The latest offering from Android is the Android 5.0 Lollipop, an update to the 4.4.4 Kitkat version. The developers of Android are claiming this update, which was originally called Android L, to be one of the biggest upgrades yet. The new version is said to be faster, better looking and more efficient, not to mention the multiple new features that it incorporates. The new OS goes beyond the mobile form factor. The OS transforms your device into a phone which is contextually aware of its surroundings!
This latest Operating System has currently been made available only to users of Nexus 4 and even there it is being released in stages. Therefore, not all Nexus 4 users will be able to gain access to it straight away. As and when the upgrade becomes available for your device, a notification should appear in your notification tab informing you about the upgrade. If however, an automatic notification does not appear, one can always search manually for “software updates” in the ‘about phone’ option in the settings menu.
If you had thought that 4.4.4 Kitkat was a great Operating System, well, you are in for a pleasant surprise with the 5.0 Lollipop which hosts numerous improvements over the kitkat version. The biggest change seems to be in the material design which has been completely overhauled to include shadow gradients, 3D tiles that slide over each other and other animations which make every ripple, every touch look real, making the phone very easy to understand for the users. Besides that, for better battery life management, Android L has introduced Project Volta which shows what has been juicing down the battery. The Battery saver mode is also auto-integrated which only helps in increasing the efficiency of the device. The Developers too have all the reasons to laud the new version which comes with over 5,000 new APIs and also replaces the Dalvik Virtual Machine with the Android Runtime.
Although, currently only the owners of a Nexus 4, which was the latest in the Nexus series, will be able to enjoy the Lollipop upgrade, but Android has given assurance that it will soon be made available for the Nexus 5, Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 devices too. Also, Motorola’s Nexus 6 and HTC’s Nexus 9, which were launched recently and are available in the market, also come with the 5.0 Lollipop Operating System. The users of other devices need to be a tad more patient to upgrade their mobile operating system since it will take a few months before 5.0 becomes available for everyone. While HTC’s One M7 and One M8 may give the update as a Christmas present to its users, Sony’s Xperia Z devices would, in all probability, receive the update by the beginning of the next year. Even Motorola has announced that users of its 2013 and 2014 smartphones will be given the update, though no official dates were mentioned as to when the update will be made available.