ANDROID

Android M Is Here, And So Is Google's Smartphone Future

The future of Android is here. Android M (I'm still hoping for Muffin) is the software that will power Android smartphones beginning in the fall of 2015. Aesthetically, everything looks similar, but there's lots buried under that Material Design exterior. Let's take a look.

Google's Senior VP Sundar Pichai introduced M saying that Android focused "on polish and quality" for its newest release. One of its first big updates was app permissions, which we guessed at in our I/O preview. This gives users the right to accept and revoke permissions to apps for enhanced security and privacy. This is done through a new dashboard where you can go through and pick and choose what an app can and can't do. Google also says that this will make updates to apps for developers more seamless and painless. Basically, a win-win.

Android is also bringing Chrome Custom Tabs to Android. What all that insidery mumbo-jumbo means that apps can now run closely with the Chrome browser, having the app actually running over top of the app itself. But this also means that you get some of Chrome's excellent capabilities such as saved passwords, autofill suggestions, and multi-process security.

Developers can now link between apps, this means you want always have to see that infamous "Open With?" menu option. This means it goes right to app because Android to check apps to make sure it supports the capability. Android just saved you a click.