Quite a good number of OEMs have already made the shift from using Android 6.0 Marshmallow to the new Android 7.0 Nougat, including Motorola and its Moto Z series of handsets.
However, you’ll come across very few devices that are installed with Android 7.1.1 Nougat courtesy of an OTA update. If anything, many of those with this version have actually been launched with the OS preinstalled, but Lenovo-owned Motorola has just started making the treat available to the Moto Z phones.
The Moto Z Play received the update to Android 7.1.1 Nougat a few days ago and the phone has just been joined by the flagship Moto Z in receiving the same OS. However, the update is currently rolling out to a few handsets before being availed to every other owner of the phone. Motorola calls this a soak test, where the OS is first released to a few handsets for testing purposes and if no issues arise, the wider rollout begins.
If you own a Moto Z handset, watch out for software version NPL.26.107 and like what happened with the Moto Z Play, users of the former will also get a bunch of new additions once this OS is installed. Among the new goodies you get is a preinstalled Google Duo app for video calling, Moto Mods 2.0 as well as this month’s Android security patch.
This is good stuff from Motorola, especially since the update comes at a time when everyone is looking forward to the release of the Android O to their devices, including the Moto Z. Google has already released the third developer preview version that contains the final APIs, an indicator that the OS could see an early launch than last year’s Nougat. This had made many to get their heads off the update to Android 7.1.1 or 7.1.2 Nougat updates in favor of O, but Motorola is showing some class here by making this update available to the Moto Z.