Samsung Galaxy Marshmallow

Galaxy S5 and Android Marshmallow: The Final Polish

Released for the Galaxy S5 in early 2016, the update to Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow was the "icing on the cake" for this legendary device. While Lollipop brought the color, Marshmallow brought the brains, focusing on under-the-hood intelligence and battery optimizations that kept the S5 feeling snappy even two years after its launch.

Doze Mode: Incredible Standby Time

The most significant addition in Marshmallow was Doze.

• Deep Sleep: When your S5 was sitting still on a desk, Doze would detect the lack of motion and put the phone into a "deep sleep" state.

• Exponential Savings: By cutting off background data and non-essential syncs, users reported a massive boost in standby battery life—ensuring your phone was still ready to go even if you forgot to charge it overnight.

Google Now on Tap

Marshmallow turned the Home button into a contextual assistant with Now on Tap.

• Contextual Help: By long-pressing the Home button, Google would scan your screen and provide relevant info. If you were looking at a restaurant name in a text, it would instantly offer links to the menu, reviews, and a map.

Granular App Permissions

For the privacy-conscious on Chasms.com, Marshmallow changed the game with Runtime Permissions.

• Your Choice: Instead of granting an app every permission it asked for during installation, Marshmallow prompted you only when the app actually needed to use a feature—like the camera or microphone.

• Full Control: You could go into the settings at any time and revoke a specific permission for any app without breaking the rest of the software.

Refined Performance and Emoji

• Smooth Animations: The Marshmallow update smoothed out many of the remaining stutters in TouchWiz, making the S5's interface feel more fluid than ever before.

• 200+ New Emoji: Version 6.0.1 included a massive bundle of new characters, keeping your messages and social media posts up to date.

• Adoptable Storage: Though sometimes hidden by carriers, Marshmallow introduced the ability to treat an SD card as internal memory, helping to solve the 16GB storage crunch.