Google isn’t saying when its older devices, the Nexus 4, 5, 7 and 10, are set to receive Android 5.0 Lollipop, but with the availability of the Nexus 9 today the company is detailing what’s in store for app developers.
While we’ve seen Material Design in action on earlier versions of Android, the best experience will be found on devices running Lollipop, which support all the new animations and transition libraries that Google has built into the OS. Small touches, like how a single tap ripples and then expands to bring up a subsequent dialogue, lends the OS a sense of motion and presence. The physical design of Material Design, which can to some extent be backported to former versions of Android, only tell half the story.
Besides Google’s own apps, like Gmail, Play Music and Keep, third-party developers are readying app updates to better conform with Material Design. Specifically, The Wall Street Journal, Tumblr and Buzzfeed are readying updates (Tumblr has already added elements of Material Design), with more to come, like Trello, in the near future.
Google may begin rolling out Android 5.0 to existing devices in the coming days, but in the meantime, read our Nexus 9 review to get the lowdown on what’s new.
