HTC’s best midrange handset HTC Desire 816 is now being updated to Android 5.0 Lollipop and Android 5.0.2 Lollipop from the Android 4.4 KitKat when it came out of the box upon its release last year.
Although the Taiwanese tech company will not be officially rolling out the Android 5.1 Lollipop firmware update to HTC Desire 816 anytime soon, users of the widely-lauded mid-range handset now have the option to do so through the Android open source project, the CyanogenMod 12 ROM!
The HTC One M9, the flagship smartphone of the Taiwanese tech company, which rolled out to the retail markets this month, is also coming out of the box with Android 5.0.2 Lollipop on it but users will have the opportunity to get a free over-the-air update to Android 5.1 Lollipop.
It is the only HTC smartphone thus far that can be officially updated to the latest firmware update to Google’s current mobile operating system.
Steps in getting Android 5.1 Lollipop on HTC Desire 816
Technos Amigos has detailed the steps on how users of HTC Desire 816 can taste the sweet goodness of the Android 5.1 Lollipop on their smartphones.
The start-up procedures in prepping the smartphone for the update are typical. As is the normal steps in installing software on any device, users are advice to back up everything on their HTC Desire 816 for security and fall-back purposes.
The battery of the smartphone needs to be fully-charged too so as to avoid any possible interruption that may occur during the installation process.
The Android 5.1 Lollipop can then be installed using the downloaded Android 5.1 Lollipop CyanogenMod 12 ROM file on the PC or Mac along with the Google App’s file. The phone’s USB drivers should be installed on the computer too.
Once the needed files have been downloaded, the handset can be connected to the computer via the USB port. The downloaded files can just be transferred to the internal phone storage.
It is important that the phone should be backed up before installing the downloaded files after a reboot has been made. Once installation is complete, reboot again the system and the process shall be completed shortly thereafter and users of HTC Desire 816 shall have the Android 5.1 Lollipop on their handsets.
Users can verify if they have the latest Google mobile operating system already running on their handset via the phone’s settings.
An excellent smartphone
The HTC Desire 816 is one of the largest HTC Desire smartphones ever with its 5.5-inch display screen accentuated by a 720-pixel resolution display.
The handset features LTE connectivity, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 5-megapixel front-facing snapper, a pair of front-facing speakers, 1.5 GB or RAM, an 8 GB of expandable internal memory, all powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor clocked at 1.6 GHz.
The HTC Desire 816 also draws power from a 2600 mAH battery. It is currently priced for as low as $200 in the US.
Do you have to “root” the phone to do this? Would appreciate easier (more fully explained) steps for us old folks.
I received lollipop on my HTC desire 818 on April 17th from Virgin Mobile.
Nice