Tag: Android Nougat

As expected, Google has released the February Android Security Bulletin today, highlighting the security vulnerabilities and fixes addressed since last month.  The company has also released the OTA updates for the February builds which means that owners of compatible Nexus and Pixel devices will get the update shortly.

Like last month, the February update consists of two distinct patches.  The first patch, dated February 1, deals with general vulnerabilities in Android Nougat while the second patch, dated February 5, is more specific to Nexus and Pixel devices.  Both patches have security fixes but the second patch deals with security patches with specific device drivers.  In all there are 35 fixes, 8 of which are considered critical and 18 are considered high priority.  You can read about all of them in the Bulletin release notes.

Google has released the first beta of Android Nougat 7.1.2, the next maintenance release for the latest version of Android.  The build became available today for those in the Android Beta program with the final release expected to be “in a few months”.  If you have a Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X, Pixel, Pixel XL, or Pixel C tablet, you can download the beta through the program.  Like any beta release, it will have bugs and other issues so it is probably not best to load it up on your main phone at this point.

Of note is that the Nexus 6 and the Nexus 9 are not in the list of devices that will be getting the 7.1.2 update.  The Nexus 6 just received the 7.1.1 update earlier this month while the Nexus 9 got the update when it was available for the Nexus 6P and 5x.  All indications are that these devices will not be getting the .2 update.  Google specifically left them out of the announcement around the beta.

Sony has begun rolling out the Android Nougat update to some of the Xperia Z3 and Xperia Z5 lineup.  The Xperia Z5 and Z5 Premium started seeing the update to the 7.0 build yesterday while today, the Xperia Z3+ and Z3+ Dual started having the update roll out to them.  The update will take several weeks to get to everyone but you can always manually check for it by going to Settings>About Phone>Software Update.  In general, you can expect the download of the update to be about 1.5GB for the phones and the update time will take 15-20 minutes including a reboot.  Once you have it installed, you will have all the goodies that come with Nougat along with some improvements in the Sony apps on the phones.

If you don’t remember what’s all in Nougat, you can take a look at my review for the highlights.

Good news for those who have the unlocked variant of the HTC One A9.  Android Nougat is coming your way!  HTC’s Mo Versi, VP of Product Management, took to Twitter yesterday to announce that starting last night, the unlocked phone would start having the latest version of Android pushed to it via an OTA update.  The announcement comes after the HTC 10 started – then stopped – getting the Nougat update and it comes nearly six months after it was released by Google.

HTC One A9 Unlocked Owners! We have received technical approval on the Nougat OS update, and OTA will begin tonight!

— Mo Versi (@moversi) January 16, 2017

The update takes the One A9 to version 7.0 with the latest security patch for that build.

After wrapping up the beta program for Android Nougat last week, Samsung has pushed the button and started sending out the OTA update for the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.  The first to see the update will be those who participated in the beta as they will be moved to the stable build.  After that, unlocked variants of the S7 lineup will get the update.  The news of Nougat hitting the S7’s is certainly good news.  Samsung has been lackluster at best in getting major OS builds out in a timely manner but in the case of Nougat, it took about a quarter.  That’s pretty reasonable given the amount of changes and testing that has to happen for a major update.

Long with all the goodness that Nougat will bring to the S7 and S7 Edge, Samsung is also doing some minor UX updates and other under-the-cover fixes to add stability and performance.  If you don’t remember all that is in Nougat, you can catch up on it here.

HTC has announced two new phones that will be coming soon to select markets, the HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play.  The new lineup is a departure in design for HTC with both phones having a curved glass design over metal designs like the HTC 10.  What’s interesting here is that HTC isn’t being real clear on if the new U lineup is replacing the 10 or if it is a complementary device.  With the 5.7″ Ultra expected to be around $749, it certainly has a flagship price tag to go along with the flagship specs.

Focusing on the HTC U Ultra, it has a 5.7″ Quad HD display along with a 2′ secondary display that is 160 x 1040 in resolution.  That secondary display is aimed for things like notifications and is strikingly similar to the second display on the LG V20.  Powering the phone is a quad-core Snapdragon 821 processor running at 2.15GHz and is coupled with the Adreno 530 GPU.  It has 4GB of RAM and either 64 or 128GB of storage which can be expanded up to an additional 2TB thanks to the MicroSD slot.  You will also find a fingerprint scanner built into the Ultra.

The main camera of the Ultra is a 12MP shooter with laser auto focus, phase detection auto focus, OIS and a dual tone LED flash.  The front facing camera is an even more impressive 16MP shooter.  The Ultra has a 3000 mAh battery which is good but battery life will be interesting to find out as the 5.7″ display is certainly going to draw a fair amount of juice.  All of this in a sleek package that is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5.  What is not know is which markets or even a definitive launch date for the Ultra.  It looks like the price will be around $750 but that’s about all that is know otherwise.