Google releases Android 5.0.1 images for Nexus 5
Google has released factory images for the latest version of Lollipop for its Nexus 5 smartphone.
Following the rollout of the Android 5.0.1 update for Nexus 7, Nexus 9, and Nexus 10 tablets last week, Google yesterday released factory images for the Nexus 5 too. The update's build number LRX22C is the same as for the other Nexus devices.
Google's strategy for pushing out the update to its own-brand mobile devices appears to be somewhat scattershot: while 5.0.1 has been made available for the Nexus 4 and Nexus 6, users of the 2012 and 2013 editions are still waiting for the latest edition of Lollipop to hit their devices.
Google hasn't disclosed what new changes the update brings to Lollipop. However, Funky Android has published a log of the changes included in the Android Open Source Project - that is, the changes in 5.0.1 before Google tweaked it for different devices.
Device owners can install the updates themselves based on Google's 5.0.1 binaries or simply wait a few days for the 'over the air' update to arrive on their devices. The fact that the Nexus 5 binaries are already in the wild means the wait for OTA updates shouldn't be long. US carrier Sprint said on Monday it would release LRX22C soon but its support pages only state that it will include "miscellaneous Android updates".
One would hope that Google has fixed the more dramatic issues some users have reported following the 5.0 release this November, such as accidentally factory resetting a device configured to wipe itself after a number of failed access attempts. Other apparently widespread problems with 5.0 on various Nexus devices included wi-fi connectivity glitches and issues with making calls.
Android Lollipop has been praised for both delivering enterprise-friendly security improvements and making WebView much simpler to fix when bugs are found.
The Nexus 6 was released with full disk encryption on by default. However, tests done by AnandTech indicate that this feature comes with a significant performance overhead. Users on older Nexus devices still have to enable disk encryption when they upgrade to Lollipop if they want the additional layer of security.
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