Samsung Galaxy S4, S3 to receive Android 5.0 Lollipop update by early 2015

Samsung Galaxy S5[Photo credit: Samsung]

More Samsung devices will finally get the Android 5.0 Lollipop update in the coming months.  According to reports, former flagship smartphones like the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S4 will get the updated version of the Android operating system software not later than January next year.

A leaked video uploaded by Sammobile showed a preview of a Galaxy S4 running with the Android 5.0 with the latest Samsung TouchWiz user interface.  Sammobile also pointed out that the firmware used in the Galaxy S4 shown in the video is based on the early Lollipop code (LRX02E), and not the latest Lollipop code base (LRX21M) that Google unveiled last week.

Meanwhile, the International Business Times UK posted a list of steps needed to install the Android 5.0 Lollipop software in the Galaxy S3 devices. These steps came from leaked information, which is why they are warning owners to proceed with the update at their own risk.

Here are the pre-requisites before doing the update:

  • Verify if device model number is I9300 by navigating to Settings > About Phone.
  • Make sure that the phone has 80 percent battery charge or more to avoid unexpected device shutdown because of drained battery while in the process of installing the ROM.
  • Make a back up of data and settings of the device using a recommended custom recovery tool such as the ClockworkMod(CWM) or TWRP.
  • Check that the correct USB drivers being used for the phone are also installed on the computer. If not, the Galaxy S3 USB drivers can be downloaded online.
  • Make sure that the device is rooted with CWM recovery that has been installed and bootloader is unlocked as well.
  • Verify that the Android 5.0 Lollipop for Galaxy S3 (BasketBuild), Arter97 Kernel for Galaxy S3 (Use Version 4.0-beta1+) as well as the CWM recovery 6.0.4.6 or Philz Touch Recovery have been downloaded before trying the update process.

Once all the pre-requisites are met, Galaxy S3 owners can start installing the Nandroid Backup ROM format by restoring it using the SD card backup folder. Then, users can extract the downloaded ZIP file and make a copy of the ROM back-up file from '/sdcard/clockworkmod/backup' then place it in the desired location on the device.

The users can then boot up the smartphone in its recovery mode. After that, do a full data wipe, unless the user has the previous versions of this ROM. Ultimately, restore the nandroid backup that was copied from the start, then flash the downloaded kernel to conclude the process.

Meanwhile, the current flagship phones of the South Korean brand like the Galaxy S5, Galaxy S5 Mini, Galaxy S5 Active, and Galaxy S5 Sport will also get the update not later than January next year.