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Galaxy S5 Lollipop Update & Release: What to Expect (U.S.)

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With the Samsung Galaxy S5 Android 5.0 Lollipop release date picking up steam, we want to take a look at what we expect from the U.S. Galaxy S5 Lollipop update and release.

As we pushed into the fall, we heard rumors about Samsung’s Android 5.0 Lollipop update release plans. We had heard that the company was hard at work on several Lollipop updates including upgrades for the Samsung Galaxy S5, Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Samsung Galaxy S4, and Samsung Galaxy Note 3. These four devices represent four of its newest smartphones so the leaks, rumors and details did not come as a shock.

Samsung made good on several of those rumors earlier this month when it confirmed the start of the Galaxy S5 Android 5.0 Lollipop roll out in Poland. It also confirmed updates for the Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Note 3, and Galaxy S4 though those updates will not be starting until sometime in early 2015. Specific release dates have yet to be confirmed.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 Android 5.0 Lollipop update is the only Galaxy Android 5.0 Lollipop update that’s rolling out right now and unsurprisingly, we’ve been getting a ton of questions about Samsung’s plans for its current Galaxy S flagship and the release in the United States. And for good reason.

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Samsung is fairly secretive about its Galaxy Android roll outs and release dates and it also puts a lot of the control in the hands of individual carriers. As we’ve pointed out numerous times before, the testing process is very unpredictable and thus, Android update release dates for Galaxy smartphones and tablets are unpredictable. That said, we’ve got some idea about what to expect from the U.S. Galaxy S5 Lollipop update and roll out.

With the Galaxy S5 Lollipop release ongoing, we want to take a look at what we expect from Samsung and its Galaxy S5 Android 5.0 roll out in the United States. This will rope in what we know so far and what we see happening in the future. Our goal here is to get you as prepared as possible for the update and set your expectations something that for the moment, Samsung refuses to do.

Silence

The first thing Galaxy S5 users should expect from the Samsung Galaxy S5 Lollipop update and release is silence. Silence from Samsung and continued silence from the U.S. carriers that have this update in testing behind the scenes. Very rarely do we see Samsung and its U.S. carriers announce software releases ahead of time.

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Usually, Samsung makes a broad sweeping confirmation and leaves the precise release date details to individual carriers. And as many of you know, U.S. carriers typically don’t ante up specific release dates. Again, release dates are heavily dependent on the testing process so carriers simply don’t want to set unrealistic expectations.

Expect Samsung to stay silent about specific Android 5.0 Lollipop release dates and expect U.S. carriers to remain hush hush about their own roll outs. We typically don’t see any confirmation until the day of the roll out.

First U.S. Galaxy S5 Lollipop Release Date Soon

We expect the first U.S. Galaxy S5 Lollipop updates to start rolling out soon. The United States has historically been at the front of the line when it comes to major Android updates. Android 4.4.4 KitKat, Android 4.4.2 KitKat, Android 4.3. You name an update and there’s a good chance that U.S. carriers were among the first to get it out.

Right now, the Galaxy S5 Lollipop update is trapped in Poland and Korea. Soon, it will spread elsewhere and we expect U.S. based carriers to be among the first to get the upgrade. When we say “soon” we don’t mean tomorrow. What we do mean is that we expect to see the first upgrades arrive in the weeks ahead, not the months ahead.

We’d be surprised if the U.S. Galaxy S5 Android 5.0 Lollipop update hasn’t hit the United States by the end of January. That’s when Android 4.4 KitKat first started rolling out and Samsung is clearly ahead of that pace.

Different Galaxy S5 Android 5.0 Release Dates

We expect U.S. carriers to roll out their Samsung Galaxy S5 Android 5.0 Lollipop updates on different days. Occasionally, we see a couple of carriers share an Android release date but most of the time, we get a staggered release that takes place over the course of several weeks and encompasses several different release dates.

iPhone 6 Plus vs Galaxy S5 Specs

Do not expect Samsung and its carrier partners to push all of these at once like an Apple iOS update. Instead, look for the roll out to take place over several weeks in the U.S.

We do expect some U.S. Galaxy S5 Lollipop release dates to cluster around each other, we often see software upgrades push within a few days of one another, so don’t expect a massive gap between the upgrades for major carriers.

Sprint Among First

We fully expect Sprint to be among the first U.S. carriers to offer the Samsung Galaxy S5 Lollipop update. The struggling carrier has made it a point to be first, or at least close to first, to many past Samsung Galaxy Android updates and we expect the same here as it tries to lure in customers in the new year. We’d be surprised if it wasn’t near the front. The other major carriers are a little more unpredictable though Verizon’s been known to slow roll major updates. AT&T, too.

Smaller Carriers After Major Ones

If you own the Samsung Galaxy S5 on a smaller regional or pre-paid carrier in the United States, expect the Galaxy S5 Android 5.0 Lollipop update to arrive after a majority of the major Android Lollipop updates have rolled out. We would not be surprised if Boost Mobile, a subsidy of Sprint, pushed out its Android 5.0 update with a relative quickness but we expect other carriers like C Spire and Cricket to bring up the rear of the Galaxy S5 Lollipop release.

Popular Variants Before Not So Popular Variants

We also expect the regular old Samsung Galaxy S5 to get the Lollipop update first, before the likes of the Galaxy S5 Active and Galaxy S5 mini. We do expect both of those Galaxy S5 variants to get the Android 5.0 Lollipop update at some point in the future but we’d be shocked if they beat the more popular Galaxy S5 to the punch.

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The focus is almost certainly going to be on the upgrade for the flagship model and we expect releases for the other variants to trail behind by several weeks or perhaps, several months. Samsung almost always gives preferential treatment to flagships and we don’t expect that to end here with the U.S. release of the Samsung Galaxy S5 Android 5.0 update.

Few Android 5.0 Lollipop Leaks, If Any

The Sprint Galaxy S5 Android 5.0 Lollipop update leaked out a few weeks back and that came as a big surprise to us because these days, U.S. bound Galaxy Android update leaks are rare.

There’s a chance that we could see the Android 5.0 update leak for another model or two but we wouldn’t put too much money it. Over the years, Samsung and its U.S. carrier partners have tightened up these leaks to the point where it’s a complete and utter surprise if a piece of actual test software from a U.S. carrier gets released.

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Do not expect to see a leak for all five major carriers and we doubt that we’ll see leaks for smaller pre-paid and regional carriers either. There’s a good chance that you’ll simply have to settle for unofficial ROMs or the OTAs themselves.

Carrier Tweaks & Enhancements

Do expect U.S. carriers to bring their own tweaks and enhancements to their Android 5.0 Lollipop updates. Look for that to include bug fixes for very specific problems and also enhancements for carrier-branded applications and features. Also known as bloatware. U.S. carriers always put their own spin on these updates so expect the change logs to differ from carrier to carrier.

Android 5.0 Lollipop Problems

Expect the Samsung Galaxy S5 Lollipop update to deliver problems. Android software updates are never perfect and Samsung’s in particular often deliver tons of initial headaches. Both Android 4.4.2 KitKat and Android 4.3 Jelly Bean were both full of issues and it took some time for Samsung and its carrier partners to patch all of those issues up.

While we can’t predict exactly what will be on board the Android 5.0 Lollipop update for the Galaxy S5, we can tell you that we’ll probably see some of the same problems affecting Google Nexus users. Many of you won’t run into problems post Galaxy S5Android 5.0 Lollipop update but you’ll want to prepare nonetheless.

More Updates

Finally, while we expect a ton of third-party fixes to emerge for Galaxy S5 Lollipop problems, we also expect Samsung and its carrier partners in the U.S. to update the software with bug fix updates. Bug fixers are extremely hard to predict but we almost always see U.S. carriers patch up major issues in the weeks after the initial release.

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Some carriers are more timely than others but we almost always the major carriers roll out their own bug fixes to address some of the lingering problems from major Android updates like Android 5.0. Expect more Android 5.0 Lollipop builds down the road.

3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. griff

    12/12/2014 at 5:23 pm

    Well, that was 2 minutes of my life I cannot get back. Thank you captain obvious.

  2. charles schuler

    12/17/2014 at 10:58 pm

    I have to agree with griff’s comment above!!!!***

    I get these notifications from a few different sites and forums that I’m a member of AND EVERY TIME, I get all geared up to scroll thru the article with dangerous lightning fingering and speed reading, just hoping to get some, well,(*somewhat*) better info or decent lil nugget of
    “When the Hell can I start looking forward to getting the OTA-L..5.0 Update from AT&T on my “PRETTY NEW LG G3*D850 model!!!!!””
    I got my G3 back in June or July from att with all the B.S. “”*BLOATWARE*””” That came with it!!! As much of the pre- loaded at&t apps are nothing more than useless eyesore!!! I dealt with it, don’t get me wrong; I do kinda like the My At&t app that I can check my bill and make payments!!! Most of the others I disabled!!! I love my LG G3, however, I can help to feel like AT&T (for lack of a better term, please excuse me):
    HAS RAPED AND TRASHED SOMETHING THAT COULD HAVE LOOKED “AND PERFORMED”
    SO MUCH BETTER& IM SURE IM NOT THE ONLY ONE THAT FEELS THIS WAY!!!!👺👺👺🔥🔥
    SORRY FOR MY RANT!!!!!!!😕
    —-SO FOR MY CONCLUSION==
    I’m not going to “ROOT” my G3 just to get the Lollipop update cuz be honest I’m not completely sold on the looks of the (abstract/lazy pastel color) material design!! I’m happy with what I’ve been able to do with this phone with some secret and a lil risky tweaks WITHOUT having to completely “Hack” my phone. But also like a lot of other people I kinda wanna see what all L5.0 has to offer and is capable of!!!!
    SO BOTTOM LINE- I WILL BE HAPPILY PATIENT WAITING FOR AN UPDATE I FEEL SHOULD HAVE ALREADY GOT TO ME AS LONG AS THESE CARRIERS, *JUST EASE OFF OF THE OVERLOADING A BEAUTIFUL DEVICE WITH A BUNCH OF MEMORY WASTING, USELESS, AND UNATTRACTIVE APPS THAT THE MAJORITY OF US GO OUT OF OUR WAY, and sometimes damage our device, JUST TO REMOVE THEM!! SO “”PLEASE””” at&t****** and others*** just give us the attractive but more importantly THE PRACTICAL, HELPFUL, or better yet those few apps that we will love and use everyday!!!
    IF ANYONE READ THIS; THANK U FOR YOUR TIME AND LETS SPREAD THE WORD TO OUR CARRIERS WHOM WE PAY FOR SERVICE THAT WE JUST WANT THE APPS WE WANT OR ATLEAST GIVE US A BLANK CANVAS TO WITH LESS WASTED MEMORY SO WE CAN TRULEY CUSTOMIZE OUR $600-$700 DEVICES RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX!!! If we let these service providers know that all we ask is for less of there nonsense apps! We are still paying premium rates for our plans & services!!! I pay $200+per month for my G3 & my girl’s iPhone5, unlimited all w/the original 10gb. Of data(which together we haven’t event used 1gb in a month cuz run on wifi most of the time!!! I’m not complaining but I think at these rates And us not being DATA hogs we should deserve to be able to get some of these pointless apps removed, “permanently & SAFELY”

    Thanx again! Not intended to offend!
    LG-G3 Enthusiast
    $ir Charles= Happy Holidays to All

  3. MackK

    12/19/2014 at 9:37 am

    some update, file size 103+MB downloaded to my TMo Galaxy S5 Active on Dec 13th. I have yet to install it because A) I wanted to read of any known issues before I do and B) I have to do a backup first. I have KitKat 4.4.2 on the phone now so what is this update? Is it KitKat 4.4.4? Or Lollipop?

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