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Following up on the near doubling of the number of installed device, Android Nougat has once again made big gains this month according to the latest Android Distribution Report.  The report, published today, reflects the versions of Android that hit the Google Play Store between March 27-April 3 and it saw the latest build of the platform hit a 4.9% install base.  That is up 2.1% over the March report and, while still low, shows that Nougat is making steady inroads.  Many manufactures have released their Nougat updates for their devices so it is likely that this number will continue to increase at a reasonable clip over the course of the next several months.

Perhaps more telling, every other version of Android fell in install base when you compare the March and April reports.  Android Marshmallow saw a drop of .1% while Lollipop took the biggest hit with a drop of 2.5%.  Android KitKat fell by .8%, Jellybean by .5% and both Ice Cream Sandwich and Gingerbread fell by .1%.  The later to builds now sit at just .9% of the install base and this could well be the last time we see them on this report.

In a ruling by Chinese mid-level court, Samsung has been ordered to play Huawei some $11.6 million for patient infringements that the Korean manufacture’s subsidiaries violated.  The ruling will likely be appealed but is a fraction of the over $12 billion that Huawei was asking for in the original filing.  In that filing, the Chinese manufacture claimed Samsung and more specifically, some of its subsidiaries that it uses to build their devices, used patented technology in up to 20 of their devices which had sold some 30 million units globally.

As part of the order, the subsidiaries in question, five in all, are ordered to stop using the patented technology in Samsung devices.  It is unclear what, if any, impact it will have on the soon-to-be released Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus.

In the latest update to the Netflix app for Android, there is a new and simpler rating system for content.  Gone are the up to 5 star ratings that users could give a television show, movie or Netflix original content.  Instead, it has been replaced with a thumbs up or thumbs down rating.  That’s it.  No middle ground.  It has become a binary “Did you like it or not?”  rating.

As you can guess, I’m not a fan.

I understand what the streaming content provider wants to do.  They want to make it less complicated for you to potentially try a TV show or movie.  Think about it: How many 3-star shows have you skipped over only to go back and watch it because it was recommended to you by a friend?  I know I’ve done it probably dozens of times over the years as a Netflix customer.  Which is exactly why they are getting rid of it.

Good news for those of you who have the Galaxy Note 5 on Sprint.  Android Nougat is on its way to you.  The update has been released by the carrier, making them the first one to get the update out to the two year old and still most current Note in the Samsung lineup.  The update from Sprint contains the Nougat update for the device, the March security update, and other tweaks and performance improvements to the device.  The updated build is version N920PVPU3DQC5 for those keeping score and weighs in at a hefty 1.4GB.

With the update being this big, you will certainly want to download it to your Note 5 via Wi-Fi.  Once you have it downloaded, you can expect a 15-30 minute update process with a final reboot getting you squarely onto the Nougat release.