Tag: Android Nougat

T-Mobile has joined the list of carriers that have officially released the Android Nougat 7.0 update for the Samsung Galaxy Note 7.  The update was announced last week but will start rolling out to the two year old phablet starting today.  The update will bring the Nougat update and all the greatness it includes to the device as well as the March 2017 Android Security update.  For those who need a reminder, Nougat includes things like multi-window viewing of apps, improved Doze and lots of other features.  Here is a summary of the highlights.

This update will take about 15-20 min to download and install.  It is best to download the update via Wi-Fi as it is over a 1GB download.  Once it is downloaded, you will need to reboot your device after the install.

Over at Amazon you can still pick up the Nextbit Robin for $149.   I reviewed the Robin a few months ago and at the time I said it was a pretty good deal at $299.  At $149, it is one of the best deals on a phone with these specs out there right now, especially for a phone that runs Android Nougat.

For those that don’t recall, the Nextbit Robin has some great features and offers a unique device-meets-cloud storage solution.  It has 32GB of onboard storage merged with 100 GB online storage, so you always have the space you need. Robin seamlessly backs up your apps and photos, intelligently archives the stuff you’re not using, and easily restores items when you need them.  The idea is that you never run out of space.  Those less used apps are backed up into the cloud but then are instantly available when you want them.  You’ll know an app has been backed up into the cloud as it will be grey on your Robin.  You can read my review of the Robin to see all my thoughts on this great little phone.  I also think it is perhaps one of the most underrated phones of 2016.

OnePlus has released OxygenOS 4.1.3 this morning for the OnePlus 3 and 3T.  The update brings a host of improvements to the flagship devices along with upgrading the platform to Android Nougat 7.1.1.  For those who aren’t OnePlus users, OxygenOS is the company’s version of Android.  It is actually a very-near stock Android experience with a few tweaks and is a solid performing platform that OnePlus has been continually updating these past few months.

As has been the case in the past, OnePlus is slow rolling the OTA update out to users.  Therefore, it could be a few days before everyone sees the update hit their devices.

Good news this morning for those of you who have the HTC One M9 on the Sprint network.  HTC has confirmed that the Android Nougat 7.0 update has been released by Sprint with updates starting today.  The updated build is 4.27.651.4 and weighs in at a hefty 2.25GB.  HTC is suggesting that the update will take about 20 minutes to complete and will reboot your One M9 several times during the process.  It is recommended that you have at least 35% remaining battery or, better, having your phone plugged in to AC (but don’t unplug it during the upgrade process) to upgrade.  Given the size of the update, Wi-Fi is the best option to download.

Once you have it downloaded to your phone and installed, you will have all of the benefits of Nougat including multi-window support, improved Doze and improved notification shade amongst many other refinements.  You can read my overview of Nougat 7.0 for more details.

After being released on Monday for the unlocked variants, the Android Nougat 7.1.2 update for the Google Pixel and Pixel XL on Verizon has now been released.  The build for the Verizon Pixels is NHG47K, slightly different than the release for the unlocked devices.  That build was N2G47E.  The update is under 500MB in size but it is a good idea to download via Wi-Fi for speed and data plan savings.  Once downloaded, the update will take about 15 minutes to install and your phone will reboot once it is completed.

Th update for the Verizon variants contain the same updates as the unlocked versions of the Pixel and Pixel XL.  This includes improvements around Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, backup improvements to restore data from 1st-party apps like Calendar, and the April 2017 Android Security Patch.

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.