Tag: Android Nougat

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.

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.

After a horrendously long wait, the unlocked variant of the Samsung Galaxy S7 appears to be having its official Android Nougat update rolling out.  Android Authority is reporting that multiple users of Reddit have reported getting an OTA update to the Galaxy S7 with the Nougat update.  Samsung, to this point, has not confirmed if this is indeed the case.  The update comes a week after the update to the unlocked Galaxy S7 Edge received its update to Nougat and months after the carrier locked versions of the update hit devices.  Why the update to the unlocked variants too so long is unclear.

It is indicated that the update weighs in at just over 1Gb in size so you will want to make sure you download it over Wi-Fi.  The update will take about 10 minutes to install once you have it downloaded and will require a reboot.  Once you are back up and running, you will be running on Nougat.  If you need a rundown of what’s new in Nougat, check out my overview.

If you have a Huawei P10 in your phone arsenal, it’s time to go check for an update.  The Chinese manufacture has begun rolling out a new update that brings a host of improvements as well as an updated security patch.  The update is version VTR-L09C432B123 (if you have the dual-SIM model, it will be VTR-L29C432B123) for those keeping score and is 467MB in size.  You will want to make sure you are connected to Wi-Fi before downloading it and once you do have it, expect about a 5 minute install time.  If you are curious about the Huawei P10, you can read my review and even though I have a Pixel XL, I still find myself using this phone more than any other phone.

The camera performance for the P10 has been improved with this update as Huawei has optimized the software running it.  The overall system stability has also been improved although frankly, I’ve never had a stability issue with this device in the previous build.  Huawei has also optimized the touchscreen sensitivity which is noticeable if you use the P10 as your daily phone.  It is more accurate and responsive now.

After several months of waiting, the unlocked LG G5 here in the United States is finally receiving its Android Nougat update.  The update comes months after many other unlocked variants in other countries received the update.  Canadian LG G5 users for example, received the update back in December.  Locked variants of the phone on AT&T received the update in February.

The update is a big one at over 1.3GB so Wi-Fi is a must to download it and you can expect the install time after the download to take about 10 minutes.

Good news this morning for those of you who have the Sony Xperia XZ or the Xperia X Performance.  Sony has released the Android Nougat 7.1.1 update for both of these phones and it is already rolling out to users.  The updated build is 41.2.A.2.199 for both devices and along with the improvements that come with 7.1.1, the April Android Security patch is also in this build.

The big change with 7.1.1 is the support for app shortcuts.  This allows you to long press an icon and be able to get to a particular part of an app (for example, in Gmail you can tap-and-hold to start composing an email in a particular account).  The problem is that the Sony launcher doesn’t support app shortcuts, at least not yet.  If you are using a launcher that does support them on either of these phones (like Nova Launcher), then you will get to use the new feature.  Also, the 7.1.1 update brings Unicode v9 emoji to these devices.