Android 5.1 is the hot topic of discussion for Nexus and Motorola fans and owners, and has been since Google officially announced the over-the-air update process beginning about two weeks ago. With the latest Lollipop update, users have seen markedly improved speed in day-to-day use, as well as the benefit of many of the tweaks and perhaps some enjoyment from the new animations sprinkled across the OS. Nexus 5 owners were the first to get the update, followed by Nexus 7 and Nexus 6 owners, and, just the other day, Nexus Player owners were offered a factory image to flash their systems to 5.1. One Nexus left out until just this weekend was the Nexus 10, but that has been remedied with the beginning of the OTA update process.
Android 5.1, which adds animations to an already very animated OS, featured many fixes that Nexus users were waiting for since the initial launch last November. The biggest problem that plagued, and seems to still selectively plague, certain Nexus users is the constant consumption of RAM by apps that are held in the background which consumes a device’s RAM, causing apps, the system, and the phone or tablet in general to lag, crash, and even require a reboot to become usable again. 5.1 fixed the issue for many, though complete amelioration will likely come in later updates. Now, the Nexus 10. If you don’t know how over-the-air updates are handled by Google, you can check out our coverage of it to get a handle on it, but here’s the TL;DR (that’s ‘too long; didn’t read’ for those who might not recognize the initialism) version. Small groups that, over time, grow in sample size allow for not-harassed update servers which allows for constant updates until completion. Now, since the Nexus 10 also has a factory image available from Google for the same version getting sent out, you don’t have to wait if you know how to use a factory image.
The one thing that reportedly is most noticeable is the boot-up time, which is actually faster than on 5.0.2, but we’ll let you be the judge of that. If you have a Nexus, has it gotten the OTA treatment, or have you opted to jump the server and go straight for the factory image? Which non-Nexus device needs to get the 5.0 or 5.1 update next, to take advantage of the features or just for bragging rights? How does 5.1 feel, for the folks that have already updated?