Android 5.0 Lollipop Update Release Date: Samsung Galaxy S5, HTC One M7, M8, and LG G3 for Sprint and Verizon Among the First Few OTA So Far
Congratulations, flagship Android smartphone owners in the U.S. who have been patiently waiting for Android 5.0 Lollipop to begin rolling out, we're now in the month of February. That means a lot of release dates for Android L are coming in the near future, starting with HTC One M7, M8, and the LG G3 -- depending on your carrier.
Verizon has already begun sending out OTA updates for the Samsung Galaxy S5, while the developer edition and unlocked HTC M7 handsets finally began getting Android 5.0.2. Lollipop with the new Sense 6 UI this week.
Next on the list? According to Android Police, Sprint customers can expect their Lollipop in the coming days, if an anonymously leaked rollout schedule from the U.S. carrier is accurate.
Specifically, the ostensibly internal Sprint document "Software Updates" lists the HTC One M7 and Samsung Galaxy S5 as the first on the list of devices Sprint will be launching OTA updates for Android 5.0. Sprint rolls out these updates in batches, so some users might already be eligible to download the next generation of Android.
Next on the list is the HTC One M8 -- both the stock and Harman Kardon editions -- which should begin to hit the air in about a week. Right after that, next weekend, is supposedly the LG G3.
Of course, bugs and other issues could delay the release of Lollipop on those Sprint devices, and other than general information about Lollipop and advice on how to update software on its handsets, the ostensibly leaked document provides few details.
Sprint customers -- and owners of the developer or unlocked editions of the HTC One -- will certainly be happy with the news, but the timetable (and lack of update developments for HTC flagships on other carriers) does mean that HTC has missed the 90-day deadline it set for releasing Lollipop after Google released it. That deadline was February 1, which HTC missed because of various issues it had customizing Lollipop for its flagship phones.
Even with Lollipop rolling out faster in Europe and other parts of the world, in the U.S. it's still mostly a waiting game, and Google's Play Store metrics confirm the disappointingly slow pace of Android 5.0 Lollipop adoption.
According to ZDNet, in January, users who had Google Play services on their phone and Android Lollipop constituted less than 0.1 percent of all Android devices. That's terrible compared to Google's last OS rollout, KitKat, which at least reached 1.1 percent of Android users within the first month.
So if you're still waiting for your Lollipop, just know you're not alone.
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