Another lick of Lollipop: Google updates latest Android to 5.0.1 Google is pushing out version 5.0.1 of Lollipop, the first update to the latest version of Android. Users of Nexus 7 (2013 model), Nexus 9, and Nexus 10 devices can now download the update from Google. You can also find the source for the Android Open Source Project version here. There is no official list of changes, but …
No, Lollipop is already out for the 2012 model. Link [1] is the factory images (will require a wipe), link [2] is how to manually install the official OTA update. Either of these options will require some geek-foo, so you might decide to wait and I wouldn't install it anyway, I've gone back to 4.4.
I've had no end of trouble on my N5. Exchange won't sync in the new Gmail app, crashes permanently and hides the button before you can report it.
You can no longer see what type of notifications you have from the lock screen.
If you try to use the camera from the lock screen, it crashes and cannot be used again until a reboot.
Poor performance/battery life compared to 4.4 and the battery usage screen has been dumbed down no longer informing you how long it's been unplugged (extremely useful information).
I hate to say it, being a fandroid, but this release feels rushed, buggy but more of a grab by Google to control Android by killing off stock applications making the core OS dependant on Google applications. Stock e-mail worked fine, now I can't get any e-mail because they're forcing me to use Gmail.
--- Lollipop links ---
Note, make sure whenever doing a manual OTA that the zip file you download is from a Google URL. Do not follow any instructions that require you to enter the command 'fastboot oem unlock' - this should not be required for the OTA as it is signed by Google.
[1] https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#nakasi
[2] http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/android-5-0-lollipop-ota-files-nexus-5-nexus-7-2013-nexus-7-2012-nexus-10-nexus-9-how-1474755
Hmm, the official advice from Google does include the instruction to unlock. I had cause to call them up today regarding a Nexus 10 stuck on 4.2, and the link sent to me by Google states "If necessary, unlock the device's bootloader by running: fastboot oem unlock"
https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images
Cheers.
That is for the factory images that wipe your device. You need to unlock because the download is the partition images that need flashing directly, not an OTA update where the current system is upgraded in-place. If you are upgrading you probably want the OTA option.
N5 user here with only minor niggles.
Downloaded Bluemail to avoid the Android mail app a few weeks before so no hassles on email for me. I don't use exchange however.
Niggly issue with headphone button not worning on insert until you manually play first.
No battery life issues noted - about the same.
No WiFi issues on 802.11ac
Nexus5 owner here, nothing bad to say about Lollipop here. Battery life is 20% better than Android 4.4, and not seen any issues whatoever. Performance is even better (it was great in 4,4 already).
Seems like a very small vocal minority are making waves in a teacup, either that, or El-Reg are trawling support forums looking for news on a slow news day.
Precisely what percentage of users are having problems with Lollipop? If you don't know that, how on earth can you proclaim "issues that have plagued early Lollipop adopters"????
Wish my N5 stayed at 4.4.4
- new bug in Canvas text rendering
- Contacts/People thing is trying to be too clever and does things I wish it didn't - recents/favourites/etc
- Phone calls sometimes don't light up the screen, requiring you to unlock it with your method of choice before you can answer the call
I can live with the updated gmail client, that's not a problem
As per another commentator, I've had no problems with Lollipop on an N4 (OTA automatically).
Exchange Syncs fine on gmail app and I've not had it crash, all notifications are shown on the lock screen, including their type with the option to see the content if required and with smart lock makes it easy to jump straight to them. Just tried the camera from the lock screen and it worked fine, but I don't use that often.
I can also see how long my phone has been unplugged from the battery screen and I can honestly say that battery life has improved quite significantly. I can now get 1.5 to 2 days out of it with light use.
I did notice that when there was very limited/no signal the battery drained a lot quicker, perhaps quicker than before but I'm not sure.
Overall I really like the new interface, seems to be really slick and fast. Uses fewer resources and has actually put a stop to me upgrading the N4 as it feels like a new phone now.
Are you sure you had the final release of Lollipop and not a pre-release?
I'm running 5.0.0 on a UK Nexus 4 with no problems. Chose to do a full install from scratch. New OS is great - with some fantastic features. Minor niggles - Photosheres will not play (they just error) and the promised integration with my Chromebook has not materialised - (may be a Chromebook issue though).
Couple it with Snapgragon's BatteryGuru and the batter life is very acceptable given it's two years old.
Love the open to application from notifications on lock screen, and the ability to not lock then connected to a trusted device - car BT or BT headset.
All in all a must have.
I've yet to see a notification for it on my 2012 Nexus 7. Given what I've read about it, I'm not that bothered, tbh (quite tempted to get it back onto Jelly Bean, or find something whizzy on xda-developers, although it's been a little more stable, of late, so might just save the hassle and leave it as is).
I allowed my N5 (2013) to update to 5.0. Only complaints are having to delete the shit I dont want all over again and it once again used up my data limit which I had turned off previously. This is not normally a problem but they've improved the phone thing and it actually works at my house which it didnt before unless you went in the attic and practiced weird yoga.It is now one of the few 'modern' phones that works in the house.
Seems easier to use overall but haven't plugged it into the HDMI telly yet to give AIDE a good run for its money.
I think that Google has lost the ability to code. Chrome on the Nexus 7 has become unreliable. Locks up all the time.
Trying Chrome Beta and it seems to at least be more stable, only about one lock up per day now. But the touch interface is screwy, touch a tab to bring it to the foreground, and it might well open a link that was effectively underneath that tab!! A link that was about a cm off the top of the window!! It's as if your touch drilled through two layers and found a link to open at the bottom. Crazy!!
For Code QA, Google is at the bottom of the pile lately. Expect to see their entire empire go offline for a day or two during 2015. That's where they're headed.
Android 5.0 was such a mess on my Nexus 7 (2012 model) that I am in zero rush for the upgrade. I have already used Cyanogen on some cheap hardware, and I shall wait to see what emerges from there. The way Google seem to do things with this Android 5 product suggests that we shouldn't trust them.
I've installed it on both Nexus 4 and Nexus 10. On the N4 it behaved pretty much as all other upgrades have since I got it - it was crap for a few days and slowly seemed to sort itself out. All upgrades seem to have done that - after a few days they seem to settle down. No idea why that should work, always just put it down to a few reboots and charging cycles before things work as intended. Nexus 10 is less special though and, although more stable, battery life is definitely much shorter.
My main problem is with the design decisions. The loss of the excellent stock email app is poor. The replacement Gmail app is okay but introduces more screen taps to get basic stuff done and I find the inability to turn off their infuriating threading system somewhat annoying. One of the strengths of the larger Android tablets has always been working with them in landscape, which is how they have been designed. Google have clearly designed Lollipop to be a primarily portrait OS, though to be fair they've been slowly introducing this since Jellybean. Many screens are simply a pain trying to use them in landscape now - and functionality has taken a hit in many ways too. For example, pulling down the main menu gave you the opportunity to see the status of the device (battery, wi-fi etc). Tapping on wi-fi then took you to a list of available wi-fi networks where you could choose to join one. Tapping it now just turns wi-fi off. Useful! Now, to find a network to connect to, you have to go right into the settings menu and then into wi-fi.
But one example of so many areas where they have managed to turn an intuitive simple tap into a string of different menus to do the same thing - but their poor performance in landscape is the most annoying thing. Most of the best Android tablet apps are designed to work in landscape - turning the device to portrait simply makes most of those look like phone apps with too much screen space. How is this progress?
"Tapping on wi-fi then took you to a list of available wi-fi networks where you could choose to join one. Tapping it now just turns wi-fi off. Useful! Now, to find a network to connect to, you have to go right into the settings menu and then into wi-fi."
Tap the icon to turn on/off, tap the word "Wi-Fi" below the icon to go to the Wi-Fi settings to choose a network. Same for each of the quick settings.
I'm glad that auto-rotate on/off has made it into the quick settings for a phone, it was only available on the tablet version before.
By coincidence, yesterday I had finally decided to be brave and install 5.0 on my Nexus 5. The reason I had held out was the reported wifi bug where you lose wifi.
And, to be honest, I also always wait for any Apple update for a few days to see if the path blazers have had issues. Still waiting to install Yosemite, for example, more than a few days.
Anyway I ignored all the OTA notifications for 5.0 in the last 3 weeks.
So, yesterday, when I finally did look to install Lollipop on my KitKat 4.4.4, I went to Settings, About Phone, Check for Updates and was told I was current (presumably for KitKat). No sign of Lollipop.
Put in a call for support @ Nexus Canada or Google Canada and got a call back.
After having me check for updates at the same location, the support person put me on hold. When she got back she told me I had missed the rolling OTA window and that they were putting out a new one that should be better anyway.
So, my question is, if I want to keep it simple, do I have to take an Android OTA when notified, as she said? I saw that there were ways to install manually, but I am really looking for a built-in "upgrade to the latest version", triggered at my convenience when I feel comfortable ? Only for major releases - I assume KitKat would have found a KitKat 4.4.5 out of OTA schedule regardless - is that correct?
Paris, cause I feel a wee bit clueless.
Somebody is lying here.
I have Lollipop on my Nexus 4.
Wi-fi - much better - now I can Skype where it was unusable before.
Speed - at least twice as fast
Battery life - transformed. It used to suddenly just drain - rarely lasting 24 hours.
Now I'm getting several days of use.
I'm suspecting a negative spin campaign, probably from a journalist on their subsidised Apple kit.
FWIW
My nexus 4 works pretty well. Battery life is definitely better although I think they have changed how its reported because it drops to 'half' quicker but the last half lasts a lot longer.
I have had a couple of intermittent issues with wifi not reconnecting after i've disabled/enabled it and I had to reboot once because it couldn't connect to the camera module.
Quite unimpressed that they removed the default email app for the gmail one but didn't merge the accounts over.
I really like the separate user accounts, the pinning ability, the ability to turn the flash-light on from the drop down menu (finally) and some of the new effects but overall a bit meh for all the hype.
1 x N7 (2012), 2 x N4 all updated OTA perfectly. Even the GMail Exchange change works OK for my partner. One N4 was bu**ered by KitKat and has now been restored to perfection by lollipop. I wouldn't go back if you paid me.
KitKat broke 25% of my devices (still have a Moto G waiting for 5.0) and Lollipop fixed 100% of breakages. Not a surprise that a major OS change causes problems to some people and we are sure hearing them about 5.0. Only Google know if 4.4.0 was better/worse than 5.0.0. Even 4.4.4 didn't fix my issue. 5.0 did.
Now I'm worried about 5.0.1. If there is nothing (for me) to fix. Should I go with the old proverb?
My Nexus 7 (2012) was horrible with Lollipop until I factory reset it. Now it runs fine. Wireless is better but battery life isn't. (I would use Lux to keep the screen less bright but then the NatWest app doesn't work.) I did loose some data not backed up (surprise) but most apps had stored config/status to servers on-line so they recovered nicely.
I don't agree with the "somebody is lying here" statement but from my experience on an N4 using the automatic OTA all his claims are also true for me.
The last kit kat update had negative effects on my N4 with numerous issues but I've not noticed any issues so far with Lollipop and it feels much better.
However I fully understand that others may be having issues and N5s and N7 2012 users seem to be reporting the most. Although you have to wonder whether third party apps could be responsible for some issues, I had recently factory reset my N4 before the update due to a different issue.
I'm suspecting you're a fanboy trying to discredit legitimate issues.
My email is now FUBAR. 2/3s of the time I get a never-ending bar and a message telling me it's retrieving my messages, along with a complete inability to see my calendar.
My Battery life has been halved. I'm afraid to spend even a day anywhere that I don't have a charger. I have no idea what I'm going to do when I go to my sister's for Christmas. I'm really hoping it's fixed soon.
This all worked just fine on Kitkat.
Sorry but lollipop simply isn't a consistent experience across devices.
Runs like a dream on my N4, runs like a 3 legged dog with congenital syphillis on my N7(2012), graphically great on my N10 but the wireless on that device no longer does more than 60kb/s making it useless since it's primary function used to be for streaming media.
Just because there are negative reports about an android update doesn't mean apple fanboys are trolling. There are some very real problems with this release that google needs to address.
Please, do tell me more about this subsidised Apple kit for journalists. Last time I checked, NUJ members got around 7% off some products, and iPhones are specifically excluded, along with some other items. It's roughly the same discount available to students and teachers.
The idea that we're all gifted the latest shiny stuff is a fiction. In fact, a lot of IT sites and magazines have always found it incredibly difficult to even get loan kit from Apple, who have historically been much happier to see it gushed over by far less technical types than you'll find writing on the Reg.
"Problems with the initial release of an operating system are nothing new, especially on existing hardware ..."
Does it usually run ok on non-existant hardware?
My pet unicorn updated his Nexus 11 to the latest Android Mojito beta just last week. He says it runs even better than the time he upgraded the battery to run off his own piss.
I've kept wifi off on my note 3 to prevent it from getting the latest kitkat update from AT&T. I'm too afraid it's going to break shit(especially since restoring from backup or rolling the update back seems non trivial if not impossible unless the device is rooted etc which mine is not). for 5.0 I see absolutely nothing remotely interesting to me.
OS updates on mobile seem so hit and miss. Really there was nothing worthwhile in the android 4.3->4.4 update for me anyway on Note 3. Maybe I'm just getting old.
Nexus 7 2013 - upgraded to Lollipop on release day from the factory images. The only significant issue with the original Lollipop machine images Ive seen has been that the tablets with the larger memory capacities were all set up as if they only had 8GB, which Google issued a fix for, apart from that I noticed some misaligned text on something in settings. The few people I know who have the same tablet have not had the OTA update pushed out to them and it seems that only those who have hacked the OTA update to install manually have had problems.
I recently did that on my N7 (2012); though not cracked, after a drop the digitzer stopped working, and I decided that a replacement screen would be better than buying a new tablet.
After Lollipop, I'm thinking I may as well not have bothered. I will try CM or perhaps going back to Jelly Bean.
"...screen and the digitizer... ...glued together..."
Yeah! And you won't believe this scam! The red, green and blue pixels are all built into one screen. If your red pixels fail, the bastards force you to buy new green and blue pixels too. What a waste!
I complained and they made up some cockamamie story about "ease of manufacturing" blah blah blah...
Love the new interface. Battery could be better (Try keeping the camera app shutdown), I can still use the old mail app and haven't been forced to use Gmail so unsure what the complaint is here.
Anyone getting 2 days off any modern phone either never uses it or runs a very aggressive battery save mode imo. 1 day seems to be the norm.
Ok its got some bugs but no more than normal imo for a first release of Androids new OS. They always have issues.
The update has worked thus far. Biggest benefit of switching is battery seems to have improved and performance in some apps, probably due to ART.
Visually I don't think much of the change - it's largely the same functionality as 4 reskinned a bit. It looks nice and feels slick I guess but 4.x looked nice too. I think the playstation style symbols at the bottom are a huge mistake and contribute nothing positive to the design.
I can't create my own subject on El Reg but this thread seems symptomatic of a general trend.
I shall rant on...
There is a movement to change things just to be seen to be changing things...
Windows 8 ?
It makes your computer look like a phone.
How many websites have you come across that have gone for the flat/big icon look that are ridiculous to use on a desktop? (everything seems to have gone turquoise).
iPhones have have gone down this route as well.
I think this is a misguided trend to appeal to "the kids/yoof" who have not seen anything different.
Given that the largest demographic is probably over 40 years old and they have more disposable income than anyone else I fail to see the point.
It all leads to alienation and WTF!
Rant over. Feel free to disagree.
(I may link back to this post in future threads if it gets any upvotes)
I hate Win 8.0.
But...
1) They fired the bastard that was mindlessly pushing Metro
2) They released 8.1 which is about 2/3 fixed.
So we've gone from a boycott of Win 8.0 to avoid encouraging stupid decisions, to having four instances of 8.1 to encourage better decision making. I hope they notice.
Most recent acquisitions include an HP Stream 7 tablet ($99) and some sort of Win Blu Jr telephone ($49). The HP Stream 7 is a bit disappointing because the headphone audio has actual noise interference. Buzz buzz humm humm buzz buzz crackle buzz. Poor design QA by HP and whatever nameless Chinese manufacturer that actually designed and built it.
A bit late, but still...
My wife's "mk II" Nexus 4 (the one with little "feet" on the back to reduce its tendency to slide on smooth surfaces) got the upgrade a day before my "mk I". Both are not rooted. Her update went fine, but she has fewer apps installed and uses it less than I do mine.
Mine rebooted not long after reporting "108 of 223 apps upgraded" (223 seemed far too many) and then stuck on the spinning balls start-up screen. I left it for over 12 hours, but eventually I gave up and rebooted it and it returned to the app upgrading screen, but this time reported 113 apps and completed booting successfully.
I've been very happy with it, except Tasker seems not to work with "interruptions" very well and I believe some apps have disappeared and now report "unknown error -505" when I reinstall (e.g. ITV Player).
Another lick of Lollipop: Google updates latest Android to 5.0.1
- Android 5. Why you didn't directly remove all of the applications from play store, and place a big red banner "Incompatible" with our complete new view of this OS.
And do this for each major upgrade ?!
It will really help the developers... to commit a suicide ..
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