Google’s latest iteration of Android was unveiled at its I/O 2015 conference in May. The OS was dubbed as Android 6.0, more lovingly acknowledged as Marshmallow. We had three developer previews from the web giant since then and Google released the final build of the OS last week. Marshmallow also comes built-in on Google’s latest Nexus devices, the 5X and the 6P. Today, the web giant announced yet another huge development in the Android sector. Older Nexus device users can now boost Android 6.0 on their devices via an over-the-air software update.
If you are interested in downloading the factory images directly for the latest version of the world’s most popular mobile operating system now, click on your device right here: Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 7 (2013), Nexus 7 Mobile (2013),Nexus 9, Nexus 9 LTE, and Nexus Player. Unfortunately, the Nexus 4 will not be getting the official Marshmallow upgrade. Well, that was the bad news but here’s something else you can look forward to, Google is telling users to “keep your eyes peeled for other new devices shipping with Android 6.0.”
If you didn’t already know, here are few of the new and improved features of Marshmallow:
- The new OS comes integrated with the fingerprint sensor setup and support so that OEMs don’t need to develop external algorithms to get the security measure ready.
- You get a charging indicator for faster charging via USB-C.
- You get a new feature of Google Now called Now On Tap which will allow you to use the Now functionality anywhere throughout the Android UI no matter where you are.
- Voice search from the lock screen is yet another important upgrade.
- Marshmallow also comes in with Chrome custom tabs.
- A new power management feature dubbed as Doze which saves battery life by disabling unused resources when the device is unattended.
- Android Pay.
- A special gift for developers is a revamped permissions model which will now only prompt the user for a specific permission when a feature requires it.
It’s now only a matter of time until OEMs start rolling out Marshmallow updates for supported handsets. We saw Moto’s list of supported handsets a few days ago and other Android manufacturers are sure to follow soon.
