While some Nexus devices still wait for their Android 5.1 update, Motorola could conceivably beat Google to the punch updating their Moto X 2014 to Android 5.1. Motorola has released a changelog for Android 5.1 for the Motorola Moto X Pure Edition (XT1095).
Motorola has previously beaten some Nexus phones in updating but this is a post-Google owned Motorola, so seeing the speed of update is pretty exciting (Kudos Motorola and Lenovo). The update is fairly full featured and due to the mostly stock Android build on Motorola Moto X phones, it gives you an idea of what’s in Android 5.1. The release notes:
| Notifications & Interruptions |
Usability improvements include:
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| Heads-up Notifications |
In addition to dismissing a heads-up notification, you can now swipe it up to remove it from your screen. It will remain in your notifications tray and you can dismiss it later. |
| Quick Settings | You can quickly select different Wi-Fi access points or different paired Bluetooth devices with a new pull-down menu on each tile. Conditional settings tiles that only show if you use the feature – like “Invert Colors” or “Hotspot” – can now be hidden via a long-press on the tile. |
| Camera | Reduces noise in low-light shots and improves responsiveness of the viewfinder with the front-facing camera (selfie). |
| Device Protection | Lost or stolen devices will remain locked until you sign in with your Google account, even if reset to factory settings. Note that you must have a Google account on the device to automatically enable this feature and set a PIN, password or pattern screen lock. |
| Performance | Improvements in the Android Runtime (ART) lead to faster application launch times. |
| Lockscreen | If you have enabled Ambient Display, the minimum swipe distance has increased to reduce accidental interactions. |
| Bug Fixes |
Issues fixed in this release include:
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We know that a number of readers have imported the XT1095 (The Australian model is the XT1092), so if you’re interested you can actually grab the Motorola Android 5.1 OTA update for the phone from over at XDA-Developers.
We’ll be very interested to see what happens with the update and how quickly it propogates to the Australian version of the Moto X Gen 2. If you’ve flashed the update (Do so at your own risk), let us know how it goes.
And they still haven’t released 5.0 for the Moto G 4G. I wish I’d bought my wife an HTC M7 off eBay instead.