When will my phone get Android 5.0 Lollipop?
Google officially took the wraps of Android 5.0 Lollipop last week, proclaiming it to be one of the biggest revamps of its mobile OS ever.
It’ll bring a sparkly new design language called Material to a wider range of devices than ever - including, as we’ve already seen, to smartwatches and set-top boxes.
But the lead form factor for Android remains the smartphone, which prompts the question: when will my phone get it?
The answer in many case seems to be ‘early 2015’. Here’s what we know so far.
Nexus
Naturally, the first devices to get Android 5.0 Lollipop will be those Google-approved Nexus phones. The new Nexus 6 will be released on November 3 with Android 5.0 already installed, but the Nexus 5 and Nexus 4 (as well as those Google Play Edition phones) will receive it in the coming weeks, according to Google.
Samsung
By far the biggest Android manufacturer in the business, Samsung has nonetheless been a little tardy when it’s come to bringing the latest version of Android to its smartphones in the past - thanks largely to its heavily customised TouchWiz UI.
Sure enough, there’s no word on when the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S5, the Samsung Galaxy Alpha, and the new Samsung Galaxy Note 4 will be getting a tastes of Lollipop. Boo.
HTC
If Samsung is the people’s champion, then HTC is arguably the critic’s choice (though Motorola and Sony are both working hard on changing that) with its sophisticated Android handsets.
The Taiwanese company has confirmed that it will roll out Android 5.0 updates to the HTC One M8 and HTC One M7 within 90 days of Google making the final Lollipop software available to them. The rest of the One line and “select devices” will follow shortly after.
In fact, recent reports have suggested that HTC could supply the HTC One M8 with Android 5.0 before the end of the year.
Sony
Sony’s been churning out some genuinely excellent Android smartphones in recent times, and it’s showing the same admirable commitment to customer satisfaction with its Android 5.0 update plans. The company has revealed that it will be updating the entire Xperia Z line to the new Android OS.
That incorporates a lot of handsets, including the original Sony Xperia Z, its successor the Xperia Z1, the Xperia Z2 and the new Xperia Z3, and all the Zs in between. If your Sony phone has a Z in its name, it’s getting Lollipop.
The time-frame for this appears to be the same 90 day spell as listed elsewhere, as Sony has claimed that it will start rolling out the updates from the beginning of 2015.
LG
Just like rival Samsung, LG is yet to make an announcement on the availability of Android 5.0 Lollipop on its smartphones.
It’s a pretty safe bet that the LG G3 with its Nexus 6-like QHD display, as well as the LG G2 range, will all be getting Android 5.0 eventually. The question is, when? At the moment, we don't have a definitive answer.
Motorola
It’s been a remarkable turn-around from Motorola in recent years, going from forgotten feature phone champion to Google-owned producer or boldly innovative smartphones, and on to its current status as the maker of two of the best Android phones in the business - the Moto X 2014 and the Nexus 6 itself.
Part of Motorola’s current appeal is that it offers a near-stock Android experience, which also means that it can get updates up and running sooner than others. Sure enough, Motorola has confirmed that it is working on an Android 5.0 update for the Moto X (both generations), Moto G (again, both), Moto E, Droid Ultra, Droid Maxx, and Droid Mini.
OnePlus
There’s only one phone from the new OnePlus label at present, but the OnePlus One has created quite an impact. It runs on a heavily modified version of Android 4.4, but OnePlus has confirmed that it is aiming to get an Android 5.0 update out within that aforementioned 90 day period from Google releasing the final build.
Read More: Android 5.0 Lollipop: What's new?