Android 5.0 Lollipop made its arrival on the Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 last Fall, but there is always a delay before other devices receive their updates – even the other Nexus devices, the first to receive the update, were not updated the same day. The software always needs to be delivered the service providers for testing and that can take anywhere from 2-14 days and only after that can Lollipop be delivered to the actual smartphone users. HTC set themselves a goal to have Lollipop out for the HTC One M7 and One M8 by the end of January, so they are cutting it very close – most likely it will be only off by a week or two. We applaud them for getting it out this fast… where is Samsung?
While the US keeps waiting for their updates, we are happy to report that our friends North of our border in Canada received a tweet from HTC Canada that read: “Good news! #AndroidLollipop update is beginning its roll out to @Bell, @SaskTel, & @WINDmobile (M8) devices. Additional carriers soon.” This is an OTA rollout, so it may take a few days for everybody to get their update. You can always check it out on your device under ‘Settings’ and ‘About Phone’ to search for the update – you may get it faster than simply waiting.
The 5.0 Lollipop update will add a few tweaks to the look and feel of Android, although HTC will have their Sense 6 over top. Even with the overlay, the notifications tray will change slightly and apps updated with Google’s new ‘Material Design” will blend in better in both design and colors… there will be a lot more white – gone are the darker backgrounds. The colors are brighter and more ‘cartoonish’ to me… but at least we will have a consistency throughout. This is a rather large update so you may want to be close to your Wi-Fi.
Please hook up with us on our Google+ Page and let us know when you get your update, how the update went, and what differences you notice – do you like it better or does it feel pretty much the same… as always, we would love to hear from you.