Even though the Android 5.1 Lollipop update still hasn’t been released for owners of Google’s own Nexus 9, it appears that the wait will soon be over, as the company is preparing for the official launch of the important update. At the same time, Samsung and T-Mobile have started deploying the Android 5.1.1 Update to Galaxy S6 devices, so it’s strange to see Google falling behind like that.
If anything, usually it’s Samsung who have to catch up to everyone else with their own update cycle, as the company likes to make various modifications to Android which inevitably end up slowing down their development process. Still, in the end they usually keep things pretty consistent, and for what it’s worth, they’ve actually been pretty fast to respond to the situation with android 5.1.1.
In the end though, Google’s users aren’t going to be left in the dark, as Sascha Pruter, the engineering program manager for Android has confirmed that the Nexus 9 is soon going to receive the 5.1 update, as the company’s developers are hard at work polishing it and smoothing out the user experience before the official launch.
Apparently, there’s still some work left to do, as there are various bugs that have to be fixed and the OS needs to be readjusted in some ways in order to make it more appropriate for the 9-inch tablet. We don’t know if this would mean seeing any changes in the core Android experience for all users, but it’s certainly possible.
What kinds of bugs are Google looking to fix in Android before they push out 5.1 to the public? According to reports, there are issues with the performance of Nvidia’s CPU cores, a claim that could be aided by the fact that other 64-bit devices have already started getting the update.
All in all, the disappointing summary of the situation for Nexus 9 users is that they will actually be the last among owners of 64-bit devices to get the Android 5.1 update, at least according to the current plans, but hopefully Google are going to resolve whatever issues they have on the backend and go for a more stable release schedule in the future.
For what it’s worth, the Nexus 10 is already ahead of the 9, with the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop update already pushed out for it. It may not be that fair of a comparison though, as the Nexus 10 actually went down in history as the first device to get the OTA update. It really does seem like this is a matter of resolving issues and not laziness on Google’s part in any way.