As wearables gain a bit more clout, and we start to see some more interesting ones that link into your Google account (and Fit) rather than just plain old identikit smartwatches, it'll gain a more specific appeal. Google Fit is something that will get more exciting in the future, with any luck. Of course, Google Fit will have more appeal if you have an Android Wear smartwatch, which uses (or can use) Fit to track your movements a little more constantly than a phone would. Several third-party alternatives have been offering the same thing (or better) for years, generally with cross-platform support too – I'm thinking of things like Fitbit here. It's hardly the most audacious of apps, though. This is Google's own fitness tracking app, designed to monitor your activity level throughout the day. Google Fitįrom the updated to the totally new, while Google Fit is really its own entity rather than something umbilically linked to Android Lollipop, it did arrive at the same time. They also look a bit outdated too, though. Its aim seems to be to get you to embrace gesture typing, something I did years ago as it's generally much faster than tapping away on keys one-by-one.Ĭonscious that it's a bit of a departure, the Lollipop keyboard can also be customised with black and white 'Holo' themes that look a lot closer to the Android keyboards of old. The Android Lollipop keyboard's default theme no longer has buttons at all anymore, just a flat field of characters with the same flat-but-layered look as the apps menu. It was one of the Android 4.4 elements most in need of a redesign, and Google has certainly provided one. One of the Android Lollipop improvements I've appreciated the most is the keyboard. It's something to look forward to, as it'll radically increase what scanners can be used for, beyond just unlocking a phone and with Android Pay or Samsung Pay validating some payments. The good news is that system-level support from base APIs is arriving with Android Marshmallow. The shocker is that Android Lollipop still doesn't natively support them – if an Android phone has a fingerprint scanner it works because of custom software shoehorned in by the manufacturer. What about fingerprint scanners? There's been a huge expansion of these during Lollipop's lifetime, and they've gone from being rubbish to being pretty great in phones like the Huawei Mate S and Samsung Galaxy S6. Face unlocking in particular is very flimsy. Security experts wouldn't recommend you relying on these security methods if you have anything remotely sensitive on your phone, and neither would I. At this point, though, you'll probably want something a bit more robust. The idea is that you'll be able to apply security, but make it almost invisible to you. This is part of a feature called Smart Lock, and it also enables an Android Lollipop phone to unlock automatically when it recognises your face, using the front camera. But it does mean you can leave your phone on your desk at work and nip out to get a coffee without your co-workers writing a Facebook rant about Overlord Xenu. As such it's not a perfect way to stop your friends from reading your messages, say, down the pub. This works best with a smartwatch, enabling you to bypass whatever security you've put in place when the phone senses its wireless buddy in range. First, there's the Trusted Devices Smart Unlock, which unlocks the phone when it's in range of a known wireless Bluetooth device. While it doesn't generally feel as though Android Lollipop rams security down your throat more than KitKat did, there are new options that make securing your phone easier and potentially more effective.
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