Google keeps surprising us everyday and is telling every OEM that an old device is more than capable of running the latest version of Android. The latest example is the Nexus 7 tablet released in 2012. It was the first small tablet ever released by Google. It was a great tablet back then and it refuses to die thanks to software updates that Google keeps providing.
By today’s standards, the quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 chipset is considered slow, yet this hasn’t prevented Google from giving Nexus 7 (2012) the joy of enjoying the Material Design experience on Android 5.1. As usually, the easiest and fastest method to update to Android 5.1 Lollipop is through over the air, also known as OTA.
All you have to do is to go to Settings > About Tablet and hit the Check for software updates button. If nothing appears when you check for a new update, it means that you have to wait for a little longer to get Android 5.1 up and running on your tablet.
If you are like us, you don’t want to wait for the OTA update to reach your device. It might take days, even weeks before your Nexus 7 (2012) sees Android 5.1. The best alternative to OTA is to manually flash the Android 5.1 Lollipop factory image on your Nexus 7 (2012). The factory image can be flashed on both variants, WiFi (nakasi)and 3G Mobile (nakaisg).
The build number of the update is LMY47D and image itself is around 385 MB big. Follow the instructions below to learn how to install the latest version of Android on your tablet.
How To Flash Android 5.1 Factory Image on Nexus 7 (2012)
Download Android 5.1 LMY47D Factory Image: Nexus 7 WiFi | Nexus 7 3G.
- Make sure to install the right USB drivers for your Nexus 7.
- Download the factory image and extract the content.
- Turn the tablet off and boot into bootloader. Make sure that the bootloader of your Nexus 7 is unlocked, otherwise the update cannot be installed.
- Go to the extracted folder and run the flash-all.bat file.
The script will start installing Android 5.1 update. Enjoy your Nexus 7 (2012) with the latest Android version.