• Pin It
  • Pin It

Google releases latest version of Android

Oct 16, 2014, 1:45 PM EDT
Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Delano Las Vegas

Google has released the next version of its Android operating system dubbed Android 5.0 Lollipop. The OS has security features that include heightened encryption as well as thousands of APIs for developers. Businessweek writes:

Lollipop is the 13th major release of Android. But it’s the first to be fully developed under Sundar Pichai, the Google senior vice president and confidant of Chief Executive Officer Larry Page who took over the OS operation last year. Along with Lollipop, Pichai is introducing three Google-designed devices, including the supersize Nexus 6 smartphone, manufactured by Motorola Mobility (MMI) with a fairly gigantic 6-inch screen. (The iPhone 6 Plus display is 5.5 inches.) Pichai hopes the phone will be the first of a series of new Lollipop-powered computers in living rooms, cars, and just about everywhere else. “We aren’t only trying to ship two [products],” he says, obliquely referring to rival Apple’s (AAPL) well-received pair of new iPhones. “We are trying to enable thousands of [products] at the same time.”

Tech Republic describes some of the security features:

Security is important for any enterprise mobile user, regardless of the OS they are using. This is increasingly true for Android users, as the OS seems to get more and more press surrounding its susceptibility to malware attacks when it comes to third party apps stores.
To better address malware concerns, Android Lollipop has the Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) feature to lower the risk of vulnerabilities in all applications. With Android Lollipop, encryption is turned on automatically for new devices. This is the first time data will be encrypted by default on Android devices.
Android Smart Lock is the most unique security feature of Lollipop. This allows Android phones or tablets to be secured by bluetooth, pairing them with an Android Wear device or your automobile, assuming it's running Android Auto. The feature is eerily similar to the Easy Unlock feature that showed up in the Chrome Dev channel earlier this year, which lets users unlock a Chromebook with a paired device.
NEW Get free daily news briefings »
TAGS:
U.S.-Technology