Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Google Begins Rolling Out Android 7.0 Nougat (venturebeat.com)

Posted by msmash on from the update-nazi dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Google today started rolling out Android 7.0 Nougat to existing Nexus devices via an over-the-air software update. This is a gradual rollout: The Nexus 6, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus 9, Nexus Player, Pixel C, and General Mobile 4G (Android One) will all be updated, but " it may take several weeks" before everyone gets the latest and greatest, a Google spokesperson told VentureBeat.The Nexus 5 (2013), which packs in a Snapdragon 800 SoC coupled with 2GB of RAM and 5-inch full-HD display, won't be receiving Android Nougat update -- despite having all the hardware capabilities required for a phone to receive Google's latest OS update. The truth of the matter is if Google wanted to update the Nexus 5 with the latest Android software, it could have. It just chose not to. It's very likely that same will be the case for the Nexus 6, a phone that has 3GB of RAM, and Snapdragon 805 SoC, next year when the company releases Android O update.

5 of 164 comments (clear)

  1. No problem by 110010001000 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Just keep on pumping out those new versions, Google. No need to support old hardware. They can just throw their 3 year old hardware in the trash. Very Earth friendly. And no need to port security fixes over either. Android owners know their phones are all "pwned" anyway.

  2. Users mostly part of the "used phone" market? by perpenso · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That line seemed to be the submitter's personal opinion and not backed up by anything in the linked article. We don't know why Google didn't push an update for the Nexus 5.

    The Nexus 4, 5 and 5X all have the same amount of RAM, 2GB. Its damn suspicious that the 4 and 5 are limited to Android 5.1 and 6.0 and only the 5X gets 7.0. The 2012 and 2013 Nexus 7 story made sense, the former had only 1GB RAM, the later 2 GB, so only the later got Android 6.0. Screen sizes are the same on the Nexus 5 and 5X. While the 5X has slightly better CPU and GPU the chips in the 5 are still vastly overpowered for what millions of Android users do.

    Is Android 7.0 64-bit only or something? Even so it seems an arbitrary change. I would understand a desire for such a minimum as a software developer but I would concede it improper to make such a change unless something else is going on, for example 2GB RAM no longer supported.

    It looks and smells like a business decision. (1) Reducing development, testing and deployment costs. (2) Users are mostly part of a secondary market (buying used phones) that Google does not want to encourage.

    1. Re:Users mostly part of the "used phone" market? by perpenso · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Why are you defending google so much? Do you have google stock or some shit? Google is a corporation. Their decisions are based on money nowdays. The original guys are long gone.

      I'm defending Google because right now Nexus devices are the only phones that reasonably respect their users' right to unlock the bootloader. I dread living in a world dominated by Samsung, Apple, and Microsoft.

      Your secure boot theory sort of undermines your user rights argument. So in your scenario of why the limitation might be justified you can add Google to that domination list. :-)

  3. Yes, it does stink given 5 and 5X nearly identical by perpenso · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Your phone isn't running Android 7.0? Wow, what a turd!"

    When your phone (Nexus 5) is only one generation different from the currently sold model (Nexus 5X) and has the same screen, same amount of RAM and only a slightly slower CPU then yes, it "stinks". There is no hiding that odor.

  4. It's their official policy by Solandri · · Score: 5, Insightful
    They announced it last year.

    Nexus devices will continue to receive major updates for at least two years and security patches for the longer of three years from initial availability or 18 months from last sale of the device via the Google Store.

    • The Nexus 5 went on sale Nov 2013, so updates to major Android versions ceased Nov 2015. (Marshmallow was released Oct 2015)
    • It was discontinued Mar 2015, so should continue to receive Marshmallow security patches until Sep 2017.

    I have a Nexus 5, so I wasn't expecting it to get Nougat. It would've been nice if it did, but frankly I've been looking to upgrade anyway. It's a great phone (especially with Marshmallow), but it's limited by only being able to have one cellular radio active at a time. In theory I should be able to talk on the phone while simultaneously web browsing over LTE. But the hardware only supports a single active cellular radio. Wasn't a big deal when I first got the phone, but now I'm tethering more and I find I'm either unable to receive phone calls or text messages while tethered, or the call will interrupt LTE causing dropped Internet connections.

    The whole OS update scene is a mess right now. Android drops support for old devices quickly. Windows 10 forces you to receive updates whether you want them or not. Apple supports their devices for a long time, but if you update a device and find it makes the device dog slow, you can't uninstall the update like you can with Android and Windows. Nobody seems to be able to get this right. Something like: support for 5 years, forced updates (so carriers can't screw you over), but you can uninstall updates which give you problems.