Android 5.0 Lollipop: 5 Key Features Added To Latest Android Version

Google announced the Android 5.0 Lollipop, the latest major version of the company’s mobile operating system, last week, along with the highly anticipated Nexus 6 smartphone, Nexus 9 tablet and a new streaming video device called the Nexus Player.

The Android 5.0 Lollipop, which was first showcased at the Google I/O conference in June as Android L, comes with many new features, such as a new material design user interface and updated notification functions. The new Android version is expected to be available for older Nexus models, including the Nexus 5, Nexus 7, Nexus 10 and Google Play Edition devices.

Here are five new key features of the Android 5.0 Lollipop:

1. WebView

WebView allows third party applications to display web content without launching the browser. The feature makes the update process independent from the update schedule of original equipment manufacturers, making it convenient for users of devices whose OEMs are slow in rolling out updates.

 2. Multi-User Support for Phones

The new Android 5.0 Lollipop offers multi-user support, which was only available for tablets, for phones. The first user of the phone will be the owner of the device and this person can decide if others can use the handset. The feature allows every profile to have its own welcome screen, application settings and wallpapers, and users can switch profiles by pressing the head button on the top right corner of the screen.

3. Application Pinning

Users of Android 5.0 Lollipop can lock any running application by applying a pin number or pattern. If the owner of the device has any protections enabled on the device, other users cannot access other apps without breaching the phone's security system.

4. Application Back Up

Users will now be able to transfer all relevant settings and apps to new Android devices through Near Field Communication at the time of initial login. Apps that are to be downloaded will be displayed as gray-colored icons, which will launch the Play Store listing when tapped.

5. Two Factor Authentication from Initial Login

Users will now be able to enter the time-sensitive security code right on the login screen itself. In previous versions of the OS, the account login screen used to open up a browser window to let users enter the code.

Access Facebook on any Mobile Without the Internet

Do you have an old mobile phone, like the Nokia 1100, that has no browser and can do little more than make phone calls? Or are you stuck in some remote place where there’s no Internet or no other form of data (EGDE/GPRS/3G) connectivity is available?

Not a problem. You can still use your Facebook account in India by dialing *325# (or *fbk#) from your mobile phone – this service requires no data plan or Internet and it will even work on phones of the Stone Age. Here’s a quick tour:

        

Use Facebook without the Data Plan

Facebook India has partnered with Fonetwish to bring Facebook on every mobile phone without requiring any apps or even the Internet.

You dial the *325# number, then enter your Facebook username and password and you are in. You can then send number based commands to access various features of Facebook, chat with friends who are online, add new people to your friends list, and more.

I played with the service for some time and it was a nice experience overall. If there were a Unix-like shell interface for Facebook, it would be much similar. Fonetwish says that this service is currently available for Airtel, Aircel, Idea and Tata Docomo users in India.

It may be too much work to read your Facebook news feed stories one by one but this is a good option to quickly update your Facebook status or for chatting with friends who are online. The price is reasonable too – you just have pay a subscription fee of 1.00 per day for unlimited usage.

Related: If you have an old mobile phone, you can search Google by SMS without requiring a data plan.

Search Google on your Mobile Phone via SMS Text Messages

This is something for mobile phone users in India who don't have a web-enabled phone – you can now search for information on Google using SMS. The service has been around for a while but Google is no longer charging a premium fee for sending you the SMS message.

The Google SMS search service may be used for finding movie timings, weather, nearest pizza restaurant, currency conversion, train schedules, cricket scores and a host of other things.

One of the very useful features in SMS search is language translation. For instance, I could SMS "say hello in French" to 9-77-33-00000 to get the right French word.

Google SMS Search could be real bad news for the business of services like Indiatimes that charge a premium fee for delivering news or astrology updates on the mobile phone using short codes.

For details go to the Google Mobile website or check their help center for more details.

The Google blog says that you only need to pay the standard SMS text charges for sending the SMS query to Google – there's no fee for the incoming messages from Google. The service is available for all popular cellular networks including Airtel, BSNL, Idea, Reliance, Spice, Tata Indicom and Vodafone.