Lenovo‘s Phab series of smartphones, which were launched less than a year ago and which were some of the first devices to boast of the Google Tango feature, will not receive the Android 7.0 Nougat upgrade. This means that many Lenovo users will be left very disappointed. Also, it is a major blow to the smartphone range which was launched with so many clever and unique features.
We had earlier covered the Lenovo Phab2 devices when they were launched in India. The devices were the first Google Tango-enable smartphones to land on the shores of the US. It now seems that these devices are destined to run on the Android 6.0 platform.
The Lenovo Phab family comprises of devices like the Lenovo Phab, as well as the Phab Plus, the Phab2, and the Phab2 Plus. None of these devices will receive any Android OS update. Hence, while devices like the Lenovo Phab and the Phab Plus will continue to run on Android 5.0 Lollipop, other devices including the Phab2 and the Phab2 Plus will continue running on the Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
Lenovo, which is a Chinese manufacturing giant, has also confirmed that some of its other devices too will not receive any more updates. What this essentially means is that two Lenovo tablets (the Lenovo Tab3 7 Essential and the Tab3 10 Business) launched just last year will not be the recipient of the Android 7.0 Nougat OS. While the Lenovo Tab3 7 Essential will see the Android 5.0 Lollipop OS as its last update, the Lenovo Tab3 10 Business will continue running on the Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
Exactly why Lenovo has dropped the upgradation plans for these devices is still not clear. The Lenovo Phab2 project was a pretty ambitious one, with the Google Tango feature among others. Some sources are suggesting that mass-marketing of the ambitious Augmented Reality or AR-based computing platform is still not feasible. This claim, however, has neither been confirmed nor denied by Lenovo.
