Ambient Mode Maps – A new feature in Android Wear allows apps to display in “ambient mode”, essentially black and white version of app/watchface being displayed.
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Cybercrooks made use of a number of techniques to steer clear of discovery by Google, as well as side stepping Google’s “Bouncer” Android defening resource, which often tests supplied gaming applications in the Play retain. Developers will need to upgrade their apps to support this using the new SDK.
Marshmallow Permissions – We’ve known about this one since Google I/O and allows users to control which permissions can run on their devices. This will enable you to manage the permission flows appropriately for your app and avoid any potential connection issues. The new services also include new App Invites, where users can invite their Google contacts via email or SMS to try an app out, giving more opportunities for audience growth.
The Nearby Status Listener is another feature that Google Play Services 8.1 comes with. The developers will be able to even add an image to the custom invitation. This means a simplified low-color rendering of the map will be seen in Google Maps, which reduces power consumption by lighting fewer pixels. To learn more about ambient mode, check out this blog post.
The update, as you discovered, includes a vertical app drawer and quick search functionality inside the app drawer for the Google Now Launcher application. As Google explains, this “allows your app to receive callbacks when an active Nearby publish or subscribe expires”. This frees you from tracking the TTL and allows your app’s UI to accurately reflect whether Nearby is active or not.
Play Games Player Stats API – This new API lets you build better, smarter games by allowing you to tailor user experiences to specific segments of players and different stages of the player lifecycle. What you are experiencing is part of the Google app update, which went live for a few users late last week.
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To speak the truth, these new features will not be immediately available for end users, but they’re more for developers to integrate them into their apps so users can reap the benefits.
