The most ambitious update on Android made its bow last week. Yes, the Android Lollipop or Android 5.0 is now in the market on Nexus devices to start with. With more than 5000 APIs for developers to play around, the opportunities are huge and the excitement palpable. Google has made some dramatic and interesting changes to the interface, notifications and performance. These are already by now quite well known and do not warrant repeating. However, there are smaller features that are worth mentioning as under:

a)      This new OS has been designed to run on most of the Android devices and all that is required for it to run smoothly is a memory of 512 MB. So users now do not have to go for expensive handsets to be able to enjoy the Android experience. Google is attempting to eliminate the problem of fragmentation they have been enduring for the past couple of years through this OS. They are hopeful of quicker upgrades that OEMs can now implement on some of the older devices.

b)      The Kill Switch feature is a fantastic theft deterrence option that disables the gadget when stolen. This was introduced following the law passed in California that mandated smart phones to have such a feature. It enables the owner of the smart phone to now remotely disable the phone or specify a password when somebody attempts to reset the gadget. The incentive to steal the phone is thus reduced dramatically.

c)      The Priority Mode enables the user to choose the notifications showing up on the lock screen. You can prioritize Face Book notifications for instance over those of Twitter and you can even set this for certain contacts calls to come through if you wish. This feature also helps you in carrying on with any activity on your device without being interrupted.

d)     It is now possible for you to lend your phone to somebody else for usage without having to worry if he or she can access your data. The addition of the user profile setting on the Android L enables this switching of users and while this was being offered on tablets earlier, smart phones with Android L will now have this feature. You can thus lend your phone to your kids or anybody else in the family for usage and not worry about them messing up your settings or getting access to your data.

e)      The smart lock feature is yet another useful update that allows you to now unlock your smart phone by just pairing it with an Android smart wear like the smart watch. You no longer need to enter your password or pattern lock.

f)       Finally, the battery life. This has been a concern for many Android users and especially for those playing games on their smart phones. The new Android L will manage battery power intelligently by instructing the CPU to reduce load when battery is low so that you can get a further 90 minutes of usage.