A few days ago, reports were all over the internet that the first mobile device that shall have the Android 5.1 Lollipop firmware update is to be the 2013 edition of the Nexus 7.
However, leaked images of the 1st gen of Moto G already running on Android 5.1 Lollipop has been making the rounds in the internet even before reports came out that Google is preparing to roll out the update to Nexus 7.
A Google Plus user actually posted the images of the 1st gen Moto G running on the Android 5.1 Lollipop and he says that his source is a friend who works in Motorola. He also describes that the new mobile operating system is already bug-free in the Moto G.
It turns out that in addition to the leaked images of the Android 5.1 Lollipop already running on the 1st gen Moto G, there have also been leaked screen shots of the firmware update already running on Nexus devices other than the Nexus 7.
While those leaked screen shots are still unofficial, the upside to those if any is the fact that the Android 5.1 Lollipop is certainly coming out very soon.
Leak sources
Chromium Issue Tracker, which is a popular known source for Android build leak, has just mentioned that Android 5.1 Lollipop was already running on Nexus 6 with build LMY40, reports the UK edition of the International Business Times.
Similarly, Android leaker Myce also published screen shots of Nexus 4 running on the firmware update which had a codename of Mako on occam software. The Nexus 4 device had a build of LMY36B.
In the same breadth, the Android 5.1 Lollipop was also spotted on the Nexus 5 smartphone with build LMY47E, which was also mentioned in the Chromium Issue Tracker. The build on the Nexus 5 indicate that it was made on February 16.
Typical with the naming practice of Google, all individual builds are identified with a short build code, which details the build date of the particular software.
So for the LMY36B code name: L stands for Lollipop, M is a branch code which enables Google to identify the exact code branch the particular build was made from, Y36 stands for the date code – with Y meaning first quarter of 2015 and 36 is the days within the quarter which is February 5, and the B stands for the individual version which means it is the second version of the day.
Google avers that the date code is not accurate and does not pertain to the exact date the build was made because minor variations added to an existing build also re-use the same date code.
A different version of Nexus 7
There is also a leaked build for a 2012 edition of the Nexus 7 running on Android 5.1 Lollipop that appeared on the Chromium Issue Tracker on March 7 with a build of LMY47D.
This is entirely different from the 2013 edition of the Nexus 7 which Google promised to be the first device that shall have the Android 5.1 Lollipop.
Unless Google officially rolls out the firmware update to its highly-touted but otherwise problematic Android 5.0 Lollipop very soon, people will surely resort to speculations based on what are being made available to them on the internet.