Some G3 phones will get Android llipop this week, while Nexus owners wait

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Published 9 Nov 2014

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Here’s some good news for owners of ’s G3 smartphone: Your phone will be among the first to get an update to Android 5.0 llipop. Assuming you live in l, anyway.

According to the company, it will roll out an update to llipop to G3 users in l this week, release the update “[in] other key markets in the near future.” didn’t specify what it means by “near future,” however, so it could conceivably take anywhere from a few days to a few months for it to make it onto phones here in the .

The story behind the story: Fragmentation may not be the fatal flaw that some expected it to be with Android—it’s a non-issue for many people most of the time, it’s arguably one of Android’s strengths in that it’s resulted in a wide variety of hardware software options. But updates are one area where fragmentation still becomes an issue. Ironically, enthusiasts who bought Nexus devices because of the promise of speedy Android updates are watching third-party phones l llipop first.

    The llipop waiting game continues

    And so we wait. Despite the limited release of ’s upcoming llipop update, though, there are some signs that we’ll start to see some updates soon. On Friday, Motorola published–then pulled—release notes for its Android llipop update for the second-generation Moto X. This seems to suggest that Motorola is close to having an update, but you’ll have to wait at least a little longer.

    But if you’re feeling daring— have a compatible Nexus device, the Sony Experia Z, or the Samsung Galaxy S3—the folks at XDA Developers have cobbled together a jury-rigged build of llipop for you to try. It’s a potentially buggy build, though, installing unofficial builds can be a challenge, so it isn’t for the faint of heart.