Android (Photo : Reuters)
What the Google Nexus 2015 and the iPhone 6S will be, hardware-wise, on release date remain a big question mark. The build and components to come with these upcoming flagships are secrets that Google and Apple will likely keep until the actual unboxing time.
Thankfully though, a number of key features designed for the two devices have been hinted in advance because the operating systems that will power them - Android M for the Nexus 2015 and iOS 9 for the iPhone 6S - were already introduced. Of the features revealed so far, Google's sequel to the Nexus 6 appears to enjoy the upperhand.
Cortana for Android
It is a fact now that Microsoft will bring Cortana, regarded as the best personal digital assistant at the moment across all platforms, to the Android universe with the recent release of a beta build. 9to5Google tested the non-final release and noted that the built-for-Android application "looks, performs and acts just like the Cortana on Windows Phone." But the same report, reminded that Android users will instantly feel that the app is on Google's world due touches of Material Design with the user interface.
The app also integrates smoothly with Google's native services such as the Google Map, which indicates that Cortana on Android is off to a good start. Admittedly though, the Cortana beta version "has its limitations and doesn't feel quite as intuitive or in-depth as Google Now or Siri," the same report said.
But it is exciting how Microsoft will render the final Cortana on Android version, which is expected to be ready in time for Android M's likely debut in late September this year. On the other hand, Siri has been rewritten to better deal with search and contextual questions, Mashable said in a report.
System UI Tuner
One area that Android M and iOS 9 are trying to outdo each other is device notification. Nothing yet is final on Apple's next mobile operating system but one improvement noticed by Mashable is the chronological arrangement of application alerts that apparently will make "it much easier to catch up on notifications (users) may have otherwise missed."
On Google's part, the notification enhancements are more powerful. Digging deeper on the Android M Developer Preview 2, Android Police shared that the new System UI Tuner tool gives greater power on users to set how the notification status bar looks and behaves like redefining what alerts will appear and what will not. Or users can banish all these notifications altogether.
Incidentally, the same report took note that the official Android M press image has the digital clock set at 5:20. Previously, the same clock was rendered at 4:40 that paved the way for the Android 4.4 release then at 5:00 that was then followed by the launch of Android 5.0 or Lollipop.
Picking up on the observed pattern, it is highly likely that Android M will be officially known as Android 5.2 on release date not 6.0 as earlier thought. Now the software is said to arrive at the same time of the Google Nexus 2015 unboxing.
