Top 10 Hidden Features of Android Marshmallow That You Must Know

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As expected the Android Marshmallow comes with a no of quirks over its previous iteration. Despite sporting the Android Lollipop like appearance, the latest iteration of Android comes with a number of added intuitive features.

In case you haven't upgraded to your Nexus device to Marshmallow then, here's an installation guide that can help you upgrade to Marshmallow using the official Google Factory image. At present Android Marshmallow factory images are available only for Nexus 4, Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 7 (tablet) and Nexus 10 (tablet).

SEE ALSO: Android 6.0 Marshmallow: Here Are All Smartphones And Tablets To Get Update First

During their conference on the 29th Google, mostly touched upon the important aspects of Android Marshmallow. Some of the flagship features include a Google Now on Tap, Granular App Permissions, Doze (for saving battery life), Support for Fingerprint Sensors (Nexus Imprint!) and USB Type C support.

However these aren't the only additions to the Android Marshmallow aka 6.0 upgrade. In fact there are few more, which Google possibly skipped out at the event specifically due to time constraints.

App Links

App Links

The new feature allows you to links URLs of specific website with their app. This is specifically beneficial for e-commerce sites where you can link a specific URL - say for example Amazon.in - with its Android app.

Direct Share

Direct Share

The Direct Share is yet another tiny but interesting feature that makes sharing content on Android Marshmallow much easier. This new feature allows you to define share targets. However developers enable this feature to use it in their apps.

Verified Boot

Verified Boot

This is primarily a security feature much like the Secure Boot found in Windows (since 8.1). The Verified Boot features let you know whether your operating system and firmware has been tampered with.

Native Stylus support

Native Stylus support

Android Marshmallow now brings native support for the Bluetooth Stylus. Additionally if the paired Stylus appears to sport a button, the Android OS API will now respond to button presses.

This added feature will help users, especially Graphics Designers to carry out their work on the go with their Android devices.

MIDI support

MIDI support

Google's inclusion for MIDI support to their latest iteration of Android OS will bring smiles to many a audio programmers out there. Developers can now create MIDI format files by simply plugging into USB MIDI device, MID over Bluetooth and even a software MIDI controller.

Improved Copy Paste Experience

Improved Copy Paste Experience

Google has tweaked the copy paste experience for Marshmallow users. Previously on selecting a string of words the Copy/Paste/Cut options would appear on the topmost part of the display. In case you are frequented to using a large screen device (5.7 inch+) then you might have faced difficulties in reaching out to the top bar consisting of the Copy/Paste/Cut toggles.

Hence Google has now integrated a floating bar with the option. On pressing the string of words, the bar now appears just above the selected words.

Doze

Doze

Just like any iteration of Android OS, Google had made some tweaks to improve the battery life of devices running Android M. This year, however the Search Engine giants seems to have paid much more attention to the concern of battery life. It now comes with a feature which Google loves calling as Doze.

Yes, as the name suggests it is indeed related to sleep! The new Doze feature helps to reduce battery drain in unnecessary situations thereby resulting in longer on-screen time. The feature disable many of the battery hogging features while in idle mode like WiFi network scanning, Heavy Background Apps, Syncs etc.

HotSpot 2.0 support

HotSpot 2.0 support

The latest gen HotSpot 2.0 will allow you to roam about seamlessly without worrying about losing WiFi HotSpot connection. Using this technology the phone will auto switch between WiFi HotSpot to Cellular Data (whenever you go beyond the HotSpot range). It will again get transferred to the HotSpot once you in the range.

Bluetooth SIM Access Profile

Bluetooth SIM Access Profile

On tethering your smartphone with your car's Bluetooth, you can now make a call from the CarPhone (if you happen to have one). The CarPhone will be using your smartphone's SIM for making the calls.

Flex Storage

Flex Storage

The inclusion of the Flex Storage feature further emphasizes the fact that Google takes its partner OEMs seriously. Despite the fact that the new range of Nexus devices loses out on a MicroSD card slot, Google has included this feature to benefit partner smartphones which come with memory expansion option.

Using the Flex Storage feature one can a few extra gigabyte of storage by popping in "encrypted" MicroSD card into the slots.

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