Android Mascots At The Google I/O Developers Conference
Android mascots are lined up in the demonstration area at the Google I/O Developers Conference in the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California, May 10, 2011. Reuters/Beck Diefenbach

Android 5.0 Lollipop is official and currently supporting Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 with expected updates for Nexus 4, Nexus 5 and Nexus 10. Here are five features that will improve battery life, performance, graphics and smoothness of every Nexus device from Android 5.0 update.

Material Design User Interface

Google revamped the overall user interface of Android OS on 5.0 Lollipop version which comes with more tactile surfaces, bold graphic design and fluid motion. Apps and services can make use of the default colour schemes provided by Material Design with motion on every animation. Apps included to the Material Design include Google Play Music, Google Chrome, Google Play Store and Android defaults such as Email client, Contacts and Calendar.

Default Launcher: Google Now

Similar with Android KitKat on Nexus 5, Android Lollipop features Google Now as the default home screen launcher and makes other launchers as optional ones. Several improvements on Google Now functionalities include:

- Coloured top bars on some cards.

- Double column of Google Now cards on tablets.

- Side-bar menu and gesture support on Google Now like in Play Store.

- Ok Google voice recognition while the screen is off.

Default Runtime: Android Runtime

Android Runtime or ART replaces Dalvik as the default runtime engine on Android 5.0 Lollipop. Android Runtime helps any optimised app to perform better, faster and smoother than in Dalvik. Apps using ART can have up to four times performance improvements, smoother user interface for visual apps and compacting background apps and services to improve multitasking.

Improving Gaming Experience With OpenGL ES 3.1

OpenGL ES 3.1 arrives on Android 5.0 Lollipop along with Android Extension Pack to improve mobile graphics on par with desktop and console-class performance. Here are the hardware components compatible with OpenGL ES 3.1 for Android OS:

- Android 4xx series such as Adreno 420 GPU from Qualcomm.

- Intel HD Graphics for Intel Atom Z3700.

- Intel HD Graphics for Intel Celeron N and J series.

- Intel HD Graphics for Intel Pentium N and J series.

- Mali T6XX series for Android and Linux.

- NVIDIA Tegra K1 GPU.

- PowerVR series6 for Android and Linux.

Battery Life Monitoring With Project Volta

Project Volta is one of the unique features added by Android 5.0 Lollipop, which serves as a battery tool. It can help a device to extend longer for up to 90 minutes, display estimated time left to fully recharge when plugged in and estimated time left before the device needed to recharge again. This native battery saver is found on the Settings menu and can be configured by the user.

Material design will continue to evolve as Google plans to gather some of the best design thinkers from around the industry at FORM. Users and developers are also encouraged to give feedback online via Google+, Twitter and Google.com/design to further push the new user interface.