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With this year's IFA expo now squarely behind us, it's finally time for a return to some modicum of normalcy. As we shake off the jet lag and catch up with everything else that's been going on, we're taking a look back at some of the best tech deals to surface over the course of the last week. And whether you're in the market for a new phone, some old home-entertainment hardware, or just a few accessories, we've got you covered.
The Nexus Player is quite old at this point — after all, it has "Nexus" in its name — but it still has its fans. That's in spite of a sleeping bug from late last year, no more OS or security updates, and most recently and worryingly, a large batch randomly dying. But the units being offered today for $33 on eBay are brand new and we suspect that won't be happening again soon.
For the last few weeks, a conspicuous amount of Nexus Player owners have been reporting that their streaming boxes have up and stopped working. The devices become unresponsive, either hanging at the Google logo during startup or displaying an error message. Some users have been able to save their devices by flashing a new system image, but others haven't been so fortunate.
After three years of official support, Google confirmed yesterday that the long-lived Nexus Player would no longer receive Android updates. While Android Oreo will continue to serve most users just fine, the custom ROM community will likely keep it updated for years to come. LineageOS already supported the set-top box with Nougat builds, but now it has been updated to Android 8.1 Oreo.
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When the Android P Developer Preview was announced, there were several Google devices that didn't have any images available for download: the Nexus 5X, the Nexus 6P, the Pixel C, and the Nexus Player. Google confirmed that the first three in that list would not get Android P, but nothing was said about the Nexus Player then. The company has now confirmed to us that the Nexus Player will not receive Android P.
The Nexus 5X and 6P were released in October 2015, and ended up being the last devices under the Nexus brand. The following year, Google released the original Pixel, marking an end to the company's lineup of affordable devices. Google has now confirmed to Ars Technica that Android P will drop support for the 5X and 6P, along with the infamous Pixel C tablet.
Since late last November, Nexus Player owners have had the frustrating experience of erratic behavior from the remote. After about 5 to 10 minutes, the remote would seemingly go to sleep. Pressing any button causes the remote to blink for a few seconds, then hopefully reconnect. While not precisely broken, the erratic functionality from the remote has been a point of pain for owners of Google's streaming hockey puck. Finally, Google is preparing to roll out a fix.
Android TV is very much alive, as was made abundantly clear by the plethora of new Android TV powered televisions with Google Assistant capability shown off at CES 2018. Streaming boxes powered by Android TV, however, are conspicuously missing—the last Android TV set-top box to be released in the United States was the Xiaomi Mi Box in October 2016.
Google has added the Android TV Launcher and Core Services APKs to the Play Store, which honestly makes me wonder why they weren't there to begin with. Given that the Nexus Player has not received an update from Android Oreo 8.0 to the newest 8.1, this seems to be a convenient way for Google to keep the streaming hockey puck up to date.
Not a dull moment passes by in the land of Google product issues. Not long after Google Assistant functionality was added to the Nexus Player, Google's digital media player has begun to put its remote to sleep. Many people are complaining about the problem on Google's Issue Tracker, and the culprit has been revealed to be a Play Services update. It's similar to an issue NVIDIA fixed with SHIELD Experience 6.1 on the SHIELD Android TV.
The Nexus Player, Google's first (and only) digital media player (see note) has received support for Google Assistant as part of the November security update. This is the third Android TV device to receive the Assistant, after the nVidia Shield and select Sony Bravia televisions.
The month of October has just begun, which means Pumpkin Spice lattes, leaves falling off trees, and marathons of The Nightmare Before Christmas on TV. It also means Google has released another Android security bulletin, just like the company does at the start of every month. As usual, OTA zips and factory images with the fixes are already available for Pixel and Nexus devices.
The Nexus Player is getting pretty long in the tooth, as it was released in 2014. It's still supported with software updates though, and was one of the devices to receive Android O Developer Previews earlier this year. However, a nasty bug was discovered close to official release, which caused the Nexus Player to upload a massive amount of data for no apparent reason.
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- The director of Android TV at Google reached out to us with some more information about this particular issue. They discovered the bug late in the release cycle, and the final build for the Nexus Player should include a fix.
If you've migrated your Nexus Player onto Android O, and you've noticed networking problems or sudden data cap issues, you're not alone. Some people, including our own Artem, have found that their Nexus Players are going a bit crazy, uploading hundreds of gigabytes of data for no apparent reason.
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Google just took the wraps off Android 8.0 Oreo, which we've known only as Android O for the last few months. The source code is being pushed to AOSP today, but OTA updates are still in process. The system images are live right this minute, though. If you've got a compatible device and an unlocked bootloader, you can be on Android Oreo in just a few minutes.
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Android O's second developer preview was only released yesterday, but Google has already released an update for it. We're getting bombarded with tips from readers with Nexus and Pixel devices alike. This update reportedly somewhat fixes Android Pay, which did not open at all on yesterday's version. However, it appears that Nexus devices are having trouble updating.
It's the first day of May, and Google is wasting no time releasing the May 2017 factory images and OTAs for Nexus and Pixel devices. Just like last month, the security update has reached the Pixel/Pixel XL, Pixel C, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus 6, and Nexus 9.
Android O is expected later this year, but there's still (at least) one more update to Android 7.1. Google released the first 7.1.2 Beta back in January, followed by a second beta in March. We've now received multiple reports of 7.1.2 being pushed to users outside the beta program.
As the world turns, so too does the cycle of Android updates. The first part of 2017's version bump, known only as Android O for the time being, was just announced. And just like the last two years, developer preview versions will be available for some of the latest officially supported Google hardware. This year that list includes the Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Pixel, and Pixel XL phones, the Pixel C tablet, and the Nexus Player Android TV set-top box. You can download the new images here.