The highly anticipated Android 7.0 Nougat has begun rolling out. Telus previously leaked the info that the platform would arrive on Aug. 22.
The Canadian carrier revealed on its forum that the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X would receive the seventh iteration of Google's mobile operating system by Monday. However, the post also contained a disclaimer that the said date was just an approximation and subject to change without prior notice. The company has been known to be spot on with their previous announcements.
Owners of Samsung, Sony, LG, and other smartphone manufacturers will have to wait for the OEM to make their respective official announcement about the release date of Nougat, as well as the models that will be eligible for the update. Android Authority added that selected LG G5 owners in South Korea will also receive the update on the same date. Huawei has started limited testing with selected owners of their P9. Carrier-branded devices will have to wait a little while longer while they perform their own test, and add their own bloatware.
Non-Nexus users can expect a waiting period of 2 months for Motorola, or 5 months for Samsung and Sony devices, while indefinitely if a carrier is involved.
Android 7.0 Nougat will be bringing several features to the table. These include better performance with the new Vulkan graphics API that makes installation of applications to be around 75 percent faster, and shrinking the compiler code up to 50 percent. Google has tightened up the security of its upcoming mobile operating system by utilizing file-based encryption, media framework hardening and seamless update.
Additionally, Google also focused on its productivity feature that it will allow seven most recent apps on its app drawer. A "Clear All" button is added, as well as switching to the previous app by simply tapping the recent apps button. Multi-window mode is also available, picture-in-picture, useful for users who want to watch a video while scrolling onto the dominant screen, and the standard split-screen.
Native VR support is also included in Android 7.0 Nougat.
