Android 5.1 likely to be released this week

For some time, it was long rumored that Android 5.1 would be released February of 2015. In early February it seemed destined that the latest Android update would occur, with Android 5.1 quietly debuting on Android One phones. February has since come and gone with no formal release of Android 5.1, but the official release may come as soon as this week.

Artem Russakowskii from Android Police shared new information on his Google+ page that suggests that Android 5.1 will be released as soon as tomorrow. With some detective work, he noticed that both the Nexus download page and the drivers page were both updated as of March 6, 2015. T-Mobile updated their Nexus update page on the same day as Google, which is definitely more than a coincidence. If those pages don’t provide enough to hint at the next update to Android, another Google page clearly states API 22, which will follow API 21 (Android 5.0).

To top off all of that information, a new leak today coming from Phandroid shows off a document referring to the Nexus 6 shipping with Android 5.1. If the Nexus 6 is expected to ship with the latest version of Android, the announcement is inevitable.

For a refresher of what the next update to Android will bring, the expected changes along with Nexus build numbers can be seen below.

Silent mode added after missing on Android 5.0
General improvements in system stability
Improved RAM management
Fixes for sudden app closures
Improved battery management
Excessive consumption of network devices when used Wi-Fi fixed
Issues with wireless connections fixed
Problems with Okay Google function solved
Notifications problems solved
Some sound problems experience by certain devices fixed
Other improvements and changes
Changes in the Material Design color palette
Animated notification drawer toggles

To go along with the imminent release of Android 5.1, some Nexus device build numbers for the update have surfaced as well. These are not for sure either, but the information backing it is plentiful.