Google Nexus 5 gets unofficial Android 7.0 firmware

Older Nexus smartphones and tablets will not get any official Android Nougat updates, but since their hardware is fully capable of running it, seeing a lot of third-party firmware builds around does not come as a surprise. Less than a week after Google officially released Android 7.0 Nougat, first unofficial ports for the unsupported devices have begun to show up. Nexus 5 is one of the first such devices to get Android 7.0, although as an early build that might not run perfectly yet.

First, there is the Android 7.0 Nougat build for Nexus 5 released by XDA-Developers forum member Santhosh M. As mentioned above, this effort is still work in progress. As of August 24th, telephony, audio, and WiFi were functional. Unfortunately, the list of problems to fix includes non-working Bluetooth and camera. Next, we have an early build of Nougat-based CyanogenMod 14 as well. According to one of its users, this build has no issues with Bluetooth or shooting photos, its only obvious problem being related to the video recording/playback of the handset.

According to some sources, Google is dropping support for older, yet powerful chipsets like Qualcomm Snapdragon 800/801, but at least there are enough independent developers around willing to port the latest Android builds and keep the old devices alive.