Oreo 8.0 is the most comprehensive version of Android as there has ever been. According to Google, it’s the most stable, feature rich and functional OS platform for mobile devices.
While on the surface it may lack major visual changes, what lies beneath is filled with impressive usability improvements and stunning future functionalities.
Android 7.0 N Beta is now out, and the official public release is expected this summer. It’s Google’s 7th generation OS update for Android devices and the company is now more than a halfway through the English alphabet.
History shows that Android N is going to be named after a delicious treat. And it seems that this time Google doesn’t know which dessert based name to give for this latest mobile platform.
As usual, we are giving everything we know about the forthcoming Android N update, this time including all news from Google I/O 2016. So lets head into detailed review to find out what’s new.
At first sight, we haven’t found any design changes on Android N. It looks just as same as Marshmallow latest release. Although, the good side of this, is that you already know how to use it.
Going through the basic usability it’s impossible to miss some new improvements which we’d like to get listed:
Multitasking support is one of the long-awaited feature. Users will be able to use two apps at one time in split-screen mode. Basically, it’s the same feature as Apple made it for iPads in iOS 9. The only difference is that Android 7.0 split-screen mode works for phones and tablets without any limitations on display size.
To enable this feature, just long press the recent multi-window button in the navigation bar. 
Direct Reply Notifications makes things much easier now. There’s no need to navigate away from your current window just to make a reply on the message received. You can make an instant reply within the notification that shows up at the top of the screen. 
Quick Settings Menu now comes as a thin menu bar. To pull it out for a full view you have to tap on that little bottom arrow on the side. As before it required pulling the notifications bar down a second time to fully reveal the quick settings menu. Now the quick settings thin bar is here as soon as you swipe down to see notifications.
Bundled Notifications feature includes more control over your notifications. Now you can long press on a notification to either silence future notifications or turn them off completely. Notification cards will also be grouped together if they’re from the same app. Alerts then can be expanded into individual notifications using two fingers gesture or tapping on new expansion button. That’s alternative feature of what Apple did in iOS 9, switching from grouping notifications by app to lining them up chronologically. 
Quick Switch is another great improvement. It lets you jump back to the previous application just by double tapping on the multi-window button in the navigation bar.
Doze Mode 2.0 is promising to save even more battery life on any Android device. After you turn off the screen and put your phone on the table or anywhere stationary, all background tasks goes into deep standby mode. This feature was introduced on the first release of Marshmallow 6.0.
Settings was filled with explanation and additional information on each section. This smart and convenient improvement now shows what each section includes. As an example, Sounds section shows what’s the ringer volume level, as the Apps section displays how many apps you have installed. 
Keyboard now includes a background feature. It lets you choose from the default colors or set personal background from the image gallery. 
Data Saver helps to control mobile data usage by setting restrictions and limitations to any specific app. Yes, you were always able to limit your data for your mobile phone or tablet, but now there’s an option to set limitation on any app you wish. It’s another handy feature to avoid unexpected roaming charges when traveling abroad.
Graphic Performance was improved with the introduction of Vulkan, giving game developers controls of the GPU. Vulkan is a low overhead, cross platform API for high performance 3D graphics. It provides tools for creating high quality, real time graphics in applications. That in turn will result even smoother and faster performance.
For today, the official release is promised only for the devices mentioned below. As usual, each manufacturer can take its own time to bring the updates. For example, some phones still don’t have the Android Marshmallow update, even though it’s been out for the half a year..
That’s why we are giving Android 7.0 N Beta release download link. However, Google requires you to have a Nexus phone in order to make use of this new version.
Phones getting Android N
Samsung
S6
S6 Edge
S7
S7 EdgeNote 5
Sony
Z5
Z5 compact
Z5 Premium
Z6
Z6 Mini
Z6 Plus
HTC
HTC 10
A9
M9
Huawei
P9
Mate 8
LG
G5
V10
Motorola
Moto G4 Plus
Nexus
6P, 5X
The Limitless v1.1 custom ROM is based on Marshmallow 6.0 and it’s intended for LG G3 devices only. Limitless ROM includes plenty of cool features like ability to choose different Kernels and Modem files using Aroma installer. LG G3 users can easily turn their mobile phones in to LG G5 by installing this custom ROM, which really looks like stock LG G5 ROM.
Changelog:
Issues:
APPS included:
Crdroid custom ROM is based on CyanogenMod with some extra new features which comes useful.
Marshmallow 6.0 Crdroid custom ROM features:
At the end of 2015 Google started rolling out a brand new Android 6th generation OS called “Marshmallow”. It’s not surprising to know that all the Android versions have distinctive names of sweets and seems like this tradition is maintained. The main questions comes out – will it be better than the 5th generation of the Lollipop? And is it worth to update? We’ll go through detailed review of this brand new Marshmallow OS hoping that all key features will answer to those questions on their own.
At first look there’s no major changes on the home screen. However, getting to the main menu we were pleasantly surprised by seeing that all apps are arranged vertically from the starting letter. The top section displays the last and most frequently used applications. This layout is locked, so for those who once loved to use their own layout, such a possibility will disappear.
Quick settings (on the top of the screen) has become freely controllable. The most important controls can now be placed in your desired order.
“Do Not Disturb” mode has gained more options. From now on, Do Not Disturb mode is divided into 3 categories: absolute silence; only a reminder/alarm clock; only preference settings. Each contact can be marked as high priority, where even in Do Not Disturb mode call or message still be heard. Priority settings are also available in reminders and events which must be notified despite the Do Not Disturb mode is switched on.
From now on each user can set his own rules. As an example, we create a calendar event for meeting every monday from 10 to 12 o’clock and set it to Do Not Disturb mode. In such an event the phone stays quiet and automatically returns to normal mode after the meeting time passes by.
Friend mentioned the movie which you haven’t seen yet? Allow Google to read a friend’s written movie title and you’ll get all the details about it. You also can be directed straight to the desired movie theater or cinema website to purchase a ticket.
Main settings has been extended with additional Google tab, allowing to separately manage each Google service. This feature comes extremely handy when installing new apps. Before now, every app installation requested access approval to stored personal information or device management. And in case of not accepting at least one of the following conditions there was nothing to do just to cancel the installation. Thankfully with the 6.0 update this is solved by allowing user to control each application access to his personal information or device management functions.
“Doze” feature has been developed to maximize Android battery life when it is not actively used. Lets say phone was left on the table for a longer period of time, in this case all active applications will be dipped in to deeper sleep twice as saving energy now commonly used. Basically all apps stays active just in less power consumption mode.
Announced new generation USB Type C cable will be released with all latest mobile phones and tablets working on new Marshmallow OS. Using Type C, battery power will become easy shareable with other Android devices. This is one of the coolest features helping to easily exchange information and battery power through single cable.
Update is now available on Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 7, Nexus 9, LG G4.
On 2016 first quarter update also expected on mobiles listed below. And don’t forget that update timeline still varies depending on region, phone model and carrier.
Samsung
Galaxy S6/S6 Edge
Galaxy S5
Note 5
Alpha
HTC
One 8
One 9
One M9+
One E9
One ME
One E8
One M8 EYE
Butterfly 3
Desire 826
Desire 820
Desire 816
Sony
Xperia Z5
Xperia Z5 Compact
Xperia Z5 Premium
Xperia Z3+
Xperia Z3
Xperia Z3 Compact
Xperia Z4 Tablet
Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact
Xperia Z2
Xperia Z2 Tablet
Xperia M5
Xperia C5 Ultra
Xperia M4 Aqua
Xperia C4
LG
G Flex 2
G4c
G3
V10
Motorola
Moto X Style
Moto X Play
Moto G
Moto X Pure Edition
Moto MAXX
OnePlus
OnePlus 2
OnePlus One
OnePlus X
Huawei
Huawei P8
Huawei P8 Max
Honor 4X
Asus
Zenfone 6
Zenfone 5
Zenfone 4
Zenfone 2
Honor
Honor 7
Honor 6 Plus
Honor 6
Honor 4X
Honor 4C
As most of android users already know 5.0 Lollipop update is rolling out in full force, starting with the Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy S4 alongside with the HTC One (M8) and LG G3. The Lollipop updates are hitting US carriers too, meaning it won’t be long until you get your first taste of Lollipop if you haven’t yet. Here’s what we currently know about when Android 5.0 Lollipop update can be expected depending on the phone you have.
Motorola
HTC
Samsung
LG
Sony
Asus
Most of android users who is tracking all the news might already know that Google released latest 5.0 version of Android wich was called Lollipop. Now it’s only available on new Nexus phones and Nexus tablets, but the good news is that Google also promising 5.0 update to all Samsung, LG, Sony, HTC and other manufacturers latest models. Till then we made a review of the main upgraded and some brand new features of Lollipop 5.0
Tap and Go
Android has never been good at transferring device settings with all the apps from an old one to a new one. Using personal account you could only restore previously downloaded programs and games from the Play store, but it was not possible to get back your home screen and wallpaper. That’s partially Google’s fault, but it’s also a difficult problem to solve because of the diversity of hardware and software in the Android models ecosystem. “Tap and Go” is a small step towards resolving that and this method is very simple. User can pair devices with NFC and your old Android phone will then use Bluetooth to transfer all the details of what your phone should have installed over to the new phone.
Ok Google
Some updates on Lollipop were inspired by Motorola. The first is the ability to say “Ok Google” even if your phone is in standby mode with locked screen. Your phone will wake and then you can use voice to search, send texts, and more. It requires compatible hardware, though, and so far we only know for sure that the Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 will support it.
Double tap to wake
From now you can wake up your Android device without pushing home button. Just double tap the screen to wake it up. Like the advanced “Ok Google” command, it requires compatible hardware.
Face unlock
Android’s face unlock feature has never really worked as well as it should. Sounds magical that it can recognize your face, but it’s often slow and usually needs really good lighting conditions to work. In Lollipop, Google has updated Face unlock function so that it starts running silently as soon as you turn on your screen. Since you can interact with notifications on the lock screen, the idea is that you’d power it on, check a few notifications, and by the time you’re done it has already unlocked the phone.
Lock screen notifications
Android Lollipop will put notifications right on your lock screen. Seems like stolen Apple idea but on Android, the notifications on screen are basically the same as those that appear in the drop-down notification menu. Why does that matter? Because on Android, you get a lot of control built-in to those notifications. You can archive email, tap reply, expand notifications to see more information, and so on. Now, you can do it directly on your lock screen. Lets say you have apps with sensitive personal information that you want to see notifications from but don’t want to display their contents, you can set them to be filtered when they show up on the lock screen.
Priority Mode
Best notification enhancement in Lollipop, Google calls “Priority Mode”. It can be compared with “Do Not Disturb” on iOS but it seems a little bit smarter. It’s easy to choose which apps can still disturb you when in Priority Mode. When you set it, Android gives you the option to set a duration before it goes back into normal mode. In that way, you won’t forget to switch it off. There’s also an absolute silence mode that will turn everything off, even including alarms.
Guest Mode
From now Android will allow you to use multiple user accounts that works on both phones and tablets. The main idea is same as using PC quest account. It creates a new, clean and safe workplace that anybody can use without accessibility to your personal info. Guest can even quickly log in to their account to check email. You or your guest can get rid of this account and all the data in it whenever it’s needed.
Pin Apps
If you think that Guest Mode requires too much work, and all you really want to do is load a game and give your phone to your kid, hoping he will not leave that game and mess with your apps or even worse – phone settings. Pin Apps function is just what you need. It wont let them leave that game and browse whenever they want. This Lollipop feature can be found in settings. It simply adds a pin to each card in the multitasking view. When you tap it, that app won’t let user leave without entering a passcode. Very similar to the “Guided Access” feature in iOS, but a little easier to use.
Overview
The multitasking view with new material design look is now called Overview. Each app looks like a big stacked up card and you can scroll through many more recent apps than you used to be able to. The best feature is that any app can create multiple extra cards. So, for example, when you compose a new email your inbox is still in the overview, so you can switch back and forth between that tasks in a single app.
Video review[youtube_sc url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEDQ1z1-PvU” title=”Video%20review”]
