Tag: Android Nougat

The first maintenance update to Android Nougat will be hitting devices by the end of this year.  The update, Nougat 7.1, is scheduled to be released as a technical preview later this month with a final release coming in December according to a post on the Android Developer site.

Initially, we’ll offer the Developer Preview for Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, and Pixel C devices, extending to other supported devices by the end of the preview. At the final release of the Android 7.1.x platform, due in early December, we’ll roll out updates to the full lineup of supported devices — Nexus 6, 5X, 6P, 9, Player, Pixel C, and supported Android One devices — as well as Pixel and Pixel XL devices.

Google announced earlier this year that they would be moving into a more consistent maintenance cycle with Android which will over new features, security and other fixes with each release.  With the new Pixel line up running Nougat 7.1 out-of-the-box, it was just a matter of when other devices would start seeing the update.  Now we have a rough timeline from the company.

Motorola has posted on their company blog a full list of devices that they plan to upgrade to Android Nougat.  The list is reasonably comprehensive although there are some notable devices missing, and should give those of you who have Motorola devices some hope for your phones.  The post states that the Moto Z and the 4th generation Moto G will be the first devices to see the update and that will happen in Q4 of this year.  As for the rest of the list, there isn’t a specific timeframe given.

At their event held today, Google announced their two new flagship Android devices, the Google Pixel and the Pixel XL.  The announcement was of little surprise given the promotional information from Google indicated a phone-shaped device was on the offer as well as the countless leaks over the course of the past two weeks.  Still, the phones are now official and you will be able to pre-order yours starting today.  Pixel and Pixel XL general availability will be October 20th.

Google Pixel, it is a 5″ Full HD display with 441 ppi and protected by Gorilla Glass 4.  It is powered by the quad-core Snapdragon 821 processor running at 2.15GHz and that is coupled with 4GB of RAM.  The main camera is 12.3MP f/2.0 shooter with OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) while the front camera will be an 8MP unit.  It will have all of the normal base features of a contemporary phone such as a fingerprint scanner, USB Type-C connector and NFC.  Yes, it will have a 3.5mm headphone jack too.  Interestingly, the phone will have two storage options:  32GB or 128GB and it will be powered by Android Nougat 7.1.

The Android team has released the Android security update patches for October today.  The patches, two this month instead of three, have been released for all supported Nexus devices as well as the Pixel C.  As is the norm, the updates have been released as Factory Images and OTA images for those who want to flash their devices immediately.  If you don’t, the OTA update should be coming to your devices over the course of the next week or so.  For those who have Nexus 6 phones, the news is really great for you as Android Nougat has finally been released for your phone and includes this October update.

Google has been splitting up their patches the last few months and October is no exception.  Unlike the last couple of months however, there are only two this month.  The first patch is the 2016-10–1 patch and it is the one for all devices and manufactures.  It contains 12 high priority security patches, mostly around elevation of privileges and denial of service threats.  The second patch, 2016-10-05, is primarily aimed at Nexus devices and contains 5 critical patches focused on remote code execution.  If you have a Nexus device, you will see the October 5th update which is inclusive of the fixes in the October 1st update.

Last month eBay had the Nexus 5X down to $239.99 and it has returned at this great price.  Currently the 32GB model of the Nexus 5X is down to $239.99, a savings of about 40% over what you can pick it up from Google directly. Right now both the Carbon and Quartz colors are in stock.

Obviously with the new Marlin and Sailfish Nexus devices on their way, we can expect to see the prices starting to drop on the 5X and 6P but these are still solid devices.  Plus, as you probably already know, the 5X is upgradable to Android Nougat.

As a reminder, the specs of the Nexus 5X are pretty impressive.

Android Marshmallow continues to see incremental growth in the install base according to the latest figures from Google.  In the platform version dashboard report released today, Marshmallow’s install base grew from 15.2% last month to 18.7% this month.  The growth was certainly expected given that a number of devices were updated to Marshmallow this past month from a wide range of manufactures.  Still, Marshmallow remains well behind the leading release, Lollipop, which stands at 35% of the install base.

As a reminder, these figures are derived by Google from devices that visited the Google Play Store for a 7 day period that ended on September 5, 2016.  While it is by no means exhaustive, it does give a good indicator of the varieties of Android that are out there and still in use today.