The weeks post-Nexus announcement are always slow for Android news, but they're a time ripe for discussion about how the latest version of Android is holding up on your device, especially since it's arrived so much earlier than usual.
The Nexus 5, 6, 7 (2013), 9, and Player all have official builds of Android 6.0 Marshmallow available, so you've probably gone ahead and flashed them (or received an update via OTA).
Marshmallow does contain a lot of great new features, and we've highlighted a ton of them in our ongoing feature spotlight series (link to series). Here are a few of my favorites:
- You can see how much battery apps are using in mAh.
- Google Translate has system-level access to all text for easy, instant translations on the fly.
- You can add or remove items from the status bar (awesoooooome).
- New wallpapers!
- Easy deletion of screenshots as soon as you snap them.
- A much more usable device storage manager interface.
- Your phone no longer has to make a noise when you attach it to a wireless charger.
- Volume controls that don't suck so bad.
- Easier management of your default apps.
- Doze mode for doze battery savings.
- A more visually streamlined and efficient interface for sharing.
- Far more flexible external storage rules mean your SD card can now seamlessly serve just as internal device storage would.
- Automatic backup and restore of data for apps - truly. (Granted, apps need to target API23 for it to work, and most don't.)
- NOW ON TAP!
- Granular app permission controls, finally.
Of course, there are even more features, and we'd love to hear from you about which ones you're enjoying. Also, the parts you're not enjoying are just as important. Liam and I have both noted that there is a crazy amount of delay loading the camera app on the N6 on Marshmallow now, and it's pretty aggravating. I've also anecdotally noticed a lot more slowdown than usual when my phone initially reconnects to my Wi-Fi network, and the whole system gets dragged down. But battery life has definitely been improved for me, and even Android Wear connectivity seems more stable now. On the whole, I'm definitely happy with Marshmallow.
So, let's get chatting.