TELUS and Bell customers that are owners of the Sony Xperia Z2 and Xperia Z3 are now receiving their Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow upgrade. This great news as these two former flagships are getting low on the food chain as they continue to age. If you haven’t received any notice, you can check your Xperia Z2 and Xperia Z3 by hitting Menu -> Settings -> About Device -> Software Update -> Update. It is showing version 23.5.A.0.570 and a size of 1001.6MB so it would be best to be hooked into WiFi before you start your download to speed things up.
The changelog shows that they included the enhanced privacy settings that allow you to manage and control your application data permissions. In other words, the app you are running will no longer dictate your privacy settings – Marshmallow allows you to go in and switch on/off the app’s data permissions so that you can protect your privacy. Another huge change is called Doze and App Standby and with this new feature when your device is in a state of rest, the Doze feature will automatically kick in and put your device in a standby mode and background searches/updates will stop. This feature can increase the life of your battery and should awaken the phone; everything will instantly come back on so you will get full service again.
An all-new camera interface will be included in this upgrade – you will be able to switch between modes and custom settings with a simple gesture. Direct Share is another Marshmallow feature that makes it easier to share activities, recent contacts, and app lists with friends. Sony includes Xperia Messaging that will make it simpler to access Stickers while you are within the app. You can ‘dress up’ your messages and show off your creative side. You will also get Google Now on Tap that allows you to have Google Now on any screen. For instance, if you are on a web page, just hold down the home button (on devices with software buttons), and Google Now will pull in some information from that page. For instance, say you are on a page that mentions a company like Verizon or T-Mobile it will give you more information about those companies without having to jump around manually. Sony does state that all of your existing data will remain intact and unaffected by the software upgrade. However, they are also warning users that once the update is performed, it cannot be reverted back to a previous software version.