A lot of people are patiently waiting for Google to release Android 5.1, but the update hasn’t officially been deployed to any devices yet. However, it seems that some are already testing it on their own private phones, as it was recently reported that some Motorola Moto G handsets were spotted running the new update. This came shortly after the announcement that Google’s own Nexus 7 (the 2013 edition) could possibly get the Android 5.1 update sometime during this week.
The pictures of the Moto G running the Android 5.1.0 Lollipop update were posted on Google Plus by a user named Damian Junior, who states that he got them from a contact at Motorola. According to him, the update is in a practically finished state, with no bugs in sight, and is ready to be pushed out to the “good” Android devices – a list which apparently includes the Moto G.
Motorola seem to be in a bit of a mess with the update schedule for their devices lately, as the first edition of the Moto X is yet to receive the Android 5.0 update, while on the other hand we’re seeing this about the Moto G. Some have speculated that Motorola actually know what they’re doing and they’re preparing the Moto X straight for the Android 5.1 update, planning to skip 5.0 entirely.
It’s not known how all of this will affect the Moto G2, but if the Moto G gets updated to a certain version, it only makes sense that the G2 will follow suit. It wouldn’t make much sense to have an older entry into the line running a newer version of the operating system, although as we said above, Motorola have been behaving a bit strangely with regards to OS updates recently.
The new version of the operating system apparently has some minor revisions in the UI, such as different behavior for the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi selection switches, and an improved Contacts application which implements more of the “Material” design that Google started to develop and use recently.
All in all, Android has been moving in the direction of a more distinctive, purpose-driven design, dealing away with all the shininess of the previous versions of the OS. After Microsoft started doing that with their Windows operating system, other companies seem to have liked the idea, as both Google and Apple have started to implement similar concepts in their own UI design practices. Which is by no means bad, as the new UI style that is taking over the market is a noticeable improvement over what we used to have just a few years ago.