Category: Android Nougat

Sprint has released the June Android Security Update on their network for the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus.  The updates are 250MB in size and mostly consist of the security update but also have a few other minor performance improvements too.  For the S8, you are looking for build G950USQU1AQFJ while the S8 Plus will be getting version G955USQU1AQFJ.  The update is rollin g out now and should hit all devices over the course of the next week.

Along with the security updates, there are fixes for the Find My Mobile app as well as an LTE Roaming fix and a SMS fix for “(/5)OK”.

For those of you who have the LG V10 on the T-Mobile network here in the US, today’s a good day.  The Android Nougat 7.0 update is finally rolling out to your device and it should be hitting everyone’s V10 over the course of the next week.  The update is build H90130b for those keeping score at home and it weighs in at 1.38GB in size.  You will have to download it via Wi-Fi and you need to have at least 50% battery remaining in order to install it.

The update brings Nougat to the phone and all of the goodness that the update brings to any Android phone.  Those features include things like improved Doze, split-screen viewing and a host of other visual and performance changes.  You can read my review of it to get all the details.  You can get all of the details on this particular software release from the T-Mobile site.

Huawei has released an updated firmware build for the Huawei P10.  The new version is VRT-L09C432B133 for those keeping score at home.  The key part of Huawei’s naming convention is the last four figures, in this case B133.  The earlier part of the build will change depending on which model you have (dual-SIM versus single SIM for example).

The update brings a handful of optimizations to the phone along with the April Android Security Patch.  Unfortunately the update does not bring Android Nougat 7.1.1 or a newer security patch.  As for those optimizations, they are in several key areas.  First, power consumption has been optimized when you are using the P10 for an extended period of time while Wi-Fi performance has also been optimized.  Optimizations have also been made to the UI content display on some screens.  As mentioned, the April 1, 2017 Android Security Update is a part of this new firmware and Huawei also removed the TripAdvisor app from the firmware.

The Sony Xperia XA Ultra update to Android Nougat is in full motion now with the update rolling out to users.  The update is version 36.1.A.0.179 and is based on Nougat 7.0.  The update follows the release of the June Android Security Update for several other Xperia phones on Tuesday.

Right now the update to Android Nougat is happening in European variants of the XA Ultra but the expectation is that other country variants will see the update soon.  If you have the XA Ultra, you can check for the update manually in the settings of the phone.

Google has released the June Android Distribution Report and it continues to show a picture of challenges.  Android Nougat gained 2.4% over the May report but it still sits below 10% of the total install base of device that hit the Play Store for the week ending June 5, 2017.  That is a very slow adoption rate for a platform that has been out for 8 months and one that its successor, Android O, is already in the beta channels.

Equally as challenging is that Android Marshmallow remained at 31.2% of the install base, the exact same number it has had for three reports running.  Android Lollipop, version 5.x, dropped to 30.8% this month, down from last month’s 32%.  If there is a positive in all of this it is that the last three versions of Android are on 71.5% of all devices hitting the Play Store, but that is covering nearly 3 years of Android builds.

As expected with it being the first Monday of the month, Google has released the Android Security Update patches for June today.  Like the past few updates, this month’s patch consists of two patches, one dated June 1st and the other June 5th.  The first patch deals with broader issues with Android in general while the second patch is more driver or component specific.

Perhaps the best news in this month’s update is the fix of a long standing Bluetooth vulnerability within Android.  There are three specific fixes that are in this update which squelch the ability of malicious apps to elevate permissions.  This issue has actually be in Android since the KitKat days.  Yeah, a long time coming.