Google officially released Android 7.0 Nougat last Aug. 22 and the very first OEM to develop its own final form version was LG. The company unleashed its Nougat-based LG UX in the debut of the LG V20 last September.
Sony has just joined the bandwagon as it announced that its Android 7.0 will be available to several of its Xperia devices in a staggered release.
"We're making Nougat available to Xperia XZ, X Compact, XA Ultra, XA, X Performance, X, Z5, Z5 Compact, Z5 Premium, Z4 Tablet and Z3+," Sony said. "Availability timings will vary depending on model and region."
As of this writing users at XDA Developers forum are now reporting that their XZ are sporting the latest and greatest Xperia UI so far.
It appears that the rollout is a bit more widespread. After a smattering of reports coming out of India, users from Australia, the Netherlands, Russia and Turkey have also claimed that their devices are already rocking Sony's take on Nougat.
These developments confirmed a previous Tech Times report that the XZ will get the Nougat treatment first, although the update came a bit later. There are reports that some X Performance users already got the patch at the end of November.
New Xperia Firmware Details
Based on available information, it seems that the firmware has a 1 GB file size. So those who are already seeing OTA notifications should remember to power their handsets and connect to a stable Wi-Fi network to avoid installation disruption.
So far, few screenshots of actual installations have surfaced. They still do not reveal much save for some images that show unique Nougat features. Xperia fans out there should be excited about Sony's interpretation of the latest Android release as shown in its promotional video.
Experimental Nougat-Based Xperia UI
The world already got a taste of what Sony was doing with the Xperia UI thanks to the initiative called Concept for Android.
The project offers a glimpse of several features that will ultimately form part of the system that will run future Xperia devices. These included Sony's implementation of Android Nougat features like multi-window support and notification improvements along with other key interface tweaks.
A concept build was already made available to the Xperia X and X Performance last month as a result of the collaboration between Sony's team based in Sweden, China and Japan. Users only had to download the Concept Installer app at the Google Play store to experience what must have been the first iteration of the company's Nougat UI.
The experimental build also included a mechanism to obtain user insights and feedback to inform the direction of the Xperia UI's development.
