Android 5.0’s release was met with a bit less positivity than was initially expected, as the operating system wasn’t in a perfect technical state. It had various technical issues and wasn’t entirely stable, and while Google have been working hard to improve it, it still has a long way to go before it’s properly usable. Google are reportedly preparing a more major release that will significantly improve the user experience, and Android 5.1 is going to start rolling out in February 2015, with the plan being to cover most users of Android devices by the summer.
This is similar to the standard release schedule that Google follows for their major devices, as they prefer to initially make the update available to a smaller audience of owners of selected devices, later rolling it out to the majority of users. And according to the pre-release changelog, the new version of Android is going to bring some key improvements to the table, most notably the return of Silent Mode for some devices.
The OS will also be made more stable, not just in terms of app stability but also RAM utilization and random app crashes. Some users have been reporting issues with battery life with their devices since upgrading to Android 5.0, and 5.1 should resolve that for everyone affected. There should also be no more issues with missing notifications or wireless connectivity, and for some reason, Google are also changing the color palette of the device.
Meanwhile, owners of the Nexus 7 are finally starting to receive Android 5.0.2, as the new update has started rolling out for Google’s flagship device. The update was initially delayed, which led to some disappointment among users, although there seemed to be a valid reason for the later release. In any case, the Nexus 7 is getting the update properly now.
It should be noted that Google’s OTA updates normally don’t roll out simultaneously everywhere, and take about a week to complete – so users who don’t see the new update available on their devices should just be patient, and wait until the end of the week. Make sure to periodically manually check for system updates, as the automatic updater may sometimes miss the internal notification as it’s pushed to the device, and it’s more reliable to just force the update check every few hours or so.
Of course, it’s also possible to flash a more recent version of Android manually with a custom ROM, but this carries some risks and is generally only recommended to tech-savvy users who know what they’re doing and understand that they are voiding their warranty in the process.