Android M, or Android 6.0 Marshmallow as it later turned out to be named, has officially been released to the world on select handsets. Firstly, the new Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P launched running Android M out of the box, as did the HTC One A9 soon after. And while the Nexus line of devices have been blessed with a first-in-line OTA rollout, it looks like the now third generation Moto G (2015) is beginning early steps towards a broader Motorola Android Marshmallow rollout.

The hopeful news for owners of the excellent mid-range third generation Moto G comes in the form of a leak on Google Plus. a screenshot from a 2015 Moto G showing an updated Android 6.0 Marshmallow build number running on the device.

As Android Geeks reported, Moto G community member Ajmal Khadar posted two screenshots from a friend's handset that was blessed with the early limited beta-test rollout of Android 6.0 Marshmallow, frequently referred to as a soak test. "Android 6 Marshmallow soak test for [the third-generation Moto G] start yesterday, one of our what's app group friend get [sic] Android M today," wrote Khadar on his Google+ page.

The screenshots show an "Android Security Patch Level" listed for "1 November 2015" with an Android 6.0 Marshmallow version number of 23.11.en.03 and a build number of MPI24.65-3.

If the screenshots are not forged -- and that's not likely as it's a well-known fact that Motorola tests firmware updates with members of its Motorola Community feedback network -- then rapid progress is being made towards an all-out OTA rollout by Motorola. The next step for the company would be to gather the bug reports and other feedback from its test community and polish the Android M upgrade so it's ready for a smooth release.

That shouldn't take too long, as Android 6.0 Marshmallow introduces some vital bug fixes and features, but at the same time isn't a major facelift to the entire system software, the way the painfully slow-to-roll-out Android 5.0 Lollipop was.

And if Motorola is soak testing for the third-generation Moto G, a very popular but mid-tier device, it is very likely we'll see evidence of Moto X Style (Pure Edition) soak tests in short order. After all, last year the Moto X 2014 was the first handset to receive the Android 5.0 Lollipop OTA update, long ahead of many other major Android brands' flagships.

According Motorola's Android 6.0 Marshmallow changelog as reported by Android Geeks, the update will bring "in-app assistance with Google Now on Tap," along with "battery-smart features" also known as Google's Doze mode, and "app permissions that give you even more control."

Motorola has announced the Moto X Pure Edition (2015), the Moto X Play, Moto X 2014, Moto G 3rd Generation, Droid Turbo 2, Droid Maxx 2, Moto G 2nd Generation (2014) and Droid Turbo will all eventually be upgraded to Android M. Check out Motorola's official U.S. Android update support page for more details.