The Nexus 9 hasn't been blessed with updates

May 6, 2015 07:46 GMT  ·  By

The latest version of Android hitting select Nexus devices at the moment is Android 5.1.1, but even if the Nexus 9 was the first tablet to actually make it out into the wild with Lollipop on board, Google has been pretty sluggish in updating it.

While the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 are currently receiving Android 5.1.1, the premium Nexus 9 model has just started getting the Android 5.0.2 update. This is the tablet manufactured by HTC and revealed late last summer by Google.

It’s pretty surprising that since its release the Nexus 9 only got a single update, bumping its software from Android 5.0 to Android 5.0.1. The reason behind this lag might be the NVIDIA Tegra K1 chip inside the device, but that’s just speculation.

The Nexus 9 is behind most Nexus devices software-wise

The new Android 5.0.2 update arriving on the Nexus 9 is pretty light and will be hitting your device with a weight of just 23MB. After installing it, you’ll be on build number LRX22L.

The minor jump from Android 5.0.1 to Android 5.0.2 implies that you won’t be seeing anything too massive in terms of improvements, and the update will just bring some bug fixes into the equation.

With the updating process for the Nexus 9 being so slow, we should expect the tablet to get Android 5.1.1 in a few months, when Google has probably rolled out another version.

But not so long ago, the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop for the Nexus 7 2013 (LMY57W) and for the Nexus 9 (LMY47S) was spotted on Google’s own Android audio latency info page.

Since the build is available for the Nexus 7, we can only guess that it shouldn't take all that long before the Nexus 9 gets the same treatment, right?

What the Nexus 9 is all about

The Nexus 9 comes with an 8.9-inch IPS LCD display with 1536 x 2048 pixel resolution (281 ppi) and Corning Gorilla Glass. The tablet relies on a dual-core 2.3GHz NVIDIA Tegra K1 dubbed Denver CPU with Kepler DX1 GPU, 16GB of RAM (32GB for the LTE model), and 2GB of RAM.

The Nexus 9 marks a change in strategy while Google’s tablets are concerned, as the slate is a premium model, unlike the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10, which focused on offering decent specs for an affordable price.

Nexus 9 tablet (4 Images)

Nexus 9 frontal view
Nexus 9 displayNexus 9 back
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