By 
Yesterday the Nexus 4 was left out of the Android 5.0 update party. This came after Google originally left out the Nexus 4 in the Lollipop update plans, but the later clarified that it would indeed get the latest version of Android. There are still a lot of Nexus 4 users out there, as indicated by the many complaints we saw yesterday. We have good news: Lollipop is coming soon.
An Engineering Program Manager at Android has shared on Google+ that build LRX21T is “locked and loaded” for the Nexus 4. He states that the update will be coming “soon,” but he’s not sure exactly when that will be. We can only hope it’s sooner rather than later for all of you Nexus 4 users. We feel your pain.
[via Google+]
yaaaas! I was scared that Google would say “nevermind N4 users…”
Even if GOOGLE dropped the ball,the development community wouldn’t.
The mfgs & GOOGLE should do more to recognize their efforts,it’s where the real creativity & genius behind most features begins……………
Great to see Google supporting older products. The Nexus 4 is only 2 years old so it makes sense it’s supported.
Good to see the N4 getting some Lollipop love. Inspires confidence that the OS is getting leaner.
As a person who straddles the fence between iOS and Android, I must say that one of my biggest gripes with Android is updates. Say what you want about Apple but you have to admit that their updates always come on time and to a wide range of devices (iOS 8 support goes all the way back to the 4S). Apple gives a solid release date and the update is available that morning.
The Nexus 4 is only 2 years old and it’s specs are still pretty good even by today’s standards so there is no reason why it shouldn’t get 5.0. I use my Nexus 4 as my primary Android development tool so I certainly hope that the Nexus 4 continues to be supported at least for another year.
Hopefully the update comes out soon.
Mhm, and Apple’s updates don’t do a lot of soft-bricking either…
Their updates often artificially restrict features available in older hardware though, even if the hardware is capable of using those features. Better than nothing still, but even that’s debatable since it often kills performance on older phones. iOS 7 absolutely killed the iPhone 4 that some of my family owned in terms of battery life and usability.
I have no experience with iOS. My thoughts were of decades of Mac updates which have probably made me too lax and trusting of OTA updates to do thorough backups first.
sarcasm right?
I wish. My Nexus 4 was soft-bricked by the KitKat OTA, and I had some less severe problems with 4.3, as did a lot of other people.
If you can rap your head around this then please try. Many of Google’s new apps that make Android great are on old and new devices and aren’t dependent on the latest OS, thus making the OS less relevant than it is for iOS users. This makes it so i can run a lot of stuff on my 4 year old tablet.
While that is true and its one of the many advantages of Android, the OS is still and always will be important. The newer versions of Android are able to use less ram, take better advantage of dual core and quad core processors and have other optimizations that really help performance.
A Nexus 4 running Jelly bean will run a little different than a Nexus 4 with KitKat. As a developer having the latest OS is very important to see if there are any issues with compatability (or if the new OS gives extra head room for better graphics and physics).
Google is getting better with updates and it’s nice to know that the Nexus 4 is getting 5.0 but it would still be nice if Google can get to a point where the update can be available for everybody the same day (at least for Nexus and Google Play Edition devices).
I think that as long as it is within a few weeks of each other it is an acceptable timeframe. Fair points though.
Well it is getting it. And comparing it to the iphone 4s I would hope Apple put IOS8 on it since they were still selling it as the discount model almost a full year after Google had already replaced the N4 with the N5 AND the iphone costed twice as much.
The OS version is a red herring though. There really isn’t one IOS8 to rule them all. Versions pushed to older models always have a different point version and usually have features stripped. Often arbitrarily.
Siri was the first example. The 4 could run it just fine, they just elected to use it as a tool to market the S model. Same for Apple Maps, the navigation and 3d modeling was restricted to newer models as well, even though Google showed that the hardware could easily push it even a few models back.
So Apple has more “fragmentation” than they want to admit. Hell, if you used Apples version of versioning then the Android fragmentation argument is shot all to hell since 89.6% of play devices are on Android “4.” The only difference is google actually tracks the .X as a version and Apple doesnt.
And as far as APIs Google changed the OS to uncouple a bunch of those from the OS to the play services, so any place device in that 89.6% gets its API updates regardless of OS and carrier, its controlled by Google.
This will make the N4 a relevant phone for 3 years. I would love to see manufacturers do this, but I doubt they will because they want you to buy a new phone.
Same here. Mine is still running well on 4.4.4 and, if my Nexus 10 is any indication, will run well with 5.0. The N10 seems to push 5.0 as well as or even a hair better than it did 4.4.4 and my Nexus 4 runs quite well on 4.4.4.
Im glad too, because the N6 was a no-go for me. Too big.
My Nexus 10 hasn’t yet received an update. I gotta say, I hate the Nexus 10. So bad in so many ways.
Yeah, it never run as well as my N4. I am just not a Samsung fan in general. Even with stock android they dont seem to perform as well as they should and their build isnt the best. And put their software on it and the phone becomes garbage.
I sideloaded my update though. Did the same to the N4 over the weekend. It runs well on the N10 but FLYS on my N4.
The Factory Image for Nexus 4 is up.
https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#hammerheadlrx21o
Doom Likes Good News..