Tag: Android

Based on a new commit found in the LineageOS Gerrit, support for the Android Marshmallow based version of the platform has been deprecated.  The news isn’t too shocking given that there are virtually no devices left running on what was known as LineageOS 13 and maintenance of most builds of that version have ceased.  It means that version 14.1 is the minimum supported version of the open source Android variant.  That build is based on Android Nougat 7.1.

Version 13 has been completely removed from the Lineage servers at this point, meaning there will be no further updates or support for it.

A new build of Google Photos is now rolling out into the Google Play Store and while it doesn’t bring any new features, it does raise the oldest supported version of Android.  The new Photos build is version 3.14 and with it, API level 19 is the oldest supported level.  That, for those who don’t recall, is Android KitKat.

The dropping of the now five year old Android Jelly Bean in this update to Google Photos isn’t a surprise.  Google has been slowly, and mostly quietly, moving the minimum supported API level up on their apps over the past year.  It is all in an effort to keep their development activities focused more on current versions of Android where they can offer more features.

According to research from IDC, Google enjoyed a doubling of shipments of their Google Pixel phone lineup in 2017.  In all, the company shipped some 3.9 million units for the year, mostly comprised of the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL which were introduced last October.

The figures once again come from IDC’s Francisco Jeronimo who yesterday reported the paltry numbers for Essential.  While the numbers for Google are obviously better, they are still pretty small in the overall smartphone shipments market.

After being in beta for just a few weeks, HMD Global has released the Android Oreo 8.1 update for the Nokia 8.  The news of the release came from the company’s Chief Product Officer, Juho Sarvikas, on Twitter:

We are rolling out #AndroidOreo 8.1 on #Nokia8 ! Get the sweetest Android to date #Nokia8 #Nokiamobile pic.twitter.com/3pRlNuPIpe

— Juho Sarvikas (@sarvikas) February 13, 2018

The news of the release was a bit of a surprise given that the open beta for the 8.1 build only started in late January.

A new beta of the Google app for Android is rolling out to testers and it has a lot of interesting, if inactive code built into it.  If you want to read a full teardown of the APK, the team over at 9to5 Google have a great writeup on it.  I’m focusing on the code around a physical Google Assistant button.

The code in the APK points to the ability to have a physical button for Assistant, much like the physical button you find on the Google Pixelbook today.  While this button isn’t aimed at phones per se, it is aimed at Android and coincides nicely with code found last week in a commit in Chrome OS.  That code suggested that a physical button could be remapped for Google Assistant.  Put together, these code snippets indicate just how far Google wants to take Assistant on both platforms.

In the six months that the Essential Phone was available in 2017, the startup company shipped only 88,000 units and shows that the company, despite its deep Android roots in Andy Rubin, has a long way to go to hit the mainstream.

The figures came from IDC researcher Francisco Jeronimo who posted it on Twitter.

. @Arubin‘s @essential smartphone is still a long way from becoming a successful venture. In 2017, it shipped less than 90K units (first six months after launch) pic.twitter.com/NHVlA2Gjzr

— Francisco Jeronimo (@fjeronimo) February 12, 2018

The numbers certainly reflect on what was a difficult birthing process for the company’s first phone.