally, there’s a dark user interface mode in Android M developer preview that completely changes the look of the operating system.
