Yesterday, a video revealed the latest version of Google’s mobile OS, Android 5.0 Lollipop, running on the new Samsung Galaxy Note 4. The TouchWiz UI will live on, but it’s been given quite a makeover for Android 5.0, with plenty of influence from Google’s new ‘Material Design’ visual language.
But while many other manufacturers have detailed at least some of their Android 5.0 update plans, Samsung has remained frustratingly quiet on the subject in recent weeks. Now, though, the company has confirmed that the rollout has already begun.
Vincent Se Young Lee, tech industry correspondent for Reuters in Seoul, tweeted yesterday that Samsung started pushing out the Lollipop update to its Galaxy S5 phones in Poland this week, and it will be available in Korea from later today.
He also tweeted that Samsung has confirmed Android 5.0 will rollout for other devices in its range - including the Galaxy S5 LTE-A, Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 3 and Note 4 - in early 2015.
The exact timeframe for delivering the updates to each of these handsets is clearly somewhat vague - "early 2015" could arguably spill over into Q2 - and it may be some time before all of these devices get upgraded to Android 5.0, so don"t expect your handset to be updated on January 1.
Nonetheless, it will surely be reassuring for owners of these devices to know that the update is actually on the way, even if it might be a while before it arrives.