Options
Lollipop 5.0 the slowest roll out ever
Everything Goes
Posts: 12,972 Forum Member
✭✭
Could 5.0 Lollipop be the slowest roll out ever for Android? Less than 0.1% of people are using it. Kitkat by comparison reached a 1.1% share within four weeks of its release in a similar timeframe at the end of 2013.
Google did have high hopes for a faster smoother roll out of their OS but things have only gotten worse this time around. Updates are an arduous process at best with plenty of spanners ready to be thrown in the works. Manufacture's often cant be bothered, and Networks providers approval for their own customisations (bloatware) make the process akin to walking through mud with concrete wellies on.
Android 4.4 (Kitkat) is now the most popular version of Android, with 39.1% of all devices connecting to the Google Play Store in the seven-day period ending January 5th 2015.
iOS 8 on the other hand reached a 48.8% share (and overtook iOS 7 with 47.2%) 29 days after it was released.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2015/01/11/nobody-is-using-android-lollipop/
Google did have high hopes for a faster smoother roll out of their OS but things have only gotten worse this time around. Updates are an arduous process at best with plenty of spanners ready to be thrown in the works. Manufacture's often cant be bothered, and Networks providers approval for their own customisations (bloatware) make the process akin to walking through mud with concrete wellies on.
Android 4.4 (Kitkat) is now the most popular version of Android, with 39.1% of all devices connecting to the Google Play Store in the seven-day period ending January 5th 2015.
iOS 8 on the other hand reached a 48.8% share (and overtook iOS 7 with 47.2%) 29 days after it was released.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2015/01/11/nobody-is-using-android-lollipop/
0
Comments
These are two different processes, yet iOS and Android update rollouts are always compared to each other. Google doesn't control the handsets and Apple does, of course iOS updates will roll out faster.
As for lollipop being slower than kitkats rollout, I really don't know.
The fly in the ointment is Manufacturers and to some extent networks, what slows up the release is device makers like HTC, Samsung, LG et al putting their own software on top. When Android was being designed and subsquently released, it was meant to be modular, in that the underlying OS should be swift with updates where as manufacturer software should compliment every release. This certainy isn't the case now especially in the case of Samsung and their god awful touchwiz.
HTC and LG have reigned in their skin on top of android core, they are much lighter and brisk compared with the clap trap of yesteryear making the update process consistent and rigourous.
Because Samsung is the largest make of Android devices in the world, that is what really holds the Android ecosystem back. It doesn't help that they release ten different devices in dozens of SKUs. The fragmentation is the blame of Samsung and HTC and LG.
Most recent Nexus devices and Motorola carry the latest version, hell even One+one has a beta out for lollipop. I can see why it hasn't been released to many devices, but that is beyond Google's control frankly, there is very little they can do about the process given how it has all been setup and governed under the "Open Handset Alliance"
I have Lollipop on my Nexus 4 and I've had no problems with it. I really don't get the hate it has been receiving.
But even stock Android for the Nexus devices (far more Apple devices around than Nexus devices), sometimes takes weeks. Besides having problems on the first day maybe, you can always get the updates on Apple straight away.
That is through choice though, Google have always staged a release rather than flooding it to every device.
Manufacturers are free to do what they want – unfortunately.
For those of you stuck on 4.4, you are really missing out. I hate using my KitKat devices now.
I disagree. I have had it on my LG G3 for ages now and i like it.
It's a good idea to do it in waves (country, network, phone model). Apple problems with iOS 8 should show why. If it were released immediately to everybody it could cause a lot of damage if something went wrong.
Google still haven't come up with an answer, other than on the "Google Products Forum", which tells you to manually flash your phone via a PC. There are quite a few annoyed people on there and i assume many more not on there.
I feel that this is probably the worst Google update I have had, my Nexus 7 isn't as smooth either now, previous incarnations have updated faultlessly.
But as you can see from Ironleg's post even that way the rollout has been far from perfect. So I don't exactly know what the advantage of Google's approach is. Both screwed it up.
I am not saying my phone is unusable or anything. But the whole experience could be a bit smoother.
Google screwed it up for fewer people. Any damage is limited.
Try wiping the cache. It is known to cure a lot of problems:
Turn off your device.
Press and hold Power and volume down buttons simultaneously until you see a large arrow at the top of your screen.
Press the volume down button repeatedly until you see “Recovery” in the arrow.
Select it by pressing the power button.
You’ll see an android mascot with a red triangle and exclamation mark.
Hold down the power and press the volume up button once and then release the power button.
Press the volume down button repeatedly to select “erase or wipe the cache partition” from the list of options.
Wait for the process to complete and then restart your device
Percentage wise really though?
If Apple hadn't acted quickly to pull the plug on bad iOS8 updates they would have had an Armageddon on their hands. People are eager to install new things.
Not sure about that. Even if everyone had installed it, Apple would have just made another update (as they did for the few that did download it) available.
Of course one of the big issues with android isn't how long it takes to get the update, it is the lottery of if you get it at all.
Thanks for that, I have tried that, but it had no effect. It was one of many ideas on the Google forum.
As i said, it's my back up phone so in reality it's not too much of a problem at the moment, but they are really slow at finding an answer.
I hope this doesn't become another Apple v Google thread gents!!!
Thanks for the tips