Android M
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Google will finally add iPhone-like visual voicemail to Android
Android users on select networks will soon get native "visual voicemail," a feature that iPhone users have enjoyed since forever. In case you're wondering, that's a way of checking and deleting voice mails via an app, rather than having to call a carrier number and go through them one by one. The feature was spied by Android Police on a support ticket for the upcoming Android M release and via Google+ user Danny Hollis. Hollis showed a screen cap of the new interface (below), and said it's now implemented for T-Mobile in a preview build.
The Android M Preview makes for a surprisingly usable daily driver
Late last week, I fired my up Mac's Terminal, pecked out a few half-remembered commands, looked them up, typed them out more slowly and that was that. After a few moments of silent finger-crossing, I was the proud owner of a Nexus 6 running the Android M Developer Preview. I then did something I didn't really expect to: I turned off my iPhone and made the snap decision to use Android M -- unfinished as it is -- as my main squeeze until Google I/O came to an end. The show's long over by now, but I've still (mostly) left my iPhone off to see how this highly incomplete version of Android stands up in day-to day-use. And you know what? For something that's very clearly a preview, it doesn't make for a bad daily driver.
Google's Now on Tap makes Android M smartphones so much smarter
In no particular order, Google's invading our living rooms, our extremities, our skies, and — curiously — our Android phones. No, really! By announcing Google Now on Tap during today's I/O keynote, the company's going all-in on the idea that a Google smartphone isn't complete without the full power of the Knowledge Graph baked into it. And you know what? I think they're right. Even after just a few moments messing around with it, I don't ever want to use an Android device that can't do what Now on Tap can.
What's on tap for Google at I/O 2015
We're coming down to the wire now: Google I/O 2015 is just a few days away, and we'll be liveblogging and reporting from the ground as soon as the festivities begin. Don't let its reputation as a developer bonanza fool you, though. There's going to be no shortage of workshops and code review sessions, but I/O is also where Google takes time to update its vision of the future for the people who will ultimately help build it. Of course, it's not all starry-eyed speeches and technical breakdowns -- this is, after all, the sort of show that featured a live streaming Google Hangout with four dudes who jumped out of a zeppelin. We can't account for whatever crazy, spectacular bits the folks in Mountain View might be working on, but we do have a taste of what to expect when the show starts in earnest this Thursday.
