ZTE AXON and AXON mini
ZTE is continuing its push in to the market of competitively priced premium smartphones with today’s official announcement of the ZTE AXON mini. The phone was initially unveiled back in July, but today it gets official pricing and release details for the first time…
If you’re still using one of Sony’s Xperia Z1 handsets from 2013, this little tidbit is for you. Apparently, Xperia Z1, Z Ultra, and Z1 Compact handset are getting updated to Android 5.1.1 in some countries (via XperiaBlog). Alongside some really neat updates like richer Xperia themes, several Camera improvements, and new SmartWatch 3 functionality, the update also fixes the vulnerabilities in Stagefright…
Along with the above changes, this update to Android 5.1.1 includes new settings menu icons, “additional options” for WiFi and Bluetooth in the notification pull-down menu, new icons in the Settings menu, LinkedIn integrations for Calendar and Contacts, enhanced enterprise features of some kind, and more. As mentioned, the Camera has also been updated including improvements for focus, speed, and accuracy in “Superior Auto” mode.
Here’s the full change log:
– Improvements to volume and silent mode control, more control of your alerts, simplified and enhanced design
– Integration of LinkedIn with your Calendar and Contacts
– Camera focus, speed and accuracy improvements in Superior Auto mode
– Many new features for Xperia in Business, enhancing enterprise support for Xperia
– Now take pictures from the camera using Sony SmartWatch 3; use the SW3 as a remote shutter button
– Instant calendar events – create & share smart events directly from any email
– Calendar agenda in Email – no need to switch apps to check upcoming events
– Richer Xperia themes
– New Settings menu icons
– Additional options for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in notification menu
After starting to rollout updates to its Galaxy Note Edge and Note 4 variants earlier this week, Verizon today has begun pushing updates to its Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, and Tab 4 10.1 with a fix for the Stagefright exploit in tow. Verizon has shared official update changelogs on its website for all three updates, noting that it bumps the Android OS to version 5.1.1.
The Galaxy Note Edge wasn’t exactly the most popular smartphone that Samsung ever sold, but it was the prototype to what would become the hugely popular Galaxy S6 Edge. If you’re still rocking the Note Edge on Sprint, though, you might be happy to hear that the device is receiving Android 5.1 Lollipop as of… right now.
According to Sprint’s website (via Android Police), the OS upgrade comes with a bump to Android 5.1, as well as “various bug fixes and enhancements.” The OTA should be rolling out over the next couple of days. The version number is N915PVPU4COFE, and you should be prompted to install the update at some point soon, after which your phone will walk you through the process.
Google announced today that all Project Fi phones will receive Android 5.1.1 within the coming days. The update will rollout over-the-air to users of Google’s wireless service gradually. Android 5.1.1. includes a handful of under-the-hood improvements and bug fixes for users. It’s slowly been rolling out to various devices following the release of the more significant Android 5.1 that brought a variety of new features.
Project Fi was officially announced earlier this year and is Google’s MVNO. For $20/month users get unlimited talk and text. Data runs $10/gigabyte and is sold at a pay for what you use method. The service is still invite-only at this point and wait times for invites are around the three-month mark.
Good news! Android 5.1.1 – an even sweeter version of Android Lollipop – is coming to all Project Fi phones over the next few days.
— Google Fi Wireless (@googlefi) July 9, 2015
After some false starts and an accidental reveal, Motorola’s David Schuster posted last night to his Google+ account to confirm a soak test of Android 5.1 has begun for the Verizon DROID Turbo. Here’s what he said:
I know this is going to make some people happy…. we have started the DROID Turbo soak test for the Android 5.1 upgrade this evening with our forum registered users. If all goes well we will open it up later this week.
The full release notes are up on Motorola’s website as well. Aside from the normal stability improvements and 5.1 features like ‘interruptions’ for deciding which apps can make your phone buzz with notifications, there’s some Motorola-specific stuff in there like the Moto Action that turns the flashlight on and off with two chopping motions.
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The Motorola update train continues rolling on. Today, we’ve got more information on updates to two of the company’s 1st-generation budget phones, the Moto E and Moto G.
Motorola’s David Schuster has posted to Google+ to update owners of the 2nd-generation Moto X Pure Edition that the company pushed a new soak test for the device this past weekend. The company rolled out Android 5.1.1 via a soak test a couple weeks ago, and more recently began a wider rollout of 5.1.1 that many owners were able to install, so it’s unclear what this update is for and how many devices it will impact. Schuster says they experienced a problem with that test that they had to address, but didn’t provide more specifics.
We reported on the previous rollout a few weeks ago with some owners sharing this screenshot from their devices:
Here’s David Schuster’s full statement:
Quick update with respect to Moto X Pure Edition (2nd Gen) in the US. As many of you know we had started a soak test a couple weeks ago and discovered an issue which we need to address.
Over the past weekend we restarted the soak test. I will keep you posted on its progress.
Redditors in the /r/MotoX subreddit who own the 2nd-generation Moto X on Verizon are reporting that they’re starting to receive invites to participate in a software update soak test. There’s no word on what this update may be to – hopefully it’s a bump from 5.0.2 to 5.1.1, but those who are invited to soak tests first receive a survey they must complete and submit before they actually receive the update, and the survey doesn’t indicate the purpose of the update.
Soak tests are when a device manufacturer or carrier rolls out a software update to a select group of device owners who agree to test the potentially buggy software and report bugs as they notice them. To have been eligible to even be invited to this soak test, owners of the Moto X would’ve had to previously signed up for the Motorola Feedback Network program. There are instructions on how to do so are on Motorola’s forums (click here), but it’s unlikely that signing up now will result in receiving an invite for this particular soak test.
Another day, another expanded soak test of a Motorola software upgrade. This time, Android 5.1.1 Lollipop for the 1st and 2nd-generation Moto X in a bevy of countries.
Google has announced Android Security Rewards, a program to reward security researchers and others who find (and optionally fix) vulnerabilities in the latest available Android versions for current Nexus devices. At present, this means the Nexus 6 and Nexus 9.
We’re launching Android Security Rewards to help reward the contributions of security researchers who invest their time and effort in helping us make Android more secure. Through this program we provide monetary rewards and public recognition for vulnerabilities disclosed to the Android Security Team. The reward level is based on the bug severity and increases for higher quality reports that include reproduction code, test cases, and patches.
Rewards range from $333 for a test case of a low-severity bug up to $8,000 for a “well-written CTS test and patch” for a critical bug …
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A few weeks after T-Mobile started rolling out Android 5.1.1 to Nexus 6 owners, it is now doing the same for the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 edge, reports SamMobile.
[New features] include a simplified exposure control system in the camera, a wallpaper parallax effect, and numerous changes in the user interface (like the option to remove the S Finder and Quick Connect buttons from the notifications shade.)
The upgrade is a 635MB over the air update.
If you’ve been holding out for the more rugged model, the Galaxy S6 Active hit AT&T’s online store last week.
We wouldn’t blame you for thinking the images above are leaks or even mockups of what Android 5.1.1 Lollipop might look like on the DROID Turbo – but you’d be wrong, because these are straight from Verizon’s website.
Today was a bit of a downer for owners of the Motorola DROID Turbo, who learned that contrary to earlier information, there is in fact no set rollout date for the phone’s update to Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. That being said, we did learn that Lollipop is rolling out to the budget-end Moto E on Verizon, and now we’ve got word that testing of Lollipop has begun for the 1st-generation Moto X. If testing goes well and no major problems are identified, rollout should begin in about a week. Owners of the phone have been waiting quite some time for this big update.
David Schuster, a product manager at Motorola who’s quite reliable when it comes to information on Android software deployments, posted the following to his Google+ account this afternoon:
Hey guys, quick update here for Moto X (1st Gen). We have started full soak testing again in the U.S. on the 5.1 Lollipop upgrade for our retail channels. If the data looks good, we’ll move to full deployment in about a week.
In addition, we also initiated a full soak test for Brazil retail and Rogers in Canada yesterday for Moto X (1st Gen).
Please ensure that you have accepted any updates from the Play Store for Motorola Update Services (to version 4 or higher). You will need this to get the upgrade notification.
Motorola earlier in May began TestDrive – a program through which it tests early software with a tiny amount of select device owners who’ve agreed to participate – for the Moto X Lollipop update, and acknowledge frustration with the slow rollout, attributing it to “the lack of support from some of our partners.” We have to believe he was probably referring to carrier partners. But now it looks like things are moving along nicely.
The unlocked 2nd-generation Moto E might have already began receiving Android 5.1 Lollipop straight from Motorola in early May, but Verizon customers rejoice: your over-the-air update is dropping now.
This update brings all the changes we’ve come to expect from the 5.0.2 to 5.1.1 bump as well as a slightly tweaked “Interruptions” control menu and Device Protection, which ensures that a lost or stolen device will remain locked (aka can’t be factory reset) until the original owner signs into it with his or her Google account. Verizon has a handy PDF that covers most of the changes coming with this update.
To check if your Moto E has pulled down the update yet, head into the Settings app and select About Phone > System updates.
The LG G Pad 7.0 was released back in July of 2014 alongside its bigger brother, the G Pad 10.1, and while it doesn’t rock the most high-end specifications, Verizon is giving it some love with an update to Android 5.0.2 Lollipop (yes, not 5.1.1). The software version number is VK41022A.
There isn’t much to be said about this update beyond what we wrote for the Verizon G Pad 10.1’s Lollipop update. LG’s custom UI additions have received a fresh coat of paint to fall in line with Google’s Material Design guidelines and all the features and improvements that are included in Android Lollipop are there – Smart Lock for authenticating the device when other trusted devices are nearby, the Interruptions menu which provides granular control over which app notifications light up your device, Floating Action Buttons, and more.
As always this is a carrier OTA update, so don’t be surprised if it’s a week or more before you see it in your system updates.
It’s widely speculated that LG is working to bring WiFi support to the LG G Watch R in some future release of Android Wear, but in the most recent official release, 5.1.1, the smartwatch is notably left out. Being left out of a feature isn’t an unsolvable problem for the XDA Developers community, though, as it appears one developer has put together a hack for enabling WiFi on the round smartwatch from LG…
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Google has just posted the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop factory image for the T-Mobile variant of the Nexus 6 (shamu), and you can download it now from the factory image download page. Over-the-air 5.1.1 updates for some variants of the Nexus 6 have been beginning to roll out over the last several days, and now it looks like Google has started sharing these images publicly…
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Following the leak of a Sprint document claiming that its Nexus 6 model would receive Android 5.1.1 on May 26th, T-Mobile announced today that it will begin to rollout the update to its variant this weekend. T-Mobile employee Des Smith made the announcement via Twitter and confirmed that Android 5.1.1 on the Nexus 6 will include support for WiFi calling.
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.
Update: The OTA download link is now available for the Nexus 5 as well.
Android 5.1.1 been making its way to most Nexus devices over the last few weeks, and now it’s time for the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 to get a chance at the fun. The factory images still haven’t been uploaded to Google’s developers’ website, but some Nexus 4 and 5 owners are already receiving the update to 5.1.1 over-the-air and have kindly shared the download links—meaning you can get the update right now straight from Google’s servers and sideload it via ADB.
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For owners of a limited set of Android Wear watches running Android 5.1.1 (namely the LG Watch Urbane and ASUS ZenWatch), Google Play Music has today become a little more useful. The cloud music service from Google just received an update which allows users to navigate to music from their watch through three pre-existing features: “Listen Now,” “Recent Playlists,” and “Radio.”
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.
Android 5.1 has only recently started hitting Nexus devices, and the general populace of Android device owners have still yet to see 5.0. But Google is already moving on past the latest 5.1 release, as evidenced by the appearance of Android 5.1.1 (API 22) in the Android SDK Manager.