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Amazon updates its 2017 7th generation Fire tablet lineup to FireOS 6 (Update: Not Nougat)
Amazon rarely delivers major OS updates to its Fire tablets
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- According to reports in our comments and on XDA Forums, the system upgrade seems to be FireOS 6 in name only. While a few of the system applications have been updated, the tablets still seem to be running Android 5.1 Lollipop under the hood.
Amazon's Fire tablets are media consumption devices first and foremost, and given their extremely low prices, it's perhaps not surprising that they rarely receive major OS updates. The last Fire tablet to receive a system upgrade beyond minor features was the 2014 Fire HD 6, which was updated from FireOS 4.x to 5.x. However, it seems like Amazon's entire line of 7th-generation Fire tablets is now receiving an update to Nougat.Amazon's support site says FireOS 6 is now available for the 7th-Gen Fire HD 10, Fire HD 8, and Fire 7, all of which were released in 2017. Before now, only FireOS 5.3 was available for the models, based on Android 5.1 Lollipop. By comparison, FireOS 6 is a modified build of Android 7.1 Nougat, the same software that the newer 8th-gen Fire HD 8 and 9th-gen Fire 7 launched with. The update notification hasn't yet appeared on my 7th-gen Fire HD 8, so the rollout could be in the early stages.I'm hesitant to give Amazon credit for updating its tablets to a four-year-old operating system, but it's certainly better than leaving them on Lollipop. The 2019 Fire HD 10 remains the company's only tablet running Android 9 Pie — here's hoping Amazon's 2018 models are next in line for an upgrade.
Back at CES, Asus showed off a follow-up to the not-so-old Zenfone 4 Max, which was a phone that ultimately disappointed me. Attempting to capitalize on the love for big batteries, the Taiwanese company decided to spin off the Zenfone Max line into its own device family. These phones will offer large batteries and many of the latest smartphone trends for budget prices.
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Earlier this week, I noticed that my Galaxy S9+ review unit had an OTA update available. This update addressed some stability issues with the camera and put the phone on the latest security patch (which is certainly a good thing). But at nearly 250MB, it was quite a sizable update, too, and so installation took a bit to complete - my phone was out of commission for over five minutes.
The Razer Phone launched last year with plenty of features that cater to power users. There's a 120Hz screen, a huge battery, front-facing speakers, and more. One thing that was missing: the option to flash factory images. The phone was unlockable, but the images didn't exist. Well, now they do.
Android 8.0 has been a low burn since its release last fall. It's been gaining a tenth of a percent here and there on the distribution charts, and Android 8.1 just appeared last month. This month, there's a slightly larger bump that finally pushed the latest and greatest Android up over 1%.
Huawei's Honor sub-brand has been responsible for some nice pieces of hardware over the years, but the software always seems to lag behind. Just recently, the Honor 7X launched with Nougat when it should by all rights have had Oreo. Owners of the Honor 8 are also getting some bad Oreo news—they won't see Oreo at all. At least, this is what Honor's Indian Twitter account is telling people.
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- If you have a Moto X Pure and you haven't received the update yet, your time has come. According to multiple reports on XDA, Reddit, and the Motorola support forums, Android 7.0 is now being pushed to everyone. Just in time for phones to start getting 8.0 Oreo!
Ah, Motorola. You were once one of the most enthusiast-friendly OEMs, yet you've now sunken down to a level deeper than possibly any other major phone manufacturer in this regard. Just a few years ago, your Moto X-series of phones were the absolute best phones on the market with updates: the Moto X (2013) beat the Nexus 4 out to 4.4 KitKat, and the Moto X (2014) did the same to the Nexus 5 with 5.0 Lollipop. These updates were rolled out mere days after Google officially launched them. However, it took over a year to update 2015's Moto X Pure Edition, the company's flagship at the time, to the now-dated Android 7.0 Nougat. Oh, how the great have fallen.
You have to hand it to NVIDIA—it's kept the SHIELD Tablet updated for more than three years now. That's about three years longer than most Android tablets. Today, the SHIELD Tablet is getting the 5.3 upgrade, which includes a few little bug fixes along with one big fix for the KRACK vulnerability.
When we think of Samsung phones, our minds instantly go to the Galaxy S8 and Note8. But Samsung makes a ton of different phones, and the Galaxy J7 is on the upper end of them. The T-Mobile variant of the J7 is now receiving its Android 7.1.1 Nougat update, even though the people behind the phone's support page don't seem to have any idea what's going on.
In a perfect world, the phone you buy would get relevant and timely updates to add new features and fix security issues for many years after the initial purchase. Sadly, such a world does not exist (though it's easy to understand why in some cases), but at least people who purchased the 2016 Samsung Galaxy J3 (J320A) from AT&T have a significant upgrade waiting for them. The phone is getting Nougat 7.1.1 and the update includes the BlueBorne patch.
Manufacturers are gearing up to bring Android 8.0 Oreo to devices, but we frequently forget that there are plenty of them still being sold right now that haven't had a taste of Android 7.0 Nougat. Up until just recently, Verizon and T-Mobile's Samsung Galaxy Tab E were among the devices stuck on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. But now those of you with carrier-branded units can enjoy all the features Nougat brings. This applies to Verizon 9.6" or 8" models, as well as the T-Mobile 8" model.
Carriers are notoriously slow to update their devices to newer versions of Android, and while this is not only annoying for users who want to try out new features, it also has implications for the security of devices. Until now, the Verizon HTC Desire 530 had been running Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow (released by Google in December 2015) with anything but up-to-date security patches. A new update has just been announced, and it does improve the situation, if only a little bit.
Another month, another update to the Google Developer dashboards. This time there's something new in the Android version stats, although it's a very, very small something. After the unsurprising no-show last month, Android 8.0 Oreo has made its first appearance this time with a grand total of 0.2% device share.
Motorola's been churning out a lot of source code lately, and the newest one is for the Moto X Force (kinzie) on Android 7.0 Nougat. Those of you in the US might know this phone as the Verizon DROID Turbo 2, but it's known internationally as the Force.
There's an Apple event happening at this moment, during which the company will probably brag about how unified its iOS user base it. Google chose right now to update the platform versions in the developer dashboard. Android is, well, not entirely unified, but that's nothing new. Nougat is still gaining this month, Marshmallow is on the decline, and there's no sign of Oreo yet.
It might not be available in the US just yet, but HMD Global is already preparing to update the entry-level Nokia 3 to Android 7.1.1. The phone launched with Android 7.0 Nougat, which isn't too shabby, but 7.1.1 will bring with it a few new features. If this is a predictor of future software support, customers that pick up one of the new Nokia Android phones may have a lot to look forward to.
The BlackBerry Priv was an odd device for many reasons. It was the first Android phone from BlackBerry, it was a flagship device with a physical keyboard, and it was the last phone manufactured in-house by BlackBerry. But as many Priv owners have probably been expecting, it won't receive further updates.
Now that Android 8.0 Oreo has made its official debut, many of you are eagerly awaiting news on when your device will receive the latest and greatest from Google. But there are still devices that didn't even have last year's Nougat, like the ASUS ZenPad Z10 tablet on Verizon - that is, until now.
Blu devices aren't having the best time lately, what with the whole privacy and alleged spyware story and their sad update track record that's left almost the entire lineup at Marshmallow. But the value for money proposition of Blu is still nice and for a non-geeky user, their devices might still carry a lot of appeal. Besides, the spyware snafu seems to be resolved now. So keep that more positive outlook in mind as I tell you about the new VIVO 8.As far as I can tell, this is Blu's first Nougat 7.0 device (I could have sworn one phone got an update to Nougat, but I can't find any info on that now). I'd say it's 'bout time, why isn't it even 7.1, and don't hold your breath for Oreo. Blu is boasting an 87.5% metal to body ratio, thanks to CNC polished aluminum on the back, minimal plastic, and a curved Corning Gorilla Glass 3 on the front.It has a 5.5" 1080p display, 13MP Sony IMX258 back camera and a 16MP front camera, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage plus MicroSD slot, and a MediaTek 6755 Helio P10 2.0GHz processor. There's a fingerprint sensor, "ultra quick" 9V/2A charging, and thankfully Blu didn't skimp on the battery like most brands and fitted this one with 4010mAh. Unfortunately, it charges with MicroUSB and not Type-C.The VIVO 8 is compatible with GSM networks and has 4G and HSDPA+ connectivity. It is already available for purchase in either black or gold, and it should retail for $299. However, now and for the first two days, you can get it for $199 on Amazon at the link below. That's not a bad price at all.Source: Blu, Amazon