As you all know, Android N is now available in developer preview (beta) for a select set of Nexus devices. As I pointed out in my post, it is certainly beta and unless you have a device that you don’t need as your daily driver, you most certainly should wait. That said, there is no reason you have to wait for the stock wallpaper from N!
On the list of things I expected to see today, a beta of Android N was not on that list. After all, we are still a few weeks away from Google I/O and that has traditionally been when we see the latest builds of the next version of Android. Not this year. Google dropped the first technical preview of the next generation of the mobile Operating System today and if you have a Nexus device, you can download it to your device right now. But I would seriously, seriously wait.
Google has released the latest Android distribution numbers and it is good news for Android Marshmallow. The latest report was posted yesterday and the most current version of Android saw a 109% increase in its install base over February 2016. While the overall percentage compared to all Android version is small, only 2.3%, the jump is reflective of the significant number of devices that have seen Marshmallow come to them over the course of the last month.
Google Play Newsstand for Android has been updated today and while it is a small upgrade, it is an important one. The app now supports Accelerated Mobile Pages, or AMP, which will give users amazingly fast page loads within the app. AMP, for those who aren’t familiar, is a new code structure that Google has introduced that allows quick loading of pages from sites that are AMP enabled.
As part of their monthly security update plan, Google has released the March 2016 security update for both Android Lollipop and Android Marshmallow today. Both updates have had their factory images posted on the Android developer site while the OTA updates are also shipping today for Nexus devices. Users can expect to see the update hit their unlocked Nexus devices over the course of the next few days and maybe up to a week as it rolls out.
Microsoft continues to develop and enhance their apps for Android with one of the newest, Arrow Launcher, getting a healthy update over the weekend. The updated build is version 1.1.2 for those keeping score at home and there are a lot of fixes, improvements and UI changes in this update to the launcher. Designed for Android phones, Arrow Launcher gives a mult-page look to your phone that brings things like contacts, widgets, most used apps and reminders within easy reach.
After what could only be described as a snail’s pace for the release of Android Marshmallow by manufactures and carriers, the last few weeks have been more of a frantic pace. Last Friday I posted that the Galaxy Note 5 on Verizon was seeing the latest version of Android start to roll and today the carrier along with competitor T-Mobile have begun the release of Marshmallow the HTC One M8.
It is a good time to be alive. As an Android user, there are more phones and tablets within reach of many users than there ever has been before now. These devices are increasingly growing in power and abilities and for most of us, they are an indispensable part of our everyday lives. But as flagship devices have grown in size and power, they have started to intrude on the space once reserved for tablets and it is forcing some to consider the question, do I really need a tablet? I have been asking this question for some months now and for me the answer is no. Let me explain why.