The LOLLIPOP Update

Android Lollipop is a HUGE update that sees Google taking its already mature platform several steps further. Google has tightened up nearly every element of its mobile platform, refining the look and feel of Android across the board, as well as touching up back-end tools and protocols to make the platform even more efficient. The first wave of updates is now in full swing with Motorola and Samsung confirming release schedules for all of hardware.

Design: The Material ART

 The big news regarding Android Lollipop is the fresh look, coined "Material" by Google. There are some similarities between Material and the look of "stock" Android KitKat, the designers at Google have clearly forged a new path here, in purely aesthetic terms. The flatness seen in KitKat is still present and correct, but it comes with a twist: realism. Animation is going to play a big part in the new design, and Android Lollipop will adopt real-time shadows to give its interface more depth and make it look a little more dynamic. The shadows are there because Android Lollipop will make much more use of layers in the UI, allowing developers to do all kinds of visual customization within their apps. The famous Android "soft" buttons have been given a face lift, and look even more stylish than before. Google is embellishing Lollipop with new visual tricks to make things even more alluring. From what we've seen, it strikes us as massive improvement over the often flat and uninspiring Android 4.4.

 

Security:

 Google has made massive strides with Android when it comes to overall security, coming up with innovations such as pattern unlocks and facial recognition. Android Lollipop's big advance is going to be about making security more convenient, and it will do this using two methods: Android Wear and your current location. In the first case, you can use your shiny new Android smartwatch as an authentication tool to automatically bypass your phone's passcode when it detects the watch nearby. In the second example, you can designate safe zones – your home, for example – where your phone will switch off your lock code. While both of these features could potentially create a security risk, if someone steals your phone and your smartwatch, they have access to all of your personal data, for instance, but they will overcome the irksome issue of having to continually unlock your device every few minutes.

Battery Life: Project VOLTA

 Project Butter was Google's way of making Android feel smoother and slicker, and now the company has revealed Project Volta – a system which will provide developers with a better means of determining what elements of their apps are draining battery at an unnecessary rate. Because Volta will open up the battery stats to developers, they can tinker with their code to make apps more efficient and spot potential problem areas. Android Lollipop will also take a leaf out of HTC and Samsung's books by coming with a battery saving mode by default. This will help users get as much mileage out of each charge as possible by throttling certain functions when juice is low. Such improvements will ensure that Android L is leaps and bounds ahead of KitKat, which only offers basic stats on what process is gobbling up the most power.

Miscellaneous: Better Connections and Stronger APIs

Notifications have been Android's strong suit since day one, and Google is making them even better in Android Lollipop. Now they are being integrated into the lock screen – something Google previously experimented with when it developed lock screen widgets which allowed you to view emails and events without actually unlocking your phone. As well as making notifications the first thing you see when you pick up your handset, Google is working on making them smarter when the phone is in active use. For example, in KitKat a call would totally interrupt whatever activity you were involved in, be it reading a book, browsing your emails or playing a game. In Android Lollipop, events such as these will pop up at the top of the screen, a la Samsung’s Galaxy S5, meaning you can choose to jump to that event or ignore it with a quick tap without leaving your current task. Notifications are going to be smarter, more intuitive.

So did you get your LOLLIPOP ?