Google has announced a lot of new things at the I/O 2015 Conference including Google Play Services 7.5. This one brings several optimizations and new features to Android devices, or those running at least Android 2.3. The new version includes new APIs for Google Cloud Messaging and Google Cast and the Google Maps API on Android Wear devices, Instance ID, and Smart Lock for Passwords among others.
Smart Lock for Passwords builds on the Chrome Password Manager for a faster and more covnvenient login process. This feature includes adding a new CredentialsApi API and UI on Android. This way, saved items are easily remembered and retrieved for use on any Chrome browser or other Android devices. No need to have multiple accounts and remember all your passwords because the Smart Lock for Passwords can keep users logged in securely.
There’s also the ‘Instance ID, Identity, and Authorization’ (IID) feature that allows a user to “retrieve a unique identifier for every app instance”. This offers a new way to authorize and authenticate actions even if app does not have accounts or user registrations. Instance IDs can also be used for Google Cloud Messaging. It’s also now fully compatible with user notifications.
Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) brings battery efficiency when sending information to users. It can also messages from a device to a server. We can also expect to benefit from topic based subscriptions for easier publishing of messages to a specific audience. GCM can now handle the sending to all subscribed instances according to Google. Your app can now also subscribe to different topics. You can also receive GCM messages using a subclass of GcmListenerService and a GcmReceiver.
Also added are GCM Network Manager APIs that allow “send to sync”. Such APIs usually handle common actions like device charging, backoff, network retries, and waiting for network connectivity. The GCM Network Manager can schedule background tasks and batch them together to save battery.
App Invites is still in beta but it aims to provide a standard user interface for users. The UI is used for inviting contacts to install app and link to a specific content. This way, you can reach more people to increase app installs.
Google Play Services 7.5 also includes Google Cast technology. With this, you can cast content from a laptop or mobile device to a compatible TV or speakers. This new ability to use remote display brings a better Google Cast experience to every one using Android or Chrome. Just use the new Remote Display API to bring a custom and integrated second screen experience.
Google Play Services 7.5 also includes RemoteMediaPlayer getting a full media queue and support plus GameManagerClient and the Game Manager APIs. All these and more bring better Google Cast media experiences to all Android devices.
As for improvement to Google Fit, Google Play Services 7.5 also brings the RecordingApi for gathering data like calories burned or distance traveled. This brings the data available to your app or other Google Fit apps as allowed by the HistoryApi.
Google Play Services 7.5 SDK is now available.
SOURCE: Android Developers Blog
Is GCM Network Manager “send to sync” feature only for sending messages from a device? Or is it for receiving push notifications as well.