DROID Turbo Android 5.1 Update Details Emerge

The Motorola DROID Turbo was announced and released back in October, shortly after Google debuted the new Android 5.0 Lollipop update. And while that update is still slowly rolling out to many devices, including an array of smartphones from Motorola, the DROID Turbo is still on Android 4.4 KitKat.

Android L was first announced as Android 4.4 KitKat’s successor back in June during the company’s annual Google I/O developer event. Then in October Google officially unveiled the full Android 5.0 Lollipop update along with the Nexus 6, Nexus 9 tablet, and a new Nexus Player for the TV. Soon after Motorola made some announcements, and they were among the first to update smartphones too.

Read: How to Get Better DROID Turbo Battery Life

Currently the Motorola DROID Turbo is running a nearly stock version of Android 4.4.4 KitKat, and has seen a few updates from Verizon already. In January we heard Android 5.0 updates were coming soon, but this week one rep has confirmed the DROID Turbo Android 5.1 Lollipop update is coming soon instead. Read on for the details.

Back in December reports and rumors surfaced that a new software update was in the final testing phase for the DROID Turbo, and many assumed this would be Android 5.0 Lollipop. However, it arrived a few days later and was only a bug fixing update, and delivered a few new features. Android 5.0 Lollipop was missing in action.

Since then we’ve seen Android 5.0 Lollipop arrive for the Moto X, Moto G, and many devices from Samsung, HTC and LG. However, those with the impressive DROID Turbo have been left waiting, with no word from Google or Verizon.

Read: Android 5.0 vs Android 4.4 KitKat: What’s New in Lollipop

That said, the new update is coming soon, and it will be the absolute latest version of Android. That being the just announced Android 5.1 Lollipop update. This week a conversation on Google+ was talking about the DROID Turbo, and Motorola’s own Luciano Carvalho chimed in with some answers.

According to Carvalho, Motorola and Verizon won’t be updating the DROID Turbo to Android 5.0.1 or Android 5.0.2, and instead jumping straight to the Android 5.1 Lollipop release. This is to ensure most the early Lollipop bugs will be addressed, and this also delivers the VoLTE or HD Voice calling, something that is new to Verizon and a stock feature in Android 5.1 Lollipop.

Rather than do all that work in Android 5.0, just to update to Android 5.1 later that has HD Voice built in, the company doesn’t want to waste time. Instead, Motorola and Verizon are putting all their effort into delivering the latest Android 5.1 Lollipop update for the DROID Turbo as soon as possible.

However, there’s still one downside, and that is we don’t have any news regarding a release date. The Motorola engineer that made the comments only confirmed the DROID Turbo Android 5.1 Lollipop update is what’s coming next, but didn’t share any details as to when owners can expect it to arrive. It could be in the next few weeks, or it would be sometime in April or May, we’ll have to wait and see. Verizon doesn’t have the best track record with software updates, but with the DROID lineup being its premium device, we’re hoping it comes sooner rather than later. We’ll be on the lookout for more information.