While all attention this month will surely be on Google’s next Pixel devices, the original Nexus series is now further in the grave with the second-generation Nexus 7 tablet appearing to lose support for HD videos on Netflix.
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In this week’s top stories: Android 7.0 Nougat, the latest LG V20 leaks, new Android apps & much more.
This week has been filled with lots of Android 7.0 Nougat-y goodness, and the train isn’t showing any sign of stopping. Google started the rollout of Android Nougat earlier this week, began distributing factory images for the update on Tuesday, and an unofficial build of Nougat popped up for the Nexus 5 yesterday. Now, we have another. How does an unofficial ROM of Android Nougat for the Nexus 7 (2013) sound?…
CRN reported over the weekend that Google is quietly shuttering its Google Play for Education program, and now we have confirmation of the plans via a statement made to TechCrunch. According to this statement, Google will no longer be selling Google Play for Education licenses effective March 31st of this year. That said, existing customers should not be seeing an interruption of services…
Google has just posted the new factory images with February’s security patch for Nexus devices. The images are still based on Android 6.0.1, so don’t expect anything besides security fixes. There’s also a new factory image for the Pixel C…
The last two Nexus 7 tablets were manufactured by ASUS, but if a new sketchy rumor (originating from none other than Chinese social network Weibo) is to be believed, Huawei — maker of the well-received Nexus 6P — could be next in line. Rumors from random users on Weibo aren’t usually the most dependable source of information, but this particular user seems to have experience in IC design and has more than 34,000 followers (and, to boot, seems to have at least some internal knowledge of Huawei, Oppo, and other Chinese companies)…
There are several Nexus devices that just don’t support Android 6.0 Marshmallow, and that fact has left some owners of ancient technology very unhappy. But this is Android, of course, and there’s nothing keeping developers from tinkering with Google’s open source OS. Specifically, owners of the 2012 Nexus 7 should rejoice in this case: It’s definitely at your own risk, but you can now install an early and hacky unofficial build of Google’s latest version of Android on your phone. Here’s how to do it…
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Update: Previous version of this story said the original post was from yesterday, when it was actually from June 11th. The story made its way to the /r/Android subreddit yesterday.
Last night a story bubbled up in the Android community that led many to believe that older Nexus devices – specifically the Nexus 4, 7, and 10 – would be receiving official updates to Android M, Google’s upcoming major release of Android. Artem Russakovskii from Android Police, however, has come out on Google+ to say that the evidence presented shows no indication that these devices will be updated.
We aren’t sure at the moment what — if anything — is tangibly new in this firmware, but a new build of Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, LMY48G, has just showed up for the 2013 Nexus 7 (WiFi). We’ve seen hundreds of scattered reports that OTA Lollipop updates are effectively bricking 2013 Nexus 7 devices, so maybe this new build is some kind of remedy for that situation.
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Earlier today we shared the over-the-air images for Android 5.1.1 on the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5. Now, Google has posted the Android 5.1.1 factory images for the 2012 and 2013 mobile Nexus 7 models, the Nexus 4, and the Nexus 5. Google shared the factory images for the Nexus 10 and WiFi-only 2012 and 2013 Nexus 7 models last month.
After releasing the file for the Nexus Player earlier this month, Google this evening has posted the Android 5.1.1 factory images for several new devices this evening. Android 5.1.1 Lollipop factory images are now available for the WiFi-only 2012 and 2013 Nexus 7 models, and the Nexus 10.
It had a great run, but Google has today discontinued the 2013-edition Nexus 7. The device was arguably—and is still to this this day—one of the best options when it comes to mid-range Android tablets. You may not be able to grab it on the Google Store anymore, but several places are offering the device at decent prices. On eBay, you can find several options including one that’s $185 refurbished.
During the company’s earnings call for the first quarter of 2015, Google CFO Patrick Pichette made a comment concerning its “other revenues” stream. The “other revenues” category consists of revenues from the Play Store and now Google Store, and it’s one of the company’s smallest sources of money. But Pichette noted that while revenue from “other revenues” was up 23 percent year-over-year to $1.8 billion, revenue was down 3 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2014.
This is definitely concerning. Several people are reporting on Google’s product forums that their Nexus 7 devices have stopped working following updates to various versions of Android Lollipop. And while it may not necessarily be the same exact issue (as users are reporting a wide variety of different symptoms), some Nexus 5 users have seen their device become unusable following recent Lollipop updates as well.
It’s not exactly clear which updates are affecting which devices, but the problem appears to be fairly widespread…
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Google has just posted the Android 5.1 factory image for the 2012 cellular Nexus 7. The file is available from Google’s Android Developers website and comes in at 403MB. Google last month officially announced Android 5.1 and released factory images for the Nexus 5, Nexus 10, and 2012 WiFi Nexus 7.
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A new report from Korean outlet eToday suggests that Google may be looking to LG to manufacture its next-gen Nexus smartphone, which probably won’t be called the Nexus 7. Google engineers are said to have met with LG executives earlier this month to describe the deal.
After making Android 5.1 official earlier this evening, Google has now started posting factory images of the latest version of its operating system to the Android Developers website. Android 5.1 factory images for the Nexus 5, Nexus 10, and 2012 WiFi Nexus 7 are now available to download.
According to “solid sources” for Artem Russakovskii, the long-awaited Android 5.1 update (which has been rolling out to Android One devices for about a month now), should be coming to an Android device near you sometime before the end of the week. Considering Russakovskii’s track record, it’s probably fairly likely that we’ll see the update start rolling out soon barring any unforeseen circumstances…
It’s been a long time coming, but Google has finally decided to post the Lollipop factory images for the LTE Nexus 7 (2013) and the ‘Mobile’ Nexus 7 (2012). The image, specifically, is a build of Android 5.0.2. As per usual, the OTA update should start hitting these devices soon, and we’ll let you know when these OTA downloads are available.
You can download the factory images over at Google’s developer page. If you’d like to install one or any of these factory images without waiting for the over-the-air update to hit your device, check out our comprehensive guide.
Google first announced its Google Play for Education program in mid-2013 at Google I/O with the program launching to K-12 schools in the United States later that fall, and today the company shared that it’s now bringing Google Play for Education to schools in the UK using Android tablets…
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We saw in late December that Google had published download links for the Nexus 7 (2012) factory images, but now it appears OTA update links are finally making the rounds. While not much is known about the specifics of what this update brings, Google has been fast to push this minor Lollipop revision to Nexus 7 owners. Many have reported that Lollipop brought reductions in performance, so if you’re one of those people, it might be a good idea to try this out and see if it will help.
Google has just released Android 5.0.2 Lollipop factory images for the Nexus 10 and 2013 Nexus 7. Previously, Android 5.0.2 images had been available only for the 2012 Nexus 7. Today’s uploads for the 2013 WiFi-only Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 carry the same build number as the build released last month, LRX22G.
Google hasn’t provided any indication of what has changed in Android 5.0.2 for the 2013 Nexus 7 and Nexus 10, but don’t expect major changes seeing that it’s such a small numerical update. The factory images are available to download on Google’s developer site now and should begin to rollout over-the-air soon.
If you need help installing these factory images on your device, you can check out our guide here with all the details, but if you’re not the daring type, you might want to simply wait for the over-the-air update to hit.
A few days ago we noticed that Google had updated its factory image download page with a download link for Android Lollipop 5.0.2 (a build currently specific to the WiFi 2012 Nexus 7). Now, it appears that the you can now download the same software in the form of an OTA .zip straight from Google.
The update should be rolling out over-the-air currently (if you haven’t gotten it already), but if you need the OTA update to update your device manually, the above link is straight from Google’s servers. If you’ve never done a manual OTA update before, be sure to check out our guide.
