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LineageOS is one of the most popular custom ROMs available, with somewhere around two million active installations. It typically takes a while for the project to update to newer versions of Android, since development is largely done by maintainers in their spare time. Six months after the public release of Android 9 Pie, it looks like LineageOS is about ready to make the jump — but not before dropping older devices.
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The release of the Galaxy S6 back in 2015 marked a change in direction for the company after lower than expected Galaxy S5 sales. The GS6 was the first Samsung phone that truly focused on design, but that was then and this is now. The Galaxy S6 is old news, so phones from that generation are losing update support. Samsung's way of telling you to buy a new phone?
It's very rare that Android phones receive more than two years of major software updates. Google has even stuck to that rule in the past, with the Pixel 2 being the company's first phone with three years of promised Android updates. According to T-Mobile support pages, Samsung could be planning an Oreo update for its 2015 flagships.
The last time we covered LineageOS, the project had started supporting seven new phones, including the Xperia Z5 Compact and LG K10. Since then, several additional devices have been added to the official build roster. These include the Sony Xperia Z5, Samsung Galaxy S6, and Redmi 3S/3X.
Phones are pretty expensive these days, but you don't necessarily need to spend a lot to get good protection for them. Ringke is currently discounting cases for many phones such as the brand new Galaxy Note8, Galaxy S8/S8+, LG G6, and more to as low as $1.92 shipped per case, which is dirt cheap.
Samsung and its carrier partners can take a long time to get big system updates rolled out to older devices, but at least it happens. Some OEMs would have abandoned a phone from 2015 by now, but T-Mobile is rolling out a Nougat update to the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, which was promised a few days ago. Bonus: the Tab S2 on T-Mobile is getting the update, too.
For T-Mobile customers who have been patiently waiting for the Nougat update to come to their Samsung Galaxy S6 or S6 edge, that light at the end of the tunnel is fast approaching. The carrier's gadget guy, Des, announced on Twitter that Android 7.0 will be rolling out to both devices in the coming days.
In the last month, both Sprint and Verizon have updated their Galaxy S6 and S6 edge units to Android 7.0 Nougat. These are some of the last phones to receive the 7.0 update, but hey, they're two-year old Samsung carrier devices. Now, AT&T is sending Nougat out to the Galaxy S6 (SM-G920A), Galaxy S6 edge (SM-G925A), and its exclusive Galaxy S6 active (SM-G890A).
Update season for carrier locked Samsung Galaxy devices is in full swing. Having just updated the Galaxy Note5 and S6 edge+ to the latest version of Android, Verizon now turns its attention to the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge. The two-year-old devices are going to be receiving the same visual tweaks and new multi-tasking features as the other Samsung flagships with this bump up to Android 7.0 Nougat.
US carriers have had a busy few days, it seems. After AT&T's updates yesterday Sprint must have decided it was time to jump on the same bandwagon, bringing Nougat to the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge.
If you've been waiting with bated breath for Samsung to fulfill its promise to upgrade the Galaxy S6 series to Android 7.0, you can stop waiting... assuming you have one of the GSM unlocked models of the S6 and S6 Edge, that is. According to German tech site Giga.de, users in Europe are starting to see the Nougat update sent out to their phones, starting with at least one S6 Edge owner in Switzerland and continuing in the comments. That means that mainland Europe and the UK are probably looking at updates sometime soon, with the usual delays for localization and server rollout.
Cracking the screen glass is the easiest way to damage a modern smartphone, if only because there's just so much of it. Verizon isn't the only company making offers for a protection plan, giving customers a little peace of mind for reduced-price phone repairs in exchange for a few bucks a month. But the newest version of the plan does have an interesting bonus: they're offering same-day screen replacement for some of the carrier's most high-profile devices. Verizon is hoping that people will be willing to shell out some extra dough for the chance to fix up their screens without having to deal with shipping.
Well, this is a first. Of all the major OEMs that we cover on Android Police, few give us more headache when it comes to their Android updates than Samsung and LG. HTC, Sony, Motorola have been known to reveal which devices they plan to update to a newer version of Android and to give a timeline of that update, a practice they have followed over the past few years, but Samsung and LG? Radio silence. That frustrated us as reporters and you as users because you never knew if a phone you bought last year would get bumped to a new Android version or not. And you didn't have a timeline. But that has changed today.
AT&T and Samsung are both notoriously bad with Android updates, but they've done a good job with this latest update for the Galaxy Note5 and the Galaxy S6 edge+. Not only does this update bring the latest security update, but it also adds support for AT&T WiFi calling and Advanced Messaging.
About nine months ago, Rootjunky managed to bypass the factory reset protection (FRP) on Samsung devices simply by inserting an OTG drive into the phone and installing an app. Then, two months later, he found a vulnerability on LG phones; this time, he circumvented FRP by using talkback settings to open a browser, downloading an APK that opened settings, adding a new user, switching back to the main account, and then resetting without FRP. However, this new exploit for Samsung phones might be the most ingenious yet.
It's been just over a month since the Verizon versions of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge received their Android 6.0 updates, which were welcome if somewhat belated. Today the phones get another bump, but there's no version number jump this time. Nope, it's just a few bug fixes and app tweaks. Try to contain your excitement.
Owners of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge on America's #2 carrier are in for a new sweet treat. It would appear that AT&T has begun rolling out a Marshmallow update for both devices. In addition to the host of goodies provided by Google and Samsung, there are also some welcome omissions from the Death Star in terms of bloatware. The update removes Keeper, Facebook Messenger, and AT&T Live, and moves AT&T Mail and YP Mobile from the permanent install to "virtual" preload, meaning you should now be able to uninstall the apps if you so desire.
I never thought there would be a day when I'd know this much about US carriers and MVNOs, but this is what happens when you work on a US-based site like Android Police. Republic Wireless though comes a lot less often on our radar, and I just discovered why. Until now, the MVNO only had a couple of devices to choose from. Literally, a couple: the Motorola Moto G (3rd Gen) and Moto E (2nd Gen). It also seems to be ahead of its times, relying on Wi-Fi calling and piggy-backing on Sprint's network when Wi-Fi isn't available.
Sprint's Galaxy S6 got Marshmallow in March. Verizon's did the same at the start of this month. Over a week later, T-Mobile had followed suit. But what about AT&T?