14 DAY TRIAL // Google has just kicked off the rollout of the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop update for its Nexus devices. The first to receive the update was the Nexus Player, but beginning today, Android 5.1.1 will also be deployed to Nexus smartphones and tablets.
Although Google did not announce anything, several reports are saying that Nexus 10 has already started to receive the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop update.
If that proves to be accurate, then Nexus 10 owners should check for the upgrade on their tablets since Google is likely to push it in stages over the next few days.
The second device to get Android 5.1.1 Lollipop seems to be the Nexus 7. However, the OTA (over the air) update is not yet available for download for this particular device.
Instead, Google released the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop factory images for Nexus 7 (2012), Wi-Fi Nexus 7 (2013), and Nexus 10. They can now be downloaded via Google's developers webpage, and then flashed on these tablets.
Boot up your Nexus tablet in fast mode to flash the new factory images
In order to flash the devices using one of the system images downloaded, you will need to take advantage of the fastboot tool, which can be obtained from a compiled version of the Android Open Source Project.
After you get all the necessary software, simply connect the tablet to a PC over USB and start the device in fastboot mode. Make sure your Nexus tablet has its bootloader unlocked, and then open a terminal and navigate to the unzipped system image directory.
Unfortunately, the factory images aren't accompanied by changelogs, so we're not sure what novelties Android 5.1.1 Lollipop brings to these Nexus devices.
However, we suspect the update contains lots of bug fixes and a few new features. Android 5.1.1 Lollipop is also supposed to address some issues that were brought in by previous versions of the OS.