We first heard about Android M at Google I/O back in May. It has become a kind of tradition for Google to announce the next version of Android at I/O and then let us know on the sweet name it has decided upon a few months later. Yesterday it launched the Official Android 6.0 SDK & Final M Preview and the accompanying blog post asked rhetorically "Whether you like them straight out of the bag, roasted to a golden brown exterior with a molten centre, or in fluff form, who doesn’t like marshmallows?"
Developers and tinkerers with a Google Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 9 or Nexus Player device will be able to test the final Android M preview by downloading the device system images. Google reminds such folks that these are near-final but not intended for consumer use. If you put one of these images on your device you will have to "manually re-flash your device to a factory image to continue to receive consumer OTA updates," like when Android 6.0 Marshmallow launches to the public later this autumn.
We are expecting a pair of Nexus smartphones to launch in autumn alongside the updated mobile OS. Only last week we reported upon the leaked specs of the LG Google Nexus 5 (2015) and Huawei Nexus 6 (2015). However the highly anticipated Project Ara modular smartphone seems to be delayed…
Project Ara is delayed
Last week Project Ara's Puerto Rican pilot debut was cancelled. A few hours ago the team behind the project updated us on where the pilot would take place: it's still not certain but it is looking for a location inside the USA. Perhaps more disappointing for tech fans is that the date for the pilot program has slipped to 2016.
In answer to some Tweets about what is causing the delay the official Project Ara replied "Why? Lots of iterations... more than we thought." With its many possible module permutations and hot swappable parts Project Ara must be more complicated than the average smartphone to design a stable working OS for.
