Preview, features and release date for Android M as Google announced its best ever Android upgrade

Google during its 8th annual Google I/O revealed that new version of Android operating system is "M" and it will be coming out via a Developer Preview at first. Android M is believed to improve some features of the previous Lollipop versions and also some new added features. Some of the improvements and new features are given below...


1. The first added feature is selective app permissions, which allow users to pick and choose which permissions you allow an app to have. Users will no longer grant all permissions when you install an app, instead users will grant them when the app tries to perform an action that requires additional permissions.


2. Second in the added feature for Android M is the new payment initiative, Android Pay. According to google, this new feature is all about simplicity, security and choice. Users unlock their android phone, place it on an NFC terminal, and you've just paid. Ofcourse this only possible when you sign up for Android Pay. Each transaction made your account hands over a unique number, so your main card number remains safe and secured. This service (android pay) is also available inside of other apps that integrate with the service, including banks and merchants.

Hand in hand with this new feature is integrating with fingerprint sensors at the system level (only for smartphones with fingerprint sensors). That means users will be able to unlock their device, make Play Store purchases and authenticate payments through Android Pay all with your fingerprint if your device has a sensor.


3. While noting battery life woes of Android devices, Android M also includes new power features. Android Phones and tablets running M will now use a new feature called "Doze" to drop into a lower-power state as often as possible to save power, while also staying awake for high-priority messages and notifications. Google reports that a Nexus 9 running on M can get almost twice the battery life as one running Lollipop.


4. Added to android M is a new Google Chrome experience, which allows individual tabs better integrate with the apps that they're associated to. For example an app can push you out into Chrome into a "custom tab," where you can access saved data that you only have in Chrome.

Also contained in Android M is the app-to-app linking, which will allow apps hand off data between each other much in the same way that you can follow links between websites.

The Android M Developer Preview will be released in the Nexus 5, 6, 9 and Player, and it will launch in full capacity in around September this year.

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