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Report: Samsung to begin Lollipop rollout in US in January
With OEM skins, Android updates are something of a mixed bag, especially among top-tier products: the question isn’t really one of if, but instead when. Motorola, for example, has shuttered its Motoblur skin entirely, and gets updates out the door quickly. Samsung on the other hand, still requires some down-time before it can begin the roll-out. This year has seen the Korean giant speed things up considerably, with a [limited] Lollipop roll-out in select parts of Europe for the Galaxy S5 flagship some weeks ago. However, American customers are still left standing. But, not for long?
Thanks to Reddit user SamsungRep2015, we now know that the USA distribution for Android 5.0 Lollipop will begin in January. As nothing has been officially verified by Samsung USA, this information is still “unofficial”, however Reddit mods have apparently verified the authenticity of said user’s employment at Samsung. S/he reports that the Galaxy S5 will be the first to receive the update, followed by the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge, and then the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3, with tablets (such as the pair of Galaxy Tab S flagships) apparently coming in the fourth wave. The following screen capture reported to be from Samsung internal e-mails was also posted:
Despite the above image, there is no information provided as to which carriers this update will be coming to and when, nor is there any indication as to what version of Android Lollipop will be pushed: since its release, there have been three builds (5.0, 5.0.1, and 5.0.2) although the most recent seems to be currently relegated to the 2013 Nexus 7. Also missing are any details of the purported Galaxy Note 2 Lollipop update that may be reaching Europe eventually.
Still, as they say, “you can’t look a gift horse in the mouth”, and thus the effort Samsung is making to update its devices in a generally timely fashion is still something worth considering.