Second Opinion #1: Android 6.0 Marshmallow Review

Ian R Buck and Ryan Rampersad share their experiences with Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

Ian R Buck and Ryan Rampersad share their experiences with Android 6.0 Marshmallow.


Links

Nexus Special #41: Google Nexus Event 2015
Android – Marshmallow

Overview

Keeps the UI of 5.0, and adds a bunch of new features. This is great, because material design is beautiful.
Now on Tap

Removal of swipe up to Now/listening
Doesn’t seem useful most of the time; it’s a neat shortcut, but more of a peripheral feature
I wish they had left the swipe up gesture, so you could choose at any time if you wanted to do Now on Tap or go straight to your Now Cards

App permissions

Many Google apps are asking for permission first, which is great
It will take a long time to get many major apps (Facebook, Instagram, et al) to participate
I have been experimenting with revoking permissions to various apps, including apps that have not been updated to fit the new permissions system. I am not sure if I have broken anything yet.

Do not Disturb

Total silence
Much better placement in the quick settings area

Volume control

Still no visual toggle for volume in quick settings

System UI Tuner

Tune your quick settings
Remove some of the clutter in the status bar
“Demo mode” is hilarious. 6:00!
Great start, needs more

SD card: adaptable

Sure, if any Nexus phone had SD support
This feature will be a godsend to people with 16GB devices with expandable storage

Text selection

Better, needs finer controls anyway, possibly included in a coincidental tablet update
Everyone says Google “fixed” it because they use words now instead of icons.
I do not like that “Select All” has been hidden in the overflow menu. When I select text, most times I want to select all, then copy it.

Battery

Doze

I will have more to say about this once the SHIELD tablet updates to 6.0; that device spends most of the day sitting on my bedside table.

App Standby

But wakelocks are still rampant in first party and third party apps

Lock screen: voice search replaced the phone

Best change ever, sort of
If you use that, there are some voice commands that will tell you “Actually, I can’t do that while the device is locked. To keep going, unlock your device.” even if SmartLock has the device unlocked.

Memory section in settings

Great

Now show what part of Android Account Manager and Google Play services is screwing me over

Shows average memory usage over the last 3, 6, 12, or 24 hours.

Bolder clock on lock screen

Beautiful Roboto Mono: https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Roboto+Mono

Attributions

Free Music Archive: Beat Doctor – Organic (electric edit)

This episode of Second Opinion has a Fringe episode. You should really listen to The Fringe #349: SO #1 — That’s Suggestive Too!

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