Last Updated on April 10, 2017 by Mathew Diekhake
One of our favorite smartphones for the year 2014 is the Samsung Galaxy S5. Our beloved Sammy also did a lot wrong this year that we don’t support, however when it comes to flagships they are always up there with the best of the bunch. Apart from the spectacular specs, including the Kitkat TouchWiz UI, dust resistant, water-resistant, 1080 x 1920 pixels resolution, Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 MSM8974-AC SoC and Quad core, 2500 MHz, Krait 400 processor, the other bonus is knowing that when Android release fresher software it will come here before most other phones. That’s the beauty about owning a flagship and paying top dollar for a new handset. If you are into smartphone and software there’s no comparison unless it’s a phone that Google are looking after themselves, such as the Galaxy Nexus 5.
During this year’s Google I/O that took place mid-year, we watched them unveil the new Android L software as a developer preview. The developer preview is available to developers still today and no official build has hit the wild just yet. However, all that will change when the Mountain View company release the next generation nexus range of smartphones and tablet whereby they will release the fresh software along with them. From there expect Android L — with a proper name — to trickle down the line to more handsets such as the galaxy S5, HTC One M8 and the LG G3.
While this is an official build it doesn’t come without its fair share of bugs that we always expect. Most people get annoyed when they update their phones to find the bugs they didn’t have before, but that is still standard practice for software these days. It takes future releases of additional rollout to bring fixes in. Therefore, if you are not prepared to put up with a few known bugs for weeks or a month it’s a great idea to sit back and wait. For others who can’t upgrade soon enough to take a look at the changes you’ll be pleased to install the OTA that comes in as a notification to your device straight away. We’ll do the reporting on when they become available so you can check back and see how your tablet or smartphone is going.
For now, there is no official name until the guys out of the Googleplex announce it themselves. However, strong rumors are suggesting we are right on the money with Lollipop. In recent times we’ve seen a Google switch from the name that we all predicted for reasons that we thought were due to not being so predictable. However, we also learn that they do not want names that are only known in the US since Android is used on a world scale. That immediately puts names such as “Lion” to rest, which is an American chocolate bar. The other strong candidate — and our personal favourite – is Lemon Meringue Pie. Fellow reporters from giant tech site tech Radar and standing by that name.
Among the standout features coming our way in the new software is much greater battery performance, smoother and faster UI, new material design, enhanced notifications, modernistic lock screen with plenty of changes, added security measures and the new saver mode for extra ways to save power.