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Android 5.1 Lollipop - Here’s what’s new!
August 24, 2025
Android 5.1 Lollipop is officially in the wild and it comes with a metric ton of changes. However, most of them are under the hood and the actual interface only saw a few minor tweaks here and there. Let’s take a look at what’s different in 5.1.
Quick Settings tweaks
The Quick Settings in Android 5.1 Lollipop saw a couple of tweaks. They include:
Screen Pinning improvements
Screen Pinning is a feature (under Security in the Settings) that allows you to lock someone into a single application. This is great for kids or if someone is borrowing your phone.
Contacts app improvements
The Contacts app has undergone a couple of minor improvements:
System Volume tweaks
The lack of silent mode is a sore spot for many Lollipop users, although HTCand Samsung have managed to (generally) re-add the feature in their skins. With Android 5.1, Google didn’t give us silent mode back but they did make some other tweaks:
New animations
A few new animations have made their way into Android 5.1.
Other various tweaks
Some of the other highlights from the Android 5.1 update include:
What we’re still waiting on
While the 5.1 update was huge in its own right, it didn’t bring everything. Here are a few features many people are still waiting on.
Overall, the update is a big step forward for Lollipop and dare we say, the Lollipop we probably should have had to begin with. Performance on the Nexus 5 (at least) has been noticeably better and the inclusion of the new features gives a more full and complete feeling to the UI and experience overall. Let us know what you thought of the Android 5.1 Lollipop update. Did Google address all of your concerns or are there still some things you wish they had?
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