Android Lollipop rolling out to the HTC One M8 in Canada today
HTC may be a little behind with its 90 day Android Lollipop roll-out goal, but the company is still pushing out updates for its flagship smartphone. Android Lollipop will be heading out to Canadian HTC One M8 owners within the next 24 hours.
Answering questions via Twitter yesterday, HTC’s own Mo Versi confirmed that the company has received technical approval from Rogers and TELUS regarding updates for the M8 and that an over-the-air rollout would begin the following day (which is today).
@Enea77 @HTCCanada Alessandro, we’ve received technical approval from Rogers this afternoon on M8! OTA will also start tomorrow! Thanks.
— Mo (@moversi) February 2, 2015
Furthermore, HTC Canada’s Twitter account also confirmed that a similar update would be making its way to the HTC One M7 “soon”, although a more specific time frame wasn’t given. Hopefully, we should see news about the update appear in the near future.
@ohhwhen Thanks for asking. The HTC One (M7) update is also on it’s way soon, please stay tuned for updates on our social channels.
— HTC Canada (@HTCCanada) February 3, 2015
Keep your eyes peeled for that OTA update notification later today.
Android 5.0 Lollipop headed out to HTC One M8 on Rogers and Telus
HTC admitted at the end of last week that they would be missing out on their 90 day update timeline for the HTC One M8 when it comes to Android 5.0 Lollipop. While that was their statement, I wasn’t all that mad at them since it technically was out there for some variants of the […]
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Latest Android distribution numbers in, Lollipop on 1.6% of devices
The latest Android distribution numbers are in, and the biggest change from last month is that Android Lollipop has now reached enough users to register on the list, where it has made its way to 1.6 percent of the Android devices.
As for the dominant version of Android? Jelly Bean still holds the lead with a collective 44.5 percent between 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3. That said, KitKat isn’t far behind with 39.7 percent of Android devices running Android 4.4.x, up from 39.1% last month. Ice Cream Sandwich and Gingerbread both saw minor declines, going down from 6.7% to 6.4% and 7.8% to 7.4%, respectively. Froyo, on the other hand, didn’t budge at all staying at the same .4% as last month.
While its discouraging to see any devices stuck on pre-Jelly Bean builds, the good news is that these versions continue to shrink as KitKat and Lollipop rise. We expect even more changes to hit the numbers next month, as a number of devices prepare for Lollipop updates including (hopefully) the One M8, M7 and a number of devices from LG and Samsung.
Now I know what some folks might be thinking when they look at the above numbers, “Android is a fragmented mess”, and there is some truth to this. Taking a look at Apple, for example, you’ll find that Cupertino is much more aggressive at pushing devices to newer OS versions. That said, with many Google and even OEM apps/services coming to Google Play, the version of an OS your device contains is arguably less important than it was in the past. After all, most folks with a decent spec’d device, and Jelly Bean or higher, shouldn’t have trouble running the majority of apps found on Google Play.
What do you think of the latest distribution numbers? For those stuck on older versions of Android, do you find your overall experience suffers significantly as a result or do you feel you simply have upgrade envy more than anything? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Android 5.0 Lollipop rolling out to Verizon Galaxy S5
When Lollipop first became official, Motorola was pretty much the first player out of the gate, even beating out the majority of Nexus devices. Many other OEMs talked a big game too, such as HTC and LG, who promised quite updates to Lollipop. Samsung on the other hand kept quiet about its plans, leading many of us to believe they would once again drag their feet.
Fast-forwarding to today, we’ve seen HTC announce it will miss its 90 day Lollipop rollout deadline, and while LG has been good about bringing the update to LG G3 users, the same can’t be said for US owners of the device. Seemingly out of nowhere, Samsung has now beat nearly every other OEM to the game by releasing Android 5.0 Lollipop to the Verizon Galaxy S5 in the United States.
It’s hard not to applaud Samsung for pushing the update out in a reasonably quick matter, and it is even more impressive that they got it out to Verizon.
Similar to the LG G3 Lollipop update rolling out, a lot of Lollipop’s biggest changes (Material Design) are almost nowhere to be seen here due to the OEM UI taking precedence. That said, there are still changes including brighter colors, an updated multitasking interface, ART by default, a new lock screen and the priority system for Lollipop. Regardless, it’s hard not to applaud Samsung for pushing the update out in a reasonably quick matter, and it is even more impressive that they got it out to Verizon, a carrier known for slow updates. It is worth noting this isn’t the first Samsung device to receive an update to Lollipop, just the first Samsung device to receive it in the United States, at least officially.
Don’t be surprised if it still takes a few days or longer for the update to reach your device, though you can always try checking for the update by heading into Settings>System Updates. For those that have received the OTA, what do you think so far? For more details, be sure to check out Verizon’s GS5 Lollipop update PDF.
Verizon Samsung Galaxy S5 starts seeing Android 5.0 Lollipop updates
I guess pigs fly and hell is freezing over. In one heck of a shockingly wonderful surprise, it would seem that Verizon is in the process of pushing out Android 5.0 Lollipop to the Samsung Galaxy S5. The update is reportedly coming in two parts, one update to prep the device and one update to […]
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Android 5.0 Lollipop OTA hitting Samsung Galaxy S5 in Australia now
One of our lucky readers in Australia woke up this morning to a little surprise from Samsung, Android 5.0 Lollipop has landed on his Galaxy S5.
We’ve seen the latest version of Android roll out to the same device in other markets around the globe. Starting in Poland it moved across Europe, but it is now time for the land down under to have their turn. Please keep in mind that we can’t be sure if this is a full roll out for all Galaxy S5 users in Australia, but where there is one, there is sure to be more.
If you have not been reading along the included upgrades to the Samsung Galaxy S5 with Android 5.0 Lollipop, you have a few improvements and changes to look forward to. Aside from the new version of Android, with all of its Material Design visuals, and a handful of new Android Lollipop features, look for a change in your lock screen, borrowed from the Note 4.
In addition, Samsung has updated the driver for the fingerprint sensor in your S5, the result, as confirmed by our reader, is drastically improved performance when scanning your fingerprint.
Any other Australians out there seeing Android 5.0 Lollipop for their Samsung Galaxy S5 this morning?
Thanks to Marcus for the tip.
Russian Samsung Galaxy S4’s seeing Android 5.0.1 Lollipop updates
Looks like those Exynos sporting Samsung Galaxy S4 owners in Russia are starting to see a hefty update roll out to their devices. It is being reported that Android 5.0.1 Lollipop is starting its push in the country to the GT-I9500 variant of the device and is coming in at a rather enormous 1049MB. It […]
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HTC One M8 and M7 Lollipop update delayed
When Google first rolled out the Android L developer’s preview back at I/O 2014, HTC announced that they would bring the the new update to One M8 and M7 owners within 90 days of the source code being posted. The promise for timely updates is part of the HTC Advantage, a program that assures customers will get timely updates, cracked screen replacements, and free cloud storage. Once Google released the source code for Android 5.0 Lollipop back in November, HTC’s Mo Versi took to Twitter to announce that the 90-day countdown has started, and that M8 and M7 owners would soon receive their Lollipop updates. 90 days from that announcement falls on February 1st, and with that date rapidly approaching, HTC has announced that they won’t make their 90-day deadline.
We’re making good progress on our #AndroidLollipop, but unfortunately missing our 90-day goal. For more info visit: http://t.co/n8sWz1Wwe6
— Mo (@moversi) January 30, 2015
HTC says that the 90-day deadline has helped them move along with the update quite rapidly thus far. However, since Google has been constantly updating the code ever since its release, HTC has had a hard time keeping up.
We’ve been working hard in the labs with Google and our carrier partners ever since the code release and are making great progress so far, but if you’ve been following the progress of this rollout you will know that Google has had to address several issues with this release. We’ve been diligently working to fix some of them on our end and incorporating Google’s fixes as quickly as possible, but despite everyone’s best efforts some carrier versions of the HTC One (M8) and HTC One (M7) will not meet our 90 day goal, which is February 1st. While we are committed to delivering within this time period, we are even more committed to ensuring these updates result in an even better experience with your device because that is what the updates are intended to do.
HTC explains that they are taking every necessary precaution to ensure that their users will get the smoothest experience possible. While this news is disappointing, many would argue that HTC taking their time is a good thing. We’ve heard many reports from Moto X (2nd Gen.) owners that are unhappy with the update, and that Motorola should have waited until Lollipop was significantly less-buggy. No matter the case, we know HTC is working hard to get the update pushed out as soon as they can.
We’ve seen the Lollipop update come to Google Play, Unlocked, and Developer Editions of the One M8, and HTC ensures us that other variants aren’t too far behind.
Cellular connected Nexus 7 Lollipop factory images now available from Google
At long last the cellular connected Nexus 7 tablets finally have their taste of Android 5.0 Lollipop. Google has finally uploaded the needed factory images for the LTE Nexus 7 and 2012 ‘Mobile’ Nexus 7 today. This should help you breathe a new lease of life into the aging tablets and give you something to play […]
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Samsung kicks off its Note 3 Android Lollipop update in Russia
Reports are coming in that Samsung has begun rolling out Android 5.0 Lollipop for the Galaxy Note 3 (SM-N900) in Russia this morning. Probably leaving a few Note 4 owners a little miffed that they weren’t first on Samsung’s update list.
As you have probably seen from some of the screenshots and videos leaked over the past few months, Samsung’s Lollipop build comes with a revamped Touchwiz user interface and replaces many of the dark themes with a white Material Design inspired finish. Based on the leaked preview build from late last year, the Note 4’s Multi-Window feature also makes is way to the Note 3 with Lollipop.
While the Lollipop update will take some time to roll out to other regions, Russian owners can double check for the N900XXUEBOA6 build update notification by heading over to Settings > About phone > Software. Alternatively, eager SM-N900 model owners can download and flash the official firmware with Odin, which has been uploaded by SamMobile. As always, be sure to read the instructions and make the appropriate back-ups.
If you’re the patient type who’s going to sit tight and wait for the download to arrive in your region, you can check out the video below to see what Samsung has in store for your Note 3.
Hopefully an update for Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4 won’t be too far away either.
AIVAnet 