Google Nexus 5 Starts Receiving Android 5.1 Lollipop Update in India

Google released the Android 5.1 Lollipop factory images for the Nexus 5 and other Nexus devices in early March, and then said the rollout of the update over-the-air (OTA) has begun. After another report last month about the OTA rollout having begun for the LG Nexus 5, the Android 5.1 Lollipop OTA update has now started rolling out in India.

The Android 5.1 Lollipop OTA update with build number LMY47I for LG-made Google Nexus 5 weighs 220.7MB, and is recommended to download through a Wi-Fi connection. The update comes with several bug fixes and some much-needed features, which were earlier missing from in the Android 5.0 Lollipop OS version.

As mentioned before, the update brings improved overall stability and an enhanced ART (Android Run Time) making apps open faster than before. Issues with "Okay Google" have also been fixed. Nexus 5 users can now also search for different Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections directly from the 'Quick Settings' option in the notification panel without opening the 'Settings' page.

Also, the system volume can be changed while playing audio. Alarm volume can be changed from within clock app. Some of the other changes include new 'No interruptions until next alarm' option in Priority mode; improved heads-up notifications that let users swipe up to collapse; improved battery life, and lock screen remains locked when swiping within notification settings.

The update will be reaching all Nexus 5 smartphones gradually. However, those who are impatient for the OTA rollout in their regions can install the factory image - refer to our guide on how to download and manually install the Android 5.1 Lollipop factory image.

Notably, soon after announcing the new OS version last month, Google on its AOSP issue tracker page acknowledged a memory leak bug for some users that causes apps to crash and fills up the device's memory. The company said the issue had been fixed internally, but did not provide a timeline for the rollout of the fix for end users. Unfortunately, the memory leak issue has existed for some users since Android 5.0 Lollipop, and Google had back in December announced a fix had been arrived at and had marked it for future release.

Android L will have built-in encryption, just like iOS

The next major version of Android is going to come with one feature that will please the security-conscious: built-in encryption. It means anyone who grabs hold of your mobile device—from petty thief to law enforcement officer—will find it much more difficult to extract data from it. The same level of advanced encryption is also available in iOS 8. 

Android users have had the option to encrypt their phones and tablets since 2011, but the setup process for Android L will switch it on by default. iOS has always encrypted data on devices automatically — there’s no option to enable it as there is on current versions of Android — but the protection has been reworked and improved in iOS 8.

Related: Android L — the future of Android is (almost) here

“For over three years Android has offered encryption, and keys are not stored off of the device, so they cannot be shared with law enforcement,” Google spokeswoman Niki Christoff told the Washington Post. “As part of our next Android release, encryption will be enabled by default out of the box, so you won’t even have to think about turning it on.”

It’s a feature that is particularly noteworthy in a post-Snowden climate. The NSA-engineer-turned-whistleblower has been calling for improved encryption methods to prevent governments and other agencies from spying on user data, and the extra security layer arriving with Android L are another step in this direction.

“Most people aren’t going to go out of their way to do these things,” said Joseph Lorenzo Hall, chief technologist of a Washington non-profit, when speaking to the Post. “It’s so awesome, as someone who has worked on these issues for a long time, to see these two companies switch their defaults to where these things will be strongly encrypted, and rightly so.”

As for Android L, we still don’t know exactly when it will appear or even what it’s going to be called when it’s released. With flagship devices such as the Nexus 9 rumored to be launching in October, we shouldn’t have too much longer to wait to find out.