Google's new mobile operating system is official as of Wednesday, and there won't be much of a wait to get your hands on the fifth incarnation of Android, which Google is calling Android Lollipop.

Not a Surprise, But a Refreshing Change

The name of the operating system is not much of a surprise, following in the footsteps of other candy-named Android OSs, like Jelly Bean and KitKat. And the existence of Google's next generation of mobile software isn't a surprise either, as the company previewed the OS under the name Android L earlier this summer, as we previously reported.

But the lack of surprise doesn't sap excitement for the new operating system -- as well as the three new Nexus devices that Google has announced with a very near-term release date of Friday, Oct. 17. That's because Android Lollipop (Android version 5.0) is the first entirely new revision of the Android mobile operating system since Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich was released in what seems like the dark ages, back in 2011.

Material Design: More Than a Brand New Look

As Google previewed onstage months ago, the most noticeable change coming to Android will be right on the face of your device. Google has completely revamped its user interface and software aesthetic design principles following an approach it calls Material Design.


The design concept is more function than form, though it looks refreshing and beautiful as well. Material Design, says Google, is a visual language that makes transitions between screens, drawers, menus, and other UI elements more intuitive to the real-world interactions we're used to having with the physical world. Inspired by what Google calls the "tactile reality" of paper and ink, Material Design layers interactive elements over the background, making interactive features obvious and appealing to users' instincts as to what gestures and other interactions are available with any given software element.

At the same time as Google is adding this visual depth, it has flattened out most of the last remaining classic skeuomorphic facets of Android's look, like the now-old school rounded corners and shaded buttons -- following in the footsteps of Apple's Jony Ive and his aesthetic reworking of iOS 7.

Android Lollipop and the Google Ecosystem

Google's Wednesday announcement called Android 5.0 Lollipop the "largest, most ambitious release on Android," and for good reason. Along with the redesigned UI, Lollipop is ushering in Google's new "Android Everywhere" push, promising the flexibility to smoothly run not only on high-end tablets and smartphones -- like the new Nexus 9 and Nexus 6, which Google also announced on Wednesday -- but also lower-end Android devices, and even slightly more unconventional places like your TV.

(Photo : Google)

That's because, in addition to the Nexus 9 and Nexus 6, Google announced the Nexus Player, which is the first Android TV-running set top box -- and Google's first direct challenge to Apple TV. Add in Android Wear for smartwatches and Android Auto for the car, and you've got what's increasingly looking like a full, interactive ecosystem of everyday technology, all powered by Google's mobile OS.

On a practical level (if you own these devices) this means you can connect them together to do things like watch a movie on the TV, and then keep your progress -- picking up right where you left off -- when you switch to a tablet and head to bed. This interconnected principle applies to apps, documents, photos, songs, and pretty much everything else, across all Android Lollipop-powered devices.

More Customizability and Security

Android has always been known for its customizability, and Lollipop continues to carry that torch with a new emphasis on personalized notifications. Google is promising (hope, hope, hope it's true!) more user control over filtering notifications on your Android device.

"You can now adjust your settings so that only certain people and notifications can get through," wrote Android SVP Sundar Pichai in the announcement, "for example, when you're out to dinner or in the middle of an important meeting. And when an important notification does come through, you can see it directly from the lockscreen."

Being a modern mobile OS released a year after Snowden's NSA mass surveillance revelations and one high-profile hacking after another, Android 5.0 Lollipop comes with enhancements to your data security built-in and turned on by default. For example, the new OS has encryption automatically set, along with security-enhanced Linux (SELinux) enforcing for all applications running on the device, by default. It also has a theft-prevention "kill switch" built into the system, which all new smartphones will have to feature by the end of 2015.

For both customizability and security, Android Lollipop will finally allow guest mode and multiple user accounts -- a feature available on a few Android devices, but one that has very much been sought after by veteran Android users for a long time.

Release Date and Android 5.0 Download to Come

(Photo : Google)

Of course the first devices to run Android 5.0 Lollipop will be the new Nexus 6, Nexus 9, and Nexus Player, which all have a pre-order date of Oct. 17 -- for all major carriers like AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, and U.S. Cellular -- and has a release date in stores and on the Google Play store online starting Nov. 3.

But other "pure Android" devices won't be left out of the cold for very long, as Google promises that Google Play Edition devices (HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S4, etc.), as well as the Nexus 5, Nexus 7, and Nexus 10, will be able to download Android Lollipop "in the coming weeks."