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While the new Essential PH-1 won’t start shipping until the end of this month, we do know who the carrier deal is going to be with on the company’s first device.  Sprint, according to USA Today, will be the exclusive carrier of the device here in the United States.  The phone is going to receive prominent displays within Sprint stores nationally although it was not announced just how long the exclusive relationship would be on the new phone.

The exclusive on the PH-1 is not the first for Sprint as they are also the exclusive carrier on the HTC U11.

After months of continued positive statements about Android Nougat coming to the OnePlus 2, the company has announced that it will not be bringing Android 7.0 to the 2015 device.  The news comes from the site Android Authority where the Chinese company confirmed that the update won’t be coming due to changes in the software team structures since the release of the device.

The news isn’t a surprise but it is still very frustrating for OP2 owners who were told as late as May that the update would be coming to the device.  While the update to the OnePlus 3 and 3T is confirmed, it appears that OnePlus has taken the same stance as many other manufactures when it comes to updates:  One, maybe two major updates but that’s generally the end of the road.

The third Developer Preview of Android O has been released by Google and for those who have registered devices in the Android Beta Program, you should start seeing the update hit your devices.  DP3 arrived earlier than expected as Google had slated this for late June.  The early June release signals that the company is overall pretty pleased with where it stands in its development and also gives developers more time to prepare their apps.

A key element of the DP3 release is the finalized APIs for developers.  That means they can get started on updating or adding functionality to their apps based on these APIs, knowing they are not going to change between now and the final release.  That means you can expect over the next few months to see apps start noting updates in the Play Store with support for Android O prior to the release.

Google has once again updated their support matrix for the Nexus and Pixel lineup of devices.  Previously the company had outlined dates of when major updates and minor security updates would cease for the devices.  There is nothing new here in that regard.  What is new is the dates for the end of online and phone support for the devices.  The good news, or at least the non-confusing news, is that online & phone support ends when security updates end on the devices.

Take the Nexus 6 for example.  There are no guaranteed Android updates to the device since October 2016.  No, Android O is not coming to the Nexus 6.  Sorry, I loved it too.  In October 2017, guaranteed security updates end and that is also when online and phone support ends for the device.  Other devices follow this same timing.