The release of Android 5.1 has been coming along rather strangely, as Google have been quiet about the new OS while at the same time releasing marketing materials that have featured it, and now we’ve also seen a picture showing the Motorola Moto G 2nd generation apparently running the new operating system. The report that came with the picture states that the build was dated February 2, and Motorola are still testing it to ensure that it’s fully compatible with their devices.
The information seems highly unofficial though, and it’s apparently also coming from Motorola and not Google themselves – but if the leak is true, then the new OS version is probably coming close to the public market.
What are Google bringing with the new Android 5.1 though? Rumors indicate that the Quick Settings menu will now add settings for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections, allowing users to manage them without navigating away from their active apps. This could prove useful for apps that rely on connecting to a certain network or device while the app is running.
The OS will now handle apps better, both in terms of memory management, as well as resolving the regularly occurring crashes that have been bothering a large percentage of users since Android 5.0 came out. Some users have also been reporting problems with “Okay, Google” – the company’s developers have reportedly been working hard in that area and have improved the feature significantly.
All in all, Google’s work on Android 5.1 seems to be aimed primarily at optimization and making the OS more stable, while they have pushed functional improvements back for the time being. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that, as the operating system improved significantly with the 5.0 release in terms of what it could do, so it’s a good idea for Google to take some time and polish the current feature set before moving on to adding new functionality.
Given that the OS’s release in Indonesia and related market is already underway, and the fact that Google have been mentioning it in their own press documents, we’ll likely see the actual release soon. Of course, users of devices from certain brands will have to wait a little longer as their manufacturers polish their own respective versions of the operating system.
Samsung are particularly notorious for this, as they’re usually several weeks behind the standard Android release schedule – but on the other hand, their users seem to be more or less used to that by this point, plus those who are really impatient can always go with the option of installing a custom ROM if they want to get all the new features immediately.