LG, you sneaky devil, you. Surprising the world with an out-of-no-where announcement last night suggesting that you will be the first manufacturer to ship a phone with Android 7.0 Nougat. That phone, of course, is the LG V20. I like this move, not because you are shipping a device that is actually up-to-date, but because you confused the hell out of the timing of this whole Nougat situation. And now we get to talk about it.
To catch everyone up, understand that last night, LG announced the V20, saying that it will be the “world’s first phone to launch” with Android 7.0 Nougat. They added to that thought by clarifying that it will be the first to feature Android 7.0 “out of the box.” Ah ha!
LG’s play on words and timing
In other words, the LG V20 is more than likely not going to be the first phone on the planet to run Android 7.0 Nougat – it’s just going to be the first shipped and sold with it. Why does that matter? Because Nexus. Because the Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X, Nexus 9, Nexus Player, and Pixel C, all of which are a part of the Android N Developer Preview program are more than likely going to see Android Nougat before the V20 ever arrives.
Over the weekend, leaker Evan Blass told his followers that Android Nougat would launch this month and have the August 5 security patch (which arrived today). That hilariously confused a whole bunch of journalists and Android fans because he attached a date to his tweet, but what he said is pretty straight forward. Blass said to expect Nougat in August, that’s it. He didn’t say to expect it by August 5 in any form, only that when it does release, it’ll have the August 5 patch level. All clear on that?
Android Nougat stable release
If we look back at the release schedule of the Android N Developer Preview program, you’ll see that Google always released new builds around the middle of the month. We got Preview 1 on March 17, Preview 2 on April 13, Preview 3 on May 18, Preview 4 on June 15, and Preview 5 July 18. They haven’t said that August would be the stable build, but if they keep up the monthly schedule, I don’t think it’s out of line to consider the thought that it could be here around August 17. Then again, Google is only saying to expect stable Android Nougat in “Q3,” giving them through September. Still, Blass knows his stuff and has said August, not September, and at this point, I’d lean towards that being correct.
OK, so back to the main subject here, which is LG saying that they’ll be first. You see, if stable Android Nougat shows up this month, it’ll show up for the current crop of Nexus phones. Since those phones are all available today for purchase and many of you already own them, then technically, LG still gets to be the first to ship a phone that runs Android 7.0 “out of the box.”
Ahhh, the play on words.
HTC Nexus phones land in October
But wait, what about new Nexus devices made by HTC? When are those coming? We don’t know officially just yet. However, a trusted source of ours has suggested that October 4 could very well be the launch date of the new Nexus phones. We haven’t confirmed with a secondary source, but again, this is a reliable source who has proven correct time and time again when it comes to Nexus launches.
And that date, which we first heard a couple of weeks back, now seems highly likely. I say that because LG announced that the V20 would arrive in September. If they are indeed laying claim to being the “world’s first” to ship a phone with Android Nougat, then Google’s new Nexus phones have to be arriving after it and October comes right after September.
Recap
If you aren’t interested in reading all of that, this is what I just said in a nutshell. The LG V20 will be the first out of box phone with Android Nougat, but the current Nexus phones will likely see the update this month (August) and Google will launch the new Nexus phones in early October. That way, LG gets to be first to ship, current Nexus phones still get in on the fun as early as they want, and Google gets to host a big splashy Nexus and Google product launch right before the holidays.