Androidifying

Now that the keynote is over and the day is winding down a bit, I have time to play around with Android M as much as my heart demands (well… or until my wife says to eat dinner..). So far, I’m liking what I see with M, though obviously it’s still early days. We’ve already talked about dark/light themes and a new app drawer layout — now it seems that there’s yet another interesting change hiding in developer options. The new setting must first be turned on in developer options, from there, you can launch “system UI tuner”. What exactly is that? In short, you can now move around or even delete quick toggle settings you don’t use. You can also re-add ones you’ve deleted and perhaps, someday, it’ll even be possible to add new third party ones. Okay, the latter statement is pure speculation, but one can wish. With Android M, Google says the goal is less about dramatically re-inventing the wheel (that was more or less Lollipop’s job), and is instead about refining the overall Android ex

We haven’t got any new hardware, but Google made it up to us with a ton of software and platform news. We already covered most of the big stuff, but if you just want everything in one place, you’ve come to the right place. Here are the top news from the Google I/O keynote today. Android M preview As expected, Google launched the M preview version of Android, with a consumer release scheduled for Q3. Read more or check out the main features: Chrome custom tabs – WebView got an update, with Chrome state preservation and support for custom buttons on top of the frame. Read more. Granular permissions – Apps developed for Android M will feature granular permission control, in-app and in-settings. Read more. Doze mode – when in Doze mode, Android M devices will consume less power, without interfering with notifications or alarms. Read more. USB Type C support – Android M will support USB Type C connectors out of the box. Useful for reverse charging and more. Read more. Fingerp

The Android TV platform has been out for about a year now, though the selection of Android TV boxes has been quite scarce so far. That’s starting to change today, as Nvidia has finally made its Android TV-powered set-top box available for purchase from a few different retailers around the web. The Nvidia Shield Android TV can now be purchased from Nvidia and Amazon in the United States, with the standard 16GB model going for $199.99. There’s also a 500GB Pro model that will be available for $299.99, though this variant won’t be available until June. Both models come with a $30 Google Play gift card and a 90-day free trial to Google Play Music, and the Pro model will come with the Android version of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel when it launches in July. You can also purchase some additional items along with the set-top box, including a remote for $49.99 and an extra controller for $59.99. You can also purchase a nifty little stand for the box for $29.99, but these are currently on

Now that the Google Android M preview images are out , we are all eagerly digging in and trying to figure out what all has changed, both under the hood and right at the surface. We will be bringing you a video that takes a look at Android M a bit later, but in the meantime we’ll do our best to highlight some of the changes as we encounter them. First up, light and dark themes. It seems that developer options now contains the ability to let users manually turn on dark or light options (light is the default, of course). You can also let it change automatically, perhaps so it can adjust for different lighting conditions while driving with Android Auto (just a thought). As you can see the in screenshots, the dark theme applies just to the settings screen and, at least in this early build, doesn’t affect the app drawer’s colors, the notification shade, or any other aspect of the UI. Whether this will change, or if the dark theme will even be in the final M build, remains unseen. Another

During the Google I/O 2015 keynote Android M was formally announced bringing a number of great new features to the table. One thing that wasn’t mentioned in the keynote, however, is automatic backups (and restores) with M! In an official developer entry, Google reveals how settings and apps data will now be backed automatically to Google Drive every 24 hours. This means that you never again have to worry about losing data if your phone fails. The backup system should also making switching to new phones easier than ever with all your app settings simply following you to the next device. The only catch here is that app developers have the ability to ‘opt out’ of supporting automatic updates if they so choose. It’s also worth noting that the file size is limited to 25MB per app. For more details on how the new backup feature will work, you’ll want to head on over to Google’s developer page.

Last year at Google I/O, Google announced its virtual reality platform, Cardboard. There are hundreds of Cardboard-compatible apps on the Play Store, along with dozens of different headsets to choose from. To progress this VR platform forward, Google is giving us a glimpse at what’s to come. For starters, since phones have gotten a lot bigger over the past year, Google is releasing a new Cardboard viewer that’s now compatible with 6-inch devices. The magnet button is also improved this time around, with a cardboard button that now works with every smartphone. The viewer now only takes three steps to assemble, a big decrease from the 12 it took to assemble the first version. One of the most important points in this announcement is that the Cardboard SDK now supports iOS devices as well, which will likely bring many more users on board. Google has also rolled out “Expeditions”, a new way for teachers to take their classes on field trips to basically anywhere in the world… or even to

Applications are a huge part of the Android software experience, and in association, the developers that create these apps are important contributors to the robust ecosystem that we take for granted today. While the app listings carry a lot of information, the developer pages are somewhat sparse, with a list of only the apps the developer has available to be seen. That is all set to change now, with Google introducing Developer Pages to the Google Play Store. Similar to what Youtube channel pages now look, Developer Pages will allow developers to add a big banner at the top of the page, a profile icon, and the ability to add text that explains what type of apps they make. A full list of their apps will also be available, but developers will also have to option to feature their best or most recent apps, allowing for a simple way to promote that particular app. Developers will also now be able to A/B test individual listing pages for their apps, with the ability to test a total of f