Android Marshmallow, Official Name Announced for Android M

Android Marshmallow is version 6.0 of Google’s popular mobile operating system. Announced today, the latest tasty treat name of the major Android update comes along the news that the final Android 6.0 SDK is now available to download for developers as well, whereas the developer preview system images for Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 9 and Nexus Player have also been made available.

Android Marshmallow

What is Android Marshmallow?

Android Marshmallow, version 6.0 of Android, ships with new features such as app permissions, a new ‘Doze’ power saving mode, fingerprint support, auto back up for app data to the cloud, Now on Tap and much more. While it does not have any ground breaking new features, it seems to be more of an evolutionary update with the exception of Now on Tap. Since Google has decoupled most previously system apps from the core Android operating system, users keep getting regular updates via Play Store for them such as Gmail, Photos, Hangouts, Chrome and more. This is the opposite of what happens with Apple’s iOS. Updates to any app such as Safari, Messages, Mail, Photos, Camera and so on require an operating system update.

Check out the Android Marshmallow announcement video below, posted by Nat and Leo, employees at Google who have are using their 20% time to run a Youtube Channel about Google and got this amazing opportunity to officially announce it in their latest episode. They also show the behind the scenes look at the creation of the Android sculpture and how it is transferred to Google’s HQ in Mountain View from New York.

Dave Burke posted this photo of the new statue at Google, on Twitter:


The preview images are not the final releases that will go out to consumers so if you update your nexus device right now, you will have to re-flash again when the consumer releases go live. If you are a developer, you can download the latest preview images from Android dev preview website or wait for the over-the-air update which will be delivered to users over the next few days.

To learn more about Android Marshmallow, you can check out the Google I/O keynote video below. Jump to 11:32 on the timeline to start watching the Marshmallow, then known as M, announcement.

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