Android M

Google starts rolling out Assistant to Android Nougat and Marshmallow smartphones

LG's latest G6 flagship may have become the first non-Pixel phone to have Google's new Assistant feature, but the search giant is focused on bringing its new personal assistant to as many other smartphones as humanly possible.

Keeping true to its promise, the Mountain View firm just started rolling out Assistant to smartphones running Android 7.0 Nougat and Android 6.0 Marshmallow versions.

With Assistant, you just long press on the Home button or say “Ok Google” to get started. The advanced feature leverages Google's knowledge graph, artificial intelligence and machine learning to better understand context of your questions.

Android M: Six headlining features from Google’s upcoming mobile OS update

Google's annual I/O conference is currently going on in San Francisco, and as expected, Android M, its latest update to Android, was officially unveiled. Although lots of new features will be packed in with Android M, six of those features were brought to the forefront during the beginning of the I/O keynote.

Google states that Android M is rethinking fundamental aspects of how the platform has worked for years, and focuses on polish and quality and improving the core user experience. From what we've seen thus far, we'd have to agree.

The following six areas—App Permissions, Web Experience, App Links, Android Pay, Fingerprint Support, and Power & Charging—were specially highlighted as new features for Android M. What do these new features mean for Android and the future of mobile?

Google’s Android M to adopt Touch ID-style biometrics

To this date, only a few Android devices come outfitted with their own fingerprint scanner for authenticating purchases and password-protected apps, such as Huawei devices and Samsung's Galaxy S5 and S6.

Unfortunately, Google's mobile operating system lacks system-wide support for fingerprint scanning, thereby hampering broader adoption of this useful feature, which Apple users have been enjoying for nearly two years now.

That's about to change in Android M, the next major version of Android, which should adopt Touch ID-style biometrics, according to BuzzFeed News.

Google wants to be the standard to power your car infotainment system, no smartphone needed

Google has plans to release a new version of Android that will be directly built into cars, getting rid of the need to pair the car's infotainment system with a smartphone for a user to access features, reports Reuters. This is a big move from Google's current Android Auto and Apple's CarPlay, which require a phone to be connected to stream music, access maps, and more.