Yesterday, Google released first Android M Preview Update. Google has enhanced many features and fixed various bugs present in Android M Preview 1 which was released on 28 May.

What are the changes in first Android M Preview Update?

The most noteworthy change in Android M Preview Update is the fixed app drawer, which is looking much better than the Preview 1 version. Earlier version removed the whole column of icons to make space for huge index letters. Actually, that looked horrible and was a waste of space, so it is good that they are gone. The top row of apps in the app drawer is not alphabetical and will apparently be the predictive apps bar. Another most prominent change is that the new home screen will finally support auto rotate, so users can now have a horizontal home screen.

Users can now download the updated tools for the SDK Manager, and the system images will be available fromOTA update or can be downloaded from the Developer page. Users will now have a whole set of options to hide stock status bar icons. For instance, if users want to hide their alarm clock or signal bars icon, they can now do that. Android M Preview Update also has a new demo mode, which will pop up a fake status bar for the screenshots that are more presentable. It will clear all the notifications and show a 100% battery and sets the time to 5:20.

The Theme option that was in the developer settings now seem to be removed or hidden. There is also a new “Should Show Request Permission Rationale” method in the Android M Preview Update, which will check if the user has denied permission for an app and will then explain the user why that app needs that permission.

Google released first Android M Preview Update and it seems to be incremental. Google said that this is just a developer preview and is missing many consumer facing Google apps that will debut with the official release of the OS. More Android M versions are to come in future.