It’s one of the biggest questions around here: “when is my phone getting Android 6.0 Marshmallow?”. We all want to have the latest and greatest Android software around, but we can often be guilty of not even knowing what these updates bring to the table.
In the Case of Marshmallow, the change was pretty significant when compared to Lollipop. Plenty of new features and capabilities have been introduced, and our goal is to tell you all about the hottest new goodies in this post. Shall we get started?
New app drawer
This will probably be one of the most obvious changes to the UI you will find. The new app drawer dumps horizontal scrolling, which has been around since Jelly Bean first came into the picture. The new app drawer scrolls vertically, which does seem to speed up navigation and gets you to your apps quicker.
In addition, users can now grab the scroll bar on the right side and jump through letters to more easily find the apps you need. It goes right in line with other Google apps, such as the Contacts applications. Not to mention, plenty of other applications have implemented this new mechanic, which works like a charm.
And if you really just don’t feel like scrolling around at all, there is also a new app drawer search bar that will help you really get to specific apps in a jiffy. But you probably won’t need to use it much, as the first row holds your most used apps.
Slight change to the lock screen
The lock screen really is almost identical to the one in Lollipop. There is only one real change here. Instead of having dialer and camera shortcuts in the bottom corners, Google has opted to replace the dialer app with access to voice commands. I suppose Google believes voice commands are more important than actually calling people, and at this point they may not be wrong.
Not much to see in the home screens
There really isn’t much to see around here. Well… yes, there are some changes, but these aren’t really exclusive to Android 6.0 Marshmallow. For starters, the Search bar on top and some icons will look more colorful, but the same applies to other devices, as these changes were implemented via Google Play Store updates.
Otherwise, this is just the stock Google Now Launcher experience you have experienced in the past. You can swipe all the way to the left to access Google Now, while other home screen pages will build up to the right.
The notification area
I spend much of my phone time using the notification area. After all, this is where my main settings and all alerts go. Google has found a good way to keep this section organized, but they are always trying to improve things, even if by a bit. this means that there are definitely some changes in here.
You still have your two-step notification area process process. Swipe down once (with one finger) and you will be presented with your current notifications, which can then be expanded or accessed. Swipe down again (or swipe down with two fingers) and the Quick Settings menu will show up.
By the way, that ‘dismiss all’ button might look a bit different. Google simply changed the way it’s facing. You know – for no real reason, really. Oh, and the priority notification settings that caused quite a stir in Lollipop has now been relegated to the Quick Settings.
Google Now on Tap
This is one of the features Google focused most on when showcasing its new Android version. and for good reason, it is actually quite awesome. Have you ever been checking out a website reading about… I don’t know, a new Star Wars movie? Surely, you want to learn more about it, but it’s a hassle to access a new tab or launch another app just to perform a search.
Google Now on Tap makes Search a system-wide feature you can launch by simply long-pressing the home button. Doing this will present you with information relevant to whatever it is you are currently looking at.
Doze Mode – more battery life, happier users
Don’t you hate it when your phone dies and you don’t even use it? And I mean that in the most literal sense possible. Some phones will lose plenty of juice while in standby mode. Doze Mode was introduced to help desperate users stay off their phones for longer, without having to recharge all the time.
What Doze Mode does is extend standby battery life by putting the phone in a deeper slumber during longer periods of inactivity. Reports say a Nexus 5 can last days, and even weeks, on a single charge. Of course, with no usage.
The only issue here is that Doze Mode requires long periods of inactivity in order to be engaged, something that will help very few of us. In addition, applications can bypass this feature if set to priority, and since developers are the ones who determine whether their app is important enough or not, chances are very few apps will be turned off in this mode.
Inactive apps will be put to sleep too
Google didn’t conform with putting the phone in a deeper sleep when the device is inactive. They went all the way down to the app level. One of the benefits of the Android OS is that it’s such a great multi-tasker, but it can also be a bad thing if you have a bunch of applications installed. To counteract this, Google has decided to take inactive apps and put them in a deeper sleep.
Apps & settings backup
One of the biggest pains about getting a new phone, or factory resetting your current one, is that you have to spend hours setting up all your apps and settings again. Google kills that issue with Android 6.0 Marshmallow, after introducing the ability to backup most of the data in your phone to Google Drive.
This will include settings, WiFi passwords, apps, app data, game progress and more. Pretty freaking awesome, if you ask me!
Google Settings app is now in the actual Settings app
I always thought it was weird that the Google Settings app wasn’t in the… settings. But I am just a common citizen and Google knows better, right? Well, it turns out our concerns were not so wrong. The Google Settings app has been moved to the actual Settings app.
You can access the Google area in the settings to manage Android Pay, connected apps, Google Fit, Google Photos, Smart Lock for Passwords and more.
Direct Share
Direct Share is a new sharing feature enabled in Marshmallow. What it does is remembers who you share things with and in what apps you do your sharing. Over time, it will begin recommending people you can directly share to over the app you generally use to communicate with them. It’s a small thing, but it could save a lot of time if you always share to the same people.
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