Android N is a hot topic in the Android community right now, and even though the new platform is still some time away, users are already pretty excited about the array of new features it will bring to the table. But before devices can get to that stage, they will first need to pass through another major version of the operating system – Android M, or Marshmallow. Different manufacturers have been handling the rollout procedure with different paces, but it looks like most of the popular flagships on the market are going to get 6.0.1 in an adequate timeframe.
Sony were among the companies to recently confirm that their flagships are going to be upgraded to Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, and in some cases they will apparently deliver Android M directly instead of requiring users to go through version 5.1.1 first. The news was met with mixed responses by some, as there have been incidents with Android devices in the past when a company has tried to jump over several versions of the operating system at once. Hopefully Sony will be able to handle the situation more adequately.
Meanwhile, owners of certain devices are already getting Android M, including those on US carriers Verizon and Sprint. The two companies are apparently taking a more responsible approach to their update delivery this time, as users have frequently been disappointed by how slowly major versions were being released for carrier-locked devices in the past. Hopefully this isn’t a one-time situation and is indicative of a new trend that will be more permanent in the future.
On the Motorola side, lots of devices have been confirmed for the update already, including – perhaps surprisingly – some 2014 models like the Moto X and Moto G/LTE. It’s important to note that the availability of Android M on some of those models is not going to be universal but rather regional, so users should keep an eye on major announcements to find out if their own device will eventually be eligible.
It’s not very clear when those Motorola devices are going to get the new upgrade as the company has been somewhat quiet on the topic, but we expect them to keep up the pace set by other manufacturers, or at least to not fall too far behind.
And while Android users typically have the option of flashing custom ROMs to their devices, this is not so applicable here as it will most likely prevent the upgrade to Android N in the future. It’s pretty much guaranteed that Google will keep the new release limited to official Android installations, so those running on a ROM will have to wait a little longer. It shouldn’t take long for developers to come out with a ROM based on Android N in any case, although it remains to be seen if they will manage to make it available to all devices quickly enough.
The situation is a bit messy right now for some users, as many see this as a transitional period before Android N is released. Because of this, some users don’t care that much about the new features introduced in Android M and would rather skip the current update chaos so they can jump straight to the latest OS version when it’s released. It’s not clear if it will be possible to directly upgrade to Android N without skipping the intermediate versions, however, so holding off might actually prove counterproductive.