Samsung Galaxy S5 Android 5.0 Lollipop Extends To Users in Australia

Samsung is continuing with the Android 5.0 Lollipop update for its flagship Galaxy S5. The update for the S5 was rolled out first in December last year for users in Poland and has been expanding to more regions steadily. The latest region to receive the Android 5.0 Lollipop update happens to be Australia. The update is so far only available for a few users, but we expect the update to become available for most users within the next few days.

The Android 5.0 Lollipop update for the Samsung Galaxy S5 brings a number of improvements like the updated TouchWiz UI designed on Material Design guidelines set by Google, new heads up notifications, faster performance thanks to the switch to ART runtime, improvements to the fingerprint scanner thanks to newer driver being used, improved battery life thanks to Project Volta, and a number of other optimizations and improvements across the board.

As you might know, Android OEMS usually roll out major software updates in phases. The update rolls out in a few regions initially and then later the update is pushed out to users in other regions. This process can sometimes take up to two or three months to be completed. The Galaxy S5 Lollipop rollout began in December, so we expect the roll out to complete within March. This means most Galaxy S5 users who haven’t yet received the Android Lollipop update can expect to receive the update this month. However, there are chances that the rollout may take longer to complete as Samsung has also recently started the Android 5.0 Lollipop rollout for other Galaxy smartphones such as the Galaxy Note 3 and the Galaxy S4. It is also expected to begin the Lollipop rollout for the Galaxy Note 4 and the Galaxy Note Edge very soon.

If you can’t wait for the Lollipop OTA update to arrive for your Galaxy S5, you also have the option to flash one of the many CyanogenMod 12 based ROMs that are available on XDA developers forum. These ROMs are based on the latest Android 5.0.2 version and let you enjoy Android Lollipop without the TouchWiz bloatware that Samsung builds into its official firmware. However, to flash CM12 ROMs you need to have an unlocked Bootloader, so the option is available to you only if you don’t mind your warranty getting void.