Samsung is rolling out the global update for its flagship Android devices starting today. The Galaxy S6 and S6 edge are the first of Samsung’s flagships to receive the latest version of Android 6.0 Marshmallow. For a quick refresher, some of the best features in Android M are listed below:
Contextual Assistance
- Now on Tap: get assistance without having to leave what you’re doing—whether you’re in an app or on a website. Just touch and hold the home button.
- Do more with your voice. Now you can have a dialogue with any of your apps that support the new voice interaction service. For example, if a user says “play some music on TuneIn,” TuneIn will respond by asking “What genre?”.
- Direct Share: a fast and easy way to share to the right person in the right app.
Battery
- Doze: when your device is at rest, Doze automatically puts it into a sleep state to increase your standby battery life.
- App Standby: no more battery drain from seldom used apps; App Standby limits their impact on battery life so your charge lasts longer.
Privacy & Security
- On an Android Marshmallow device, apps designed for Android Marshmallow only ask for permission right when it’s needed. You can deny any permission and still continue to use the app.
- Advanced controls to turn permissions on or off for all your installed apps.
For U.S. models, depending on the carrier, Samsung will make separate announcements on the details of OS update schedules. What that means is if you bought your Samsung Galaxy S6 from AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile, you will not be getting your Android M update today. Each carrier in the U.S. has to make modifications to Samsung’s update in order for it to be compatible on their networks.
In addition to the Android M updates, Samsung is also including new features with the S6 edge display which will hopefully make the edges more useful.
- Increased edge display from 260 pixels wide to 550 pixels for more content to be displayed.
- Users can now customize up to nine panels, including the People edge and Apps edge panels.
- With all the expanded space of the upgraded edge panel, users can now add ten apps instead of five. In addition to single apps, users can add entire folders for maximum smartphone organization.
- A brand new Quick tools, which includes a ruler, compass and customizable flashlight, has also been added in a separate panel to simplify one’s everyday life.
- Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Sports and Yahoo! News come pre-equipped with the OS upgrade, delivering the latest stock reports, the scores of the big games and the biggest headlines right to the edge screen.
It has taken Samsung four months to release the Android M update to just its S6 and S6 edge. Are you excited for the update? You should be because Android 6.0’s improvements are significant.
Samsung press release
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge | SpecOut
Samsung Galaxy S6 | SpecOut