Google Nexus 6 updates: Android Nougat rolls out to device but giving Nexus 5 a miss

Featured in the image is last year's Huawei-made Nexus 6P. Google official website

When Android 7.0 Nougat was officially released, Nexus 6 owners were disappointed that their two-year-old device was included among the supported list. Now, over-the-air (OTA) update is available for the device.

The release of the platform for the Nexus 6 model was delayed for over five weeks. Many fans were already enjoying the latest Android operating system, while the official phone released by Google was left out in the open during that particular period. No official word was issued by the search engine giant about the delay of the rollout, but insiders hinted that it had something to do with some battery issue.

Nexus 6 owners who have not received any OTA notice can manually download the Android 7.0 Nougat factory image or the flashable OTA file.

The oldest Nexus device that can support the latest Android version is the Nexus 9 that was manufactured by HTC and was released back in November 2014. Unfortunately, the Nexus 5, released in October 2013 is not included in the list anymore. Owners will have to settle for the Android 6.0 Marshmallow or some custom ROM.

The Nexus 6 can now take advantage of the visual and performance enhancements offered by Android Nougat. Users can instantly shift between two applications by simply double tapping its overview button. A split screen mode is also available. It will allow two applications to sit side-by-side on the screen which is helpful when comparing notes or copying notes.

The new mobile operating system also offers support for the Vulkan 3D rendering API that gives better performance and better GPU control. Notifications were also redesigned, and the feature is now capable of offering a Quick Reply option. This means users can answer back immediately from the notification screen, and they do not need to open the Messaging app.

System UI Tuner is also back, which gives its users more control with the overall function of the system. This includes putting back the sliding scale option for the app notifications, several Do Not Disturb, options, and control for swipe among others.

The Google Nexus 6 Android 7.0 Nougat update is NBD90Z, and it is 860 MB in size.

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