Those of you waiting for Android 5.0 Lollipop will need to wait a little longer, as this roll-out has been delayed till November 12 due to some bugs that were reported.
Trevor Johns a Google project team member said: “Android Engineering is aware of an issue affecting Nexus 5 users running Android 5.0 which causes significant “Miscellaneous” battery usage while Wi-Fi is enabled. This appears to be caused by an abnormally high number of IRQ wake up events. We are continuing to investigate this issue.” Although Google did not say that the miscellaneous battery usage bug was the reason for the delay in release, it is probably a large factor.
LG Nexus 5 D820 16GB Unlocked GSM 4G LTE Quad-Core Android Smartphone w/ 5″ True HD IPS+ Multi-Touchscreen – BlackNexus users received a pleasant update, probably much sooner than expected. Today Trevor Johns commented that “this issue has been fixed in the latest builds, and this issue is now considered resolved. Thanks everyone.” With this fix you can expect Android 5.0 Lollipop to be released to LG%20Nexus 5 D820 16GB Unlocked GSM 4G LTE Quad-Core Android Smartphone w/ 5″ True HD IPS+ Multi-Touchscreen – BlackNexus devices mid next week.
Some of the key features in the Android 5.0 Lollipop release will include:
Notifications
- New ways to control when and how you receive messages – only get interrupted when you want to be
- View and respond to messages directly from your lock screen. Includes the ability to hide sensitive content for these notifications
- For fewer disruptions, turn on Priority mode via your device’s volume button so only certain people and notifications get through. Or schedule recurring downtime like 10pm to 8am when only priority notifications can get through
- With Lollipop, incoming phone calls won’t interrupt what you’re watching or playing. You can choose to answer the call or just keep doing what you’re doing
- Control the notifications triggered by your apps; hide sensitive content and prioritize or turn off the app’s notifications entirely
- More intelligent ranking of notifications based on who they’re from and the type of communication. See all your notifications in one place by tapping the top of the screen
Battery
- Power for the long haul
- A battery saver feature which extends device use by up to 90 minutes
- Estimated time left to fully charge is displayed when your device is plugged in
- Estimated time left on your device before you need to charge again can now be found in battery settings
Security
- Keep your stuff safe and sound
- New devices come with encryption automatically turned on to help protect data on lost or stolen devices
- SELinux enforcing for all applications means even better protection against vulnerabilities and malware
- Use Android Smart Lock to secure your phone or tablet by pairing it with a trusted device like your wearable or even your car
Device Sharing
- More flexible sharing with family and friends
- Multiple users for phones. If you forget your phone, you still can call any of your friends (or access any of your messages, photos etc.) by simply logging into another Android phone running Lollipop. Also perfect for families who want to share a phone, but not their stuff.
- Guest user for phones and tablets means you can lend your device and not your stuff
- Screen pinning: pin your screen so another user can access just that content without messing with your other stuff
New Quick Settings
- Get to the most frequently used settings with just two swipes down from the top of the screen
- New handy controls like flashlight, hotspot, screen rotation and cast screen controls
- Easier on/off toggles for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and location
- Manually adjust your brightness for certain conditions. Then, adaptive brightness will kick in based on ambient lighting
Runtime and Performance
- A faster, smoother and more powerful computing experience
- ART, an entirely new Android run-time, improves application performance and responsiveness
- Up to 4x performance improvements
- Smoother UI for complex, visually rich applications
- Compacting backgrounded apps and services so you can do more at once
- Support for 64 bit devices, like the Nexus 9, brings desktop class CPUs to Android
- Support for 64-bit SoCs using ARM, x86, and MIPS-based cores
- Shipping 64-bit native apps like Chrome, Gmail, Calendar, Google Play Music, and more
- Pure Java language apps run as 64-bit apps automatically
Media
- Bolder graphics and improved audio, video, and camera capabilities
- Lower latency audio input ensuring that music and communication applications that have strict delay requirements provide an amazing real-time experience
- Multi-channel audio stream mixing means professional audio applications can now mix up to eight channels including 5.1 and 7.1 channels
- USB Audio support means you can plug USB microphones, speakers, and a myriad of other USB audio devices like amplifiers and mixers into your Android device
- OpenGL ES 3.1 and Android extension pack brings Android to the forefront of mobile graphics putting it on par with desktop and console class performance
- A range of new professional photography features for Android Lollipop that let you
- Capture full resolution frames around 30 fps
- Support raw formats like YUV and Bayer RAW
- Control capture settings for the sensor, lens, and flash per individual frame
- Capture metadata like noise models and optical information
- State of the art video technology with support for HEVC to allow for UHD 4K video playback, tunneled video for high quality video playback on Android TV and improved HLS support for streaming
Android TV
- Support for living room devices
- User interface adapted for the living room
- Less browsing, more watching with personalized recommendations for content like movies and TV shows
- Voice search for Google Play, YouTube, and supported apps so you can just say what you want to see
- Console-style Android gaming on your TV with a gamepad
- Cast your favorite entertainment apps to your big screen with Google Cast support for Android TV devices
That’s a pretty hefty update if you ask me. What do you think about the latest release? Any features you’ve been longing for? Let us know in the comments below