Google ‘polishes’ Android system to make those phones even smarter

Google has unveiled how it plans to introduce virtual reality to the classroom and to YouTube this year, as well as the much rumoured new photo-sharing service Google Photos. The range of announcements came at the opening of I/O, the technology giant’s annual developer conference held in California, and also included a first look at the next version of its Android mobile operating system, but it is yet to reveal the name. Still simply known as Android M, the new version will launch in the third quarter of this year to add what Android’s Sundar Pichai called “polish and quality”, rather than a major overhaul. M comes with a new web experience, with Google Chrome custom tabs being added to apps so all links that take a user to a browser will now use Chrome as a base.

We’re evolving Android Wear even further, inspired by something we already do - checking the time.

Dave Singleton, Google’s Android Wear division

Google has also simplified the app links system so users will no longer be asked to choose which app to show the link in. Google’s mobile payment system Android Pay will be built into M, and now supports all Android devices with fingerprint scanners. Android’s Dave Burke said the aim of the update was to “improve the core user experience”. Google also said M will have a big focus on power, with a new feature called Doze that uses motion detection to work out when a device has been left for a long time, and it will then cut power usage to save battery.

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