Google has been trying to figure out how to attack the living room for quite some time now. This year, with the launch of the Nexus Player, they showed that they were heading in a new direction. That said, Brad noted a few shortcomings in the Android TV experience when he reviewed the Nexus Player last month.

nexus player_02

Fortunately, you’re not stuck with Android TV if you own a Nexus Player. Flashing Android 5.0 onto the device is a fairly simple process now thanks to Lollirock, a port of the full Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system for the Nexus server from the developer of DroidMote. .

Just download the firmware, reboot your device into bootloader mode, and use fastboot to flash the software just like any other custom ROM.

When the Player restarts, you’ll be greeted by a standard-issue Android interface. There are a couple major advantages, too. For one, you’ll have access to a web browser. Chrome and the Android browser come standard, but you can install your personal favorite thanks to advantage number two: Google Play access.

Now, just because you can install whatever you want doesn’t mean every app or game is going to run smoothly — or at all, for that matter — on the Nexus Player. Still, it’s nice to have options, and loads of them should work just fine.

With its 1.8Ghz quad-core Atom chip, the Nexus Player certainly packs enough power under the hood to offer a decent desktop experience; it doesn’t need to be relegated to set-top duties. And on another good note, reverting to the stock Android TV software isn’t a big deal, either; just grab the image from Google and flash it to the Nexus Player and you’re right back where you started.

via CNX Software

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,547 other subscribers

Lee Mathews

Computer tech, blogger, husband, father, and avid MSI U100 user.

4 replies on “Android 5.0 Lollipop ported to Nexus Player”

  1. Lollirock rocks just got my default nexus player and I just don’t get it, think its crazy that google has created TV. Use droidmoteserver or client with a android phone, cast our play native with a controller but that remote sucks big style. Zulu the guy on XDA forums providing lollirock is an absolute genius for proving vanilla lollipop on the player.

  2. Can I (Without any rooting etc) plug in external storage and both save and run games/apps from that external storage?

  3. Now, can we run the Leanback Launcher with this? Best of both worlds…

Comments are closed.