Update: LG will begin updating its G3 phone to Android 5.0 starting next week. It’s pretty clear by now that things have changed with regards to Android updates. Very good.
In the last few years, we’ve gotten used to OEMs either delaying updates for seemingly an eternity or not delivering them at all. This time, I sense a disturbance in the force lately – and I’m not referring to platform/external/jarjar in the actual Android source code. Vendors are now seemingly trying to compete which each other to see which will release Lollipop first.
Sony, Motorola (already releasing Lollipop for select Moto X models!), and Samsung all seem to be quite far along in updating to Lollipop. Great news for consumers.
Yeah, they’ll have a lollipop update by the end of the year, and those with carrier-locked phones will get it 8 months later
Nope. I just got Lollipop pushed to my Moto X 2nd gen this afternoon.
Looking forward to getting Android 5.0 update on my Moto X!
Edited 2014-11-08 23:49 UTC
I don’t believe it.
Because…?
History tends to repeat itself.
I’m not sure this matters anymore. As long as people are getting security updates, of course. I’ve bounced between 4.1 and 4.4 ROMs and I can’t tell a difference!
This is a major revision. You will get a lot of new features with it.
The really huge jump was from 2.3 to 4.0. The later releases are mostly polish.
ooohh, it matters, matters a lot, as G takes control away from users, like location services replacing separate gps and cell information, or that SD card write fiasco…
I was totally fine with 2.2 for years…
We just get either to root devices or get to buy new devices, as usual.
I am still looking forward to my Nexus 5 and 7 receiving the OTA upgrade to Android 5.
It seems to be a battery draining bug which has delayed the release to the wider public for a week, so hopefully the roll out will resume on Monday 10/11/2014.
FYI: https://code.google.com/p/android-developer-preview/issues/detail?id…
Simple question.
Its not that customer preference changed.
People generally do not care about updates. (Point in case, how many people you know who update their windows?)
Are SoC vendors better integrated into Android development nowayds? (drivers being one big item on the list for delays)
Are Google Play Editions, involved? So that OEMs get things done faster?
Or just Google did 100% correct parts pickings for this round of Nexus’s and there are not major blockers for other OEMs flagships?
Everyone that I know, it seems that every time I visit my mother she talks about ‘windows updates’ — probably because the update system is more invasive. Further, we all have iPhones and see updates when they come.
Windows updates are just minor patches not major system updates.
Eh? 100’s of Mb a month not minor?
Ok so a lot is down to the way MS do patching but when the space required by the patches is more than the original product there is IMHO a big problem. Take .Net 3.5. original say 40Mb. Patches on top of patches on top of patches brings it to approx 200Mb the last time I bothered counting.
Have these people never heard of ‘re-mastering’?
Once upon a time we got all the patched rolled up in to an SP. Now? I expect they can’t be bothered.
Then there are all the reboots… ***
Then we are supposed to have a mega ‘Patch Tuesday’ tomorrow. Any bets it will be more than 200Mb of crud to download? How many of those patches will be withdrawn in the next week because they might brick some systems? Pah! Bah Humbug.
Give me the way Linux patches its releases any day of the week.
***
Yes I know that the more savvy of us will have a WSUS setup but how many non business users would that apply to? close to 0% probably.
Samsung really? My wife bought the top end model Galaxy Note 3. Still on Android 4.2. Obviously note 4 is now out, so will never be updated. It works fine obviously, but I would never buy a phone for which there is no thriving open source edition, and install that as step one after buying a new phone.
It sounds strange to me. The Galaxy Note 3 should have had Android 4.3 from the start, so how can it be on 4.2?
My dad’s Note 3 has been updated to 4.4 months ago, while my mum’s Note 2 has been on 4.3 for a long time. (Yeah, I know, a Note family. I’ve got a Nokia 808 just in case anyone wonders.) That’s in Italy FYI.
He may want to wrote 4.4.2 (this is what I have on Note 3 too). But what is a real problem is battery draining bug in Gallery, which hit me for 6 months (finally fixed a month ago). Now I have this bug fixed, but too often the phone went too hot since then because of a bug in mobile data (this happened very time when I’m going by tram next to the same BTS every day to/from work). Another bug is general shorter battery life (has been broken 4 months ago by some other “update”). Now I see a bug in camera which sometimes need restart (because loosing HDR mode setting every time fired up and then freezing after few shots). All the bugs I mentioned are from 4.4.2, so I wonder why the hell they are “fixing” by breaking so many other things. If no bug hitting me, I would not bother by any update. But in this situation… I’m looking forward for 4.4.4 and 5.0 🙁
Who is your mobile carrier?
Android 4.4 is the current version for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and while not officially announced (yet) it is expected to get Android 5.0 “Lollipop”.
The Galaxy Note 3 has “open source” ROMs available for it like CyanogenMod.
Everything you said was wrong or made no sense…
Edited 2014-11-10 01:16 UTC
Even Verizon Note 3s have 4.4. Your carrier must be terrible at certifying updates.
Just like other version of Android, only the newer devices is going to get it.
That’s something that I wish was fixed and soon. For one, staying on outdated versions of Android generally means you’re also vulnerable to things that newer versions have fixed and the older it is the more vulnerabilities it’s bound to have. Sure, Google is moving more and more of their frameworks on the Play Market so that they can all be easily updated, but that doesn’t fix the underlying OS if there’s something broken there.
For Galaxy Note 1 there are plenty of quite good ROMs on XDA, including KitKat 4.4.4, but no Average Joe is ever going to know about such, let alone install them. And if you go with those ROMs you lose the S Pen.
More in general you can add a group of people who know how to install a custom rom, but can’t do so because they are not allowed to do so for work.
Nvidia also promised an update this month. The developer preview really helps give manufacturers time to get updates ready.
Of course, flagships only, midrange and low-end need not apply.
…CyanogenMod of course. Surprisingly, cyanogenmod.org has been somewhat quiet on the Lollipop release, but there will be much rejoicing when it does come out, especially for owners of older models, who are unlikely to see Lollipop via the official OEM routes.
As ever, your rule for buying a new Android tablet or phone should be “can it run CyanogenMod?”. If it can’t, don’t buy it, because the time will come when your OEM will ditch updates for your device far earlier than you expected (Huawei are bad at this for example – claiming they will update and then retracting the claim later on!).
I just got the Lollipop OTA update pushed to my 2nd generation Moto X (Pure Edition).