Finally: Hidden Android M feature allows customization of quick toggles
One of Android's core strengths is its open nature — any developer can build on top of it, and many do. Given the platform's scale, it's unsurprising that this has spawned a number of communities that focus on modding the system in order to gain extended functionality. For years now, we've called modded Android software custom ROMs, though not all mods and hacks require you to flash an entirely new firmware. The byproduct of this activity is obvious if you step back — Google has a legion of (unpaid) developers contributing to Android, and a free pick of the features it likes best.
Over the years, third-party devs' efforts have translated into functionality that, eventually, becomes available with stock — or Google's — Android. In Android M, we already saw yet another great piece making the transition from a third-party perk to a core feature — granular volume controls bar. After some digging, however, we found that another often-requested feature may very well become a part of the core Android experience: customizable quick toggles.
In case you drew a blank at the mention of quick toggles, they're simply the shortcuts available when within the notifications panel that you slide from the top. There, you have access to brightness control, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and so on. Until now, it's never been possible to re-arrange or change these. In Android M, however, this may change, judging by a new feature available within the hidden (by default) Developers options menu. In there, you can find a SystemUI tuner option, which if enabled, spawns a menu of the same name in the root settings menu, as shown below.
For the time being, the option is quite buggy, and constantly causes the system UI to crash. Occasionally, however, it works properly, allowing us to change things around and even add a new, custom toggle. Due to the nature of developer previews, it is possible that this feature never makes it into the final, commercial software, so keep that in mind. If it does, however, Google will give many an additional reason to love stock Android.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: