Category: Android Nougat

Good news this morning for those with the Moto G4 Plus.  For those who have the unlocked version of the phone, the Android Nougat update is rolling out to you starting today.  The update brings all of the goodness of Nougat 7.0 to the budget friendly but powerful phone.  Once you have it installed, things like improved Doze, multi-window support and inline notification replies will be yours.

The update weighs in at about 740MB so you will certainly want to make sure that you are on Wi-Fi to download the OTA update.  Once you have it downloaded, expect about a 15-20 minute install before a final reboot.  You’ll need to make sure you have plenty of battery (75% or more remaining) so you can do the update.

Some 4 months after the release of the Android Nougat update for the unlocked HTC 10, Verizon is finally releasing the update to the phone on their network.  The fun begins tomorrow, March 30th, according to a Tweet from HTC’s Mo Versi.  The update will make Verizon the last to update the phone on their network here in the United States.  T-Mobile rolled out the update back in January while Sprint rolled it out in February.  AT&T did not sell the HTC 10.

HTC, for their part, have been good about getting updates out on the HTC 10 when it comes to the unlocked version of the phone.  However, for carrier locked devices, they are at the mercy of the carriers to get the updates out to devices.  Verizon is notoriously slow at doing this so it isn’t a surprise they are the last one to update the phone on their network.

You read the headline right.  T-Mobile has released the Android Nougat update for the now three year old HTC One M8.  The update has passed final Q&A within the carrier and is now starting to hit customer phones.  The news is a little bit of a surprise for a couple of different reasons.  First, did I mention that the One M8 is three years old?  It was released in March 2014 and as a general rule, anything over two years doesn’t see a major update.

Second, the One M8 runs on the Snapdragon 801 processor.  While it was a solid processor at the time, Qualcomm has since stopped supporting it.  Further, because of the lack of support, many manufactures did not update devices running the 801.  Sony would be probably the most notable of those who decided not to update their older devices.

Over at Amazon you can still pick up the Nextbit Robin for $149.   I reviewed the Robin a few months ago and at the time I said it was a pretty good deal at $299.  At $149, it is one of the best deals on a phone with these specs out there right now.  Over the holidays the phone was $169 on Amazon so this price drop makes it the lowest price the phone has ever been available.

For those that don’t recall, the Nextbit Robin has some great features and offers a unique device-meets-cloud storage solution.  It has 32GB of onboard storage merged with 100 GB online storage, so you always have the space you need. Robin seamlessly backs up your apps and photos, intelligently archives the stuff you’re not using, and easily restores items when you need them.  The idea is that you never run out of space.  Those less used apps are backed up into the cloud but then are instantly available when you want them.  You’ll know an app has been backed up into the cloud as it will be grey on your Robin.  You can read my review of the Robin to see all my thoughts on this great little phone.  I also think it is perhaps one of the most underrated phones of 2016.

T-Mobile continues to be one of the best carriers in the US when it comes to device updates.  The latest proof point is the 2015 HTC One M9.  The carrier has released the Android Nougat update for customers who have the phone on their network.  The update is based on Nougat 7.0 and has the January Android Security Update.  It comes some two months after the unlocked One M9 received the Nougat treatment.

The update is just over 1GB in size so those of you with the One M9 will want to download it via Wi-Fi and you can expect the total download and upgrade time to take about 30 minutes.  Once you get it installed, you’ll have all the Nougat niceties along with some improvements to HTC’s Sense UI.

Good news this morning for those in Canada who have the Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge on either Rogers or Telus.  The two carriers have begun the process of rolling out the Android Nougat 7.0 update to those devices.  The update comes a few days later than the majority of carriers in Canada started the update roll out and follows the release of the update here in the United States.  By all indications, the update is virtually identical to the update that rolled out to other Canadian and US carriers.  That is, it is based on Nougat 7.0 and has the February 2017 Android Security Update.

The update for the phones is sizable at just over 1GB so you will certainly want to make sure you are on a Wi-Fi connection to download it.  Once the update is downloaded, you can expect the install to take 15-20 minutes and after the reboot is complete, you will be on Nougat.