According to recent reports, the Samsung Galaxy line of smartphones may be getting the Android 5.0 Lollipop update as early as this month.
SamMobile, the website that first showed off a test video of Lollipop on the Samsung Galaxy S5 last month, has revealed a much more detailed look at the same OS running on the older Galaxy S4.
Of course, we already knew that the top-selling Samsung Galaxy line of devices was getting the latest Android software, but we just didn't know when. Seeing the operating system upgrade running on this older piece of equipment shows that it's one step closer to being ready for prime time, although the testers say that it still has a way to go.
"We have been testing the build on our device for a few days now, but as Samsung just started testing it, there are bugs everywhere and the build is nowhere near daily driver material," SamMobile posts. "Keeping that in mind, we can't leak this particular build, but we can give all of you Galaxy S4 users a sneak peek at what's coming your way."
An important part of the video preview is the fact that it shows off the new TouchWiz UI, which is the same one used on the S5. It uses the same TouchWiz launcher and overhauled look that was shown off on the S5's version.
The site also comments on performance, saying that it's better than 4.4.4 Kitkat already, even at this early beta stage.
"If we compare the latest Lollipop build with the one we previewed earlier, it's a night and day difference," the site reports. "We are really amazed by the amount of progress Samsung's software engineers have made in such a short time."
SamMobile also released a second preview video last week for the S5, taking a closer look at what's been changed in the beta build since the first video. The article lists several improvements, including "New UI for setting wallpaper from home screen" and "New system-wide font - similar to the original one, but a tad thinner."
As for release date of Lollipop on these two phones and the rest of the Galaxy Note tablets, the progress of these builds seems to indicate that the S5, the Note 4, Note 3, and Note Edge will all be seeing updates at different times. The S5 will most likely see its update first, around the end of this month or into December, followed by the Note 4, Galaxy S4, and Note 3 early next year.
