Android L 5.0 Update Problems: Wi-Fi Connections, Lag, Performance Issues on Nexus 4, 5, 7 and 10

Nov 17, 2014 12:56 PM EST

Nexus 7
Google's Nexus 7 is one of the many Nexus devices currently experiencing problems with Android 5.0 Lollipop's launch. Photo: Google

Google's Nexus line of devices has begun to upgrade to the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system update last week, but Nexus users are saying that a host of issues and bugs are souring the launch.

The largest and most frequent issue reported on the Nexus forum centers around wi-fi connectivity. Sluggishness, dropped connections, and random crash bugs are making wi-fi difficult to use on the Nexus 5, Nexus 7, and Nexus 10. In addition, users are complaining of abnormal crashes when the device is plugged into its charger, app installation lag, cell data issues, corrupter software data, password usage bugs, Exchange service bugs, and Nexus 9 users say that an odd error message is even making the update unable to install at all.

Of course, launch-day bugs are nothing new to any software or device, and this Lollipop update is already better than last year's 4.4 Kitkat update on Nexus devices, but many Nexus users are upset over these issues in combination with the fact that Android 5.0 Lollipop has already taken so long to get to them.

Android 5.0 Lollipop is the latest version of the popular Android mobile operating system from developer Google. The update brings with it a host of new features, including an overhauled user interface called Material Design, a visual redesign, improvements to notifications and security, and a much more efficient use of the device's battery, resulting in increased battery life.

Android Lollipop was first announced on June 25, 2014 and came out as a source code launch to developers on November 3. This allowed the various Android device manufacturers and cell carriers to start the process of customizing the open-source code to their own phones and tablets. This has always been a big draw of the mobile OS over its competition. But November 12 was Lollipop's official over-the-air roll-out date for Nexus and Google Play edition devices. Since that roll-out date, the Nexus forums have been busy with bug reports.

If you're experiencing a problem with your installation of Lollipop on your Nexus device, head over to the Nexus product forums where several quick fixes are already being worked out.

With the overall sluggishness and lag issues, some users are stating that it may be a conflict with the Google Now Launcher. Shut down the launcher and it may solve your problem. Another known fix, reportedly straight from Google, is to clear the recovery cache partitions.

Earlier battery drain issues were a result of too many screen wake-ups occurring while the device was using wi-fi, and that bug was quickly fixed. But the more frequent wi-fi problems are still going on.

Phone Arena has pointed out that many of these issues have been going on since October, with the wi-fi issue first brought to Google's attention in a thread started on October 17th.

Android 5.0 Lollipop is currently being rolled out to the Nexus 5, Nexus 4, Nexus 7 (2012 and 2013 editions), and Nexus 10 with other manufacturers still to come.