What to expect for Android and Chrome at Google I/O 2015

The annual Google I/O developer event is nearly upon us. The conference, which takes place this Thursday and Friday in San Francisco, is Google's public planning session: The company outlines all of the software tools developers can use for Google platforms, services and software.


Last year, Google showed off an early look at Android L, which later launched as Android 5.0 Lollipop, the new Material Design look for Android, Android apps on Chromebooks, the Google Fit health platform and more.

So what's in store for this year? We'll find out later this week, but here's what I expect.
Android M where "M" is for More refinements

There's nothing surprising in the fact that Google will surely give a glimpse of the next Android version. I say "glimpse" because I don't anticipate Google will launch the new software. Read this


As it stands now, only 9.7 percent of all devices hitting the Google Play Store are running Lollipop and hardware partners are still working on their upgrades to change that.

Instead, the company will highlight new features that will arrive with Android M. Most visual changes will likely be incremental at best since there are still apps that don't yet use the Material Design look and feel introduced last year.

Look for Google to highlight security in Android, either through Android M itself or through a Google Play Services update in the coming months. Instead of applications simply showing the permissions the software has access to, users will likely be able to specify and customize which permissions and data and app can use.

Zdnet