Google’s Nexus event: Smartphones. Marshmallow details could be revealed

Google is hotly tipped to announce two new Nexus smartphones and reveal more details of its new version of Android.

The US search giant has announced the next version of its Android operating system, Android 6.0, will be named again after a sweet. While K was for KitKat, and L was for Lollipop, the upcoming version of Android, version 6, is M for Marshmallow.

Google is hotly tipped to announce two new Nexus smartphones and reveal more details of its new version of Android known as Marshmallow.

Nothing is confirmed yet, but the money is on Google releasing a Nexus 5X device with a 5.2-inch display built by Korean manufacturer LG, and, in what is an historic first, a Nexus 6P with a larger 5.7-inch display built by China manufacturer Huawei.

It is the first time the Mountain View company has combined forces with Huawei to produce a Nexus phone. Previously it has teamed up with Motorola, now owned by another China manufacturer, Lenovo, and other Asian manufacturers.

Nexus is the brand name Google gives to devices which use unaltered versions of its operating system. Google enters agreements with major manufacturers who create special editions of smartphones in line with Google’s specifications.

The US search giant has announced the next version of its Android operating system, Android 6.0, will be named again after a sweet. While K was for KitKat, and L was for Lollipop, the upcoming version of Android, version 6, is M for Marshmallow.

Marshmallow is not expected to be a huge departure from Lollipop but is expected to give users more control over permissions they grant individual apps to their personal data. Marshmallow also provides better native OS support for fingerprint scanning, a user authentication feature pioneered by Apple but made available on Android already through software developed by Android phone manufacturers such as Samsung.

Huawei has not released any detail of the 6P ahead of the event, although there are many leaks as to its specifications. Leaks suggest it will have a 5.7-inch high resolution display, the same size as displays for Samsung’s Galaxy S6 edge+ and Note 5 phablet devices. It is also Google’s immediate reply to Apple’s phablet-sized phone, iPhone 6s Plus.

The 6P is rumoured to offer more than 500 pixels per inch display resolution, an 8-core Qualcomm processor, a big 13 megapixel back-facing camera, and up to 128 Gigabytes of internal storage.

The leaks suggest the 6P will have a large 3450 milliampere hour battery, and a USB Type-C port. It’s a new form of USB port that offers fast data transfer rates as well as fast charging. It was featured early this year when Apple released its new 12-inch MacBook.

Both new Nexus phones are designed to run Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

Chris Griffith travelled to San Francisco courtesy of Huawei.