Android M and Android 5.1 Lollipop Walkthrough: What’s New So Far

For those who want to see some of the innovations in Google’s recently announced Android M software, you can see the changes in our M and Android 5.1 Lollipop review below. This is a comparison of Android 5.1 Lollipop vs Android M beta preview on Nexus 6 and Nexus 5.

This Android M walkthrough will show you some of the new features and changes that Google has made to M that are different from the latest Android 5.1 Lollipop. While most of the changes are non-visual and behind the scenes, there are still plenty of new features in the early developer preview and Google will likely add more before the Android M release later this year.

Google’s Android 5.1 Lollipop update was released in May and fixed many of the initial issues and bugs in Android 5.0 Lollipop back in November. So far only Nexus devices and a few select manufacturers have removed Android 5.1 Lollipop, and we are now shifting our focus to Android M, which will arrive around October or November this year.

Last month, Google announced the successor to Android 5.0 Lollipop, now called Android M, and it will get an official name when it launches. They did the same with Android L last year and announced Android “Lollipop” in October and released it in November after a long developer preview period. We expect Android M to follow a similar release cycle and timeframe.

For now, Android M is just an early developer preview or beta if you want, and it’s not the final version of Google’s next software update. However, there are already many changes, tons of improvements, better battery life and much more. Google is working to improve the core experience and improve Lollipop rather than change everything. We get a very familiar experience with Android M, but better in almost every way.

With Android 5.0 Lollipop last year, Google made big changes to Android as a whole compared to KitKat. This was the first major overhaul and complete visual redesign in years, and arguably the best version of Android ever. Yes, it had bugs, but most of them have been fixed and the experience is even better with Android M. We love what Android M has to offer, even if it’s just a developer preview and unfinished software.

Android M (we bet they’ll call it the Milky Way or Marshmallow) will be a free update for all Android smartphones and tablets that support it, but when Google launches Android M later this year, manufacturers like Samsung, LG, HTC, and more will use existing devices. Will have to update. Most won’t arrive until December or 2016.

Currently the Android M beta is only available for the Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 9 tablet and Nexus Player, but will reach millions of users later this year or early 2016. It’s the latest version of Android M, but here are some of the innovations so far.

We have our quick Android M hands-on video above, but read and review the slideshow below with side-by-side screenshot comparisons showing the new and different features in Android M.

It’s worth noting that many changes and new features in Android M are not included in this developer preview. It’s missing Android Pay, Google Now on Tap, Fingerprint scanner support, improved copy and paste, multi-window mode, and many other cool features. Some of the things we see in the preview may not be in the final release this year as everything could change. However, there is still a lot to see, so let’s get started.

You can click on any of the images below to instantly jump to that image in the slideshow and see a comparison of that part of the operating system with previous versions. Legacy Android 5.1 Lollipop will always be on the left (if available), while Android M will be on the right.