Samsung are one of the manufacturers to have jumped onto Google’s monthly security patch update schedule and have promised smartphone customers that their devices will receive regular (monthly, no less) security patch updates. Unfortunately and despite their significant expertise with Android smartphones, Samsung’s device update plans do not appear to have come to fruition just yet and a great many customers are still waiting for this to start and of course for their devices to receive the update to Android 6.0 Marshmallow. However, a few weeks ago, we heard the news that one lucky individual had received an update to Android 6.0 on his Samsung Galaxy S5. This appears to have been a slip up at the Samsung side of things, perhaps somebody keyed in the incorrect IMEI for an upgrade to be pushed to the device. For whatever the reason, the ROM looked to be reasonably intact and usable. We’ve very recently seen a report that at least two Galaxy S5 models have received an over-the-air (OTA) update to Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. Samsung’s official data shows us that the device is scheduled to receive the update by April.
Android 6.0 Marshmallow brings a number of important features to the Android platform, including Google’s new power management functions of App Standby and Doze, designed to reduce power consumption when the device is idle. There are new application permissions built into the ROM designed to allow users finer control over what device and account services a particular application is authorized to access, and finally Android 6.0 allows Google Now On Tap, a new feature designed to interpret what the customer wants help with by analyzing a screenshot of the device in question.
It’s not clear if there are more than just two devices having received the over the air update to Marshmallow. This could be a part of a lottery beta test, whereby some devices are selected to receive the update several weeks or months ahead of other devices. Or more likely, these devices received the update by mistake and that there are a number of devices (perhaps owned or used by Samsung employees) that are running a beta version of the Marshmallow ROM and that these two devices were upgraded by error. April is still a few months away, and perhaps we will be seeing more updates and accidental beta testing devices between now and then!