Google is throwing an early Christmas party for Nexus devices by releasing Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. Dec. 7 marks one of Mountain View's most extensive OS version releases and certainly the biggest Android Marshmallow roll out since 6.0 came out a couple of months ago.
Most Nexus devices got covered with the current roll out. These include the freshly-released Nexus 6P (angler) and Nexus 5X (bullhead), as well as their predecessors, Nexus 6 (shamu) and Nexus 5 (hammerhead), Nexus 9 (volantis), Nexus 7 (razor), and even the Nexus player (fugu) now have their official Marshmallow update.
As previously teased, the current update contains more than 200 emojis. The new pack includes the highly-requested food/cuisine-centric emojis such as otdog in a bun, chili, popcorn, burrito and taco. Some other requested emojis like the unicorn, lion and crab were also added. With the 6.0.1 update, the middle finger emoji and other hand gestures have now been turned to a Simpson-esque yellow. The Verge has a full list of the new Android emojis.
Some of 6.0.1's featured emojis were added to both Microsoft's Windows 10 and Apple's iOS as well. Google divulged that its OEM partners, such as LG, HTC, Motorola, Samsung, OnePlus and Blackberry, already have the new emoji pack.
However, a lot of the partners design their own emojis to set them apart from the pack. There's yet to be word of OEMs releasing 6.0.1 for their handsets.
Aside from the emoji pack, the Do-Not-disturb mode also received a few tweaks. Changes for better performance and security patches are also believed to have been included. Further testing, which requires time, will reveal the extent of changes implemented with Android 6.0.1.
The 6.0.1 factory images (ROM) needed for flashing and upgrading to 6.0.1 Marshmallow are currently available on the Google Developers website. The latest version of Android SDK (software development kit) is also needed.
