14 DAY TRIAL // A few days ago, we told you that Android 5.1 Lollipop started rolling out for users of the Nexus 6 smartphone.
While the majority of Android users are still waiting to be updated to the latest build, Nexus owners are once again riding ahead of the wave.
Google detailed the major changes that you should be expecting to see after implementing the update, including support for multiple SIM cards, Device Protection, and high definition (HD) voice on compatible phones.
Other enhancements include the option to join Wi-Fi networks and control of paired Bluetooth devices directly from Quick Settings.
Android 5.1 Lollipop makes things a lot faster on the Nexus 6
However, Google hasn’t said anything about possible performance upgrades. Well, luckily for us, the developer of the extremely popular franco.kernel for Android devices, Francisco Franco, took to Google+ to reveal what the update did for his Nexus 6.
For starters, Android 5.1 Lollipop adds improvements to the new ART runtime. Perhaps even more interestingly, the kernel runs the Snapdragon 805 chipset in quad-core all the time now. Which means that all four cores are active and running.
So the Kernel task scheduler is able to distribute tasks between all four cores. This is the explanation for why the Nexus 6 runs much more smoothly after the Android 5.1 Lollipop update. It’s a pretty good time to be a Nexus 6 owner, isn't it?
Battery life also gets a boost
The phablet has also been made more efficient. This is apparently owed to the fact that, with the new update, Google has disabled something called “built-in thread migration routines,” thus helping the battery to survive for longer periods of time.
This feature is in place, so the system can discern when a task needs to be moved to a different CPU core. If this certain scenario arises, the task scheduler would instruct the destination core to match or exceed the current frequency of the first core, so that lag is kept under control.
Given the fact that migrations such as these usually happen as frequent as every 20 milli seconds, it’s understandable why disabling the feature adds more life to your phone.
Have you updated your Nexus 6 to Android 5.1 Lollipop yet?
