At its yearly I/O developer conference in late May, Google revealed Android M, a new Android OS that will be available for our favorite Android devices later this year. Of course, it will be available if you own a Nexus; otherwise, you are at the mercy of hardware manufacturers and carriers.

The most significant issue with any Android upgrade is this: only a small number of devices receive it in a reasonable amount of time. Let’s take a closer look at Android M, also known as Android 6.0, Android Milkshake, Android M&Ms, or whatever Google decides to call it, now that we’ve gotten that pet peeve out of the way.

While Android 5.0 represented a significant advancement with its 64-bit ART runtime and completely redesigned Material Design, Android 6.0 is more of an iterative upgrade. Android M, on the other hand, should not be disregarded as a minor update. I’ll attempt to justify my position.

Android M Features Geared Toward Consumers

Google has a knack for promoting new features that have the potential to capture consumers’ attention. After all, Google is a for-profit enterprise that strives to present every product in a consumer-friendly manner.

Battery life is a good place to start because it is the Achilles’ heel of all smartphones and tablets. Doze, a new feature in Android M, puts devices in a deeper standby mode, as the name implies. Devices will be able to detect, for instance, that they haven’t been used in a while and enter hibernation. This might be an intriguing feature if you keep a tablet on your nightstand and read yourself to sleep with it. However, it doesn’t sound quite as appealing if you spend 12 hours a day walking around, talking, and texting.

There have also been some hardware advancements. Support for USB Type-C is included in Android M. If you missed it, USB Type-C is similar to Apple’s Lightning connector in that it can be plugged in either way, which should save millions of people the hassle of determining whether or not their micro USB cable is properly oriented. Speaking of micro USB, which is the de facto standard (and a legally mandated charger standard in the EU), its reign is clearly coming to an end. The new connector and Android M offer one intriguing feature: you’ll be able to charge your smartphone using another Android device (another phone or tablet).

Android M is expected to bring slightly smoother transitions, more Google Now functionality, and a few other goodies in terms of consumer-oriented features.

Major App Permission Revamp

The new app permission system in Android M is one feature that should appeal to many users while also being significant for developers.

During the installation process, users will no longer be presented with a permission list. Instead, the app will install without any questions being asked. Users will, however, be prompted for permission once the app is launched and attempts to access certain types of information. Because permission can be revoked at any time, access can be disabled if the user does not want to grant access to GPS location data, for example. All of this will be done in the Android app settings, under Permissions.

But what about apps that have already been installed? What about older apps?

The same rules apply, which could be problematic. Hundreds of thousands of apps are already available, and they were not designed to work with this new feature. Android M will still allow you to change permissions for legacy apps, but there’s a catch: the system will simply stop feeding these apps data.

This has the potential to cause problems in some situations, for a variety of reasons:

• Many users are concerned about their privacy.
• People generally dislike apps that require a lot of permissions.
• Developers are unable to explain why the apps require access to data in the permission request.
• Permission requests may be made out of context.

Let’s go back to the GPS example and assume your app requires access to location data for reasons that the average user may not understand. When the app attempts to access location data, the user will be prompted to grant a standard GPS permission. The request is likely to be denied if the user is asked for permission out of context, and the app will be left blind, causing it to malfunction or degrade the user experience. This could be an issue because you can’t tell the user why the app needs location data.

Another way to detract from the user experience is to request too many permissions across too many categories. To address this, Google employs a few tricks: all permissions will be grouped into categories such as Camera, Sensors, Location, and so on. In any case, you don’t want the user to have to go through dozens of permissions the first few times they use your app.

Fortunately, Google will automatically grant certain types of permissions that it deems safe. If an app needs to look something up on the Internet, for example, it will be allowed by default, along with a slew of other features that should have no impact on privacy.

Once the permissions system is up and running, it should provide a number of advantages over the current approach. However, developers should be concerned about the potential for annoyance, a degraded user experience, and negative Google Play reviews for certain apps.

Fingerprint Scanner and Password Manager

Google has also added some new features that could have a significant impact in the long run. Android M provides the necessary APIs for developers to incorporate fingerprint support into their apps. Fingerprint sensor support will be expanded beyond your lock screen to include third-party apps.

Some may argue that Google is late to the party because Apple already made its Touch ID API available with the release of iOS 8. However, Android has a significant advantage: a far larger user base and fingerprint scanners in significantly less expensive devices. These sensors are no longer limited to flagship models; they are being incorporated into mainstream phones, particularly in Asia.

Passwords are also getting a makeover. Users can sign in to Android and Chrome automatically using Google’s Smart Lock for Passwords. Users no longer need to remember their credentials once a password is saved to Smart Lock. Biometric security in the form of a fingerprint scanner is simply the icing on the cake, and yes, Smart Lock will be compatible with Android M’s built-in fingerprint security system.

Smart Lock isn’t exactly a new concept, but with Android M, Google will broaden API support for developers and publishers.

While these new features may not appear to be particularly exciting or appealing to many developers, they have a lot of long-term potential. Consider them two steps toward passwordless mobile computing – we’re not there yet, but we’re getting there.

If you’re interested in learning more about the benefits and drawbacks of biometric security, as well as recent developments in passwordless technology, you might want to read one of our previous posts. On that note, we also discussed the future of ARM processor design and the new Android compiler in another post.

Android Pay vs. Apple Pay vs. Samsung Pay

Android Pay may sound a little Apple-esque, but to be fair, Android was the first mobile operating system to address mobile payments. In case you forgot (as I did), Google Wallet was introduced a few years ago but never gained traction.

The main distinction is that Android Pay will be integrated into Android M (and subsequent Android releases). It will not be an optional, downloadable app like Google Wallet, so many more users will receive it on their phones out of the box, like it or not.

The big question is how many merchants will accept it – even if people get Android Pay out of the box, will they use it? According to Google, over 700,000 merchants and over a thousand popular apps are on board.

So, what’s the big deal, what’s changed since Google Wallet? It’s not about technology, software, or hardware; it’s about Apple. Apple Pay, unlike most other mobile payment services, has begun to gain traction, dragging the rest of the industry with it. Samsung responded with its own platform, known as Samsung Pay.

Samsung’s solution has one intriguing advantage over its competitors on paper: it can be used on existing POS terminals without NFC thanks to Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST), which essentially allows Galaxy S6 phones to emulate traditional cards. As a techie, I must admit that I was impressed (and surprised) by the inclusion of MST, but it’s only one piece of the puzzle – many more pieces must fall into place before Samsung Pay can succeed.

This is one of the reasons why Samsung believes that its mobile payments solution can coexist with Android Pay, which is based on NFC and does not work on older POS systems. The bad news is that MST is currently only available on the most recent Samsung hardware. MST could be a game changer in emerging markets, which are still years away from adopting NFC-enabled POS technology. However, only a small percentage of people in developing countries can afford the newest flagship phones, which have become exorbitantly expensive in recent years.

On a different note, I wish marketers would be more creative – Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay – these are hardly imaginative or unique sub-brands.

How Will Android 6.0 Enhance the User Experience?

I’ve already discussed a few upcoming features that have a lot of potentials. More fingerprint scanners, fewer passwords, better mobile payments, improved battery life, and USB Type-C support – all of these can improve the user experience, but it’s unclear how long it will take to implement them all. The potential is there, but it may be some time before software and hardware catch up to Google’s vision for Android M.

So, what about some more immediate enhancements?

Users will be able to access the virtual assistant simply by holding the home button with Google Now on Tap, and this trick should work in a variety of apps. For example, if you’re reading an article about a celebrity who left their pet abroad, you could use Google Now on Tap to find out what happened to Justin Bieber’s monkey or Johnny Depp’s dogs, as well as get news about the Australian minister who threatened to euthanize them.

However, if you aren’t interested in celebrity gossip, you should be able to use Google Now on Tap to learn more about actual news, such as company backgrounds, stock quotes, currency exchange rates, and so on. It will also work with emails and other forms of personal communication, potentially increasing productivity and convenience.

Aside from Google Now, a few other features should help to streamline the user interface. Android M will include new volume controls because the Android 5.0 volume controls were not well received by users. This is a minor but appreciated improvement.

The new floating toolbar should simplify copying and pasting. If I have one pet peeve with all mobile operating systems, it is their inconsistent copy/paste capabilities. It is simply not easy to implement on mobile devices due to limited screen real estate and touch input replacing a traditional cursor, but Google believes it can improve the experience. While improved copy/paste functionality isn’t a killer feature for smartphones, many professionals will appreciate any improvement.

Direct Share is another feature that could be useful. Android M will keep track of content shared with various people from various apps, making the process of sharing content more efficient. Direct Share should help to speed up the process whether you regularly share files with coworkers or photos with family.

The Elephant in the Room That Weighs 10,000 Pounds

Fragmentation.

It remains a major issue for Android, and it is not improving. Later this year, Google intends to release Android M. However, only 11.6% of Android devices currently use Android 5.0, while the 5.1 version (API level 22) only accounts for 0.8%. The majority of Android devices are still running KitKat 4.4 and Jelly Bean 4.2.x to 4.3.

In other words, while it’s a good idea to start thinking about new app permissions, Android Pay, and fingerprint scanners, there’s still a long way to go. The first Android M devices will be available in late 2015, with the release of the new Nexus phone (or two), but Android M won’t truly become relevant until the second quarter of 2016, when vendors release next year’s flagship phones and tablets based on the new operating system.

Furthermore, most users will never be able to experience Android in its purest form, as Google intended. The majority of devices will ship with custom skins, launchers, bloatware, and all the other annoyances that have plagued users for years.

Fragmentation is a problem that affects more than just developers. Google is essentially releasing new features that won’t be available to the general public for several quarters. This is hardly surprising, given that the software behemoth has been doing so for years. The good news is that Google updates core apps on a regular basis, so even if a user is stuck on an older version of Android, a number of important apps such as Chrome, Gmail, and Maps will be updated. However, because the hot Android M features discussed in this post are not apps, we will have to wait for new devices. And wait, and wait…