Google has finally started its rollout of the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system over the air (OTA) to existing Android devices. The first ones to receive the update will be the Google Nexus 5, Nexus 10, and the WiFi-only versions of the 2012 and 2013 Nesus 7, ZDNet reports. Motorola has also announced that it will begin to roll out the new mobile operating system on its second generation Moto X and Moto G devices in the US, followed by the first generation Moto X and Moto G, as well as the Moto E, Droid Turbo, Droid Ultra and Droid Maxx smartphones.
The rolling out of the latest Android operating system was expected to begin last week, but Google has decided to withhold the update to fix a fault that caused severe battery usage problems on Nexus 5. The fault caused the Nexus 5 to generate excessive “miscellaneous” battery usage when the device had its WiFi enabled, apparently caused by an “abnormally high number of IRQ wakeup events”, Google’s Trevor Johns, engineer for the Android Open Source Project, said last week. Seemingly the fault was repaired, so the company could start rolling out the new version of the operating system.
Users who can’t wait to try out the new Google mobile operating system can also experience it early, by downloading and installing a factory image of Android 5.0 Lollipop. This is a risky operation, though, that requires the flashing of the devices in order to do so, and does not carry over any of the user’s data across the process, unless a backup is created and restored afterwards. Detailed instructions about how flashing should be done can be found at this website.
Android 5.0 Lollipop promises a series of improvements in how the OS will look and feel, improvements to battery management, more security features and a series of improvements in its performance as well. It was first deployed on Google’s flagship tablet computer, the Nexus 9, and is expected to find its way on all compatible devices next year.