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Help Is it worth me updating to Lollipop from KitKat

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k13ehr

Newbie
From what I can gather it seems to be a face lift more than anything, it seems like I'll use up almost 1gb more space so more bloatwear.

I was hoping that we would get to use the SD card to run apps, perhaps be at last able to delete some of the default apps that many of us will never ever use, and have an opt in system instead as I'm sure these (for me) unused apps provide something for others.

On my S4 I have a constant nag to install Lollipop, why can I not turn this off, I have been a fan of Android for a long time, but it is not getting better in my opinion we are just getting less control.

We seem these days to be at the mercy of some nerds in little offices deciding how I use my phone or tablet, sorry but I would prefer to do that.

Kev.
 
Hmmm, you can try this method that a guy from AC did. It doesn't seem like a harmful way so I guess you can give it a shot.

I seemed to have found a simple workaround to stop it from auto-updating and even remove the notifications!
First, turn off WI-FI
Second, you need to get mobile data usage turned off
Under settings->Data Usage unchecking the box labeled "Mobile Data" SHOULD work for this! However...that wasn't the method I used.
I guess I wasn't thinking to do the above method, instead I did "Limit mobile data usage". The lowest I could move the bar down was 0.1GB above my current data usage. After doing that, I started downloading a couple random apps (while continuing to force stop the 5.0 update every minute or so) until I got a notification that my data usage limit had been reached and thus data usage was disabled!

The auto-update still popped up once again, but after it attempted to download for like 10 minutes it failed.
One final pop-up saying the update had failed and that in order to get the update I need to manually go to System Updates and check for updates!
I re-enabled data usage and turned WI-FI back on...NO auto-update attempts. NO notifications. NO pop-ups.
Click to expand...

I hate it when company push updates to our faces so I thank god my phone doesn't nag me about the pending update on my phone.
 
Jhayzone said:
Hmmm, you can try this method that a guy from AC did. It doesn't seem like a harmful way so I guess you can give it a shot.



I hate it when company push updates to our faces so I thank god my phone doesn't nag me about the pending update on my phone.
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Cheers, but it's already downloaded to the phone my only option now is to install or not.

I'm not too bothered about the update it's the loss of 1gb of space which is annoying, as I have plenty of apps loaded, so I would have to lose some and to be honest I think the Android writers need a kick in the rear, and I would be happy to oblige.

I'd tell them what I thought if I could contact them.
 
Found another from AC. This is when you have already downloaded the update but haven't installed it yet.

I know of a way to delay the inevitable just hope I'm not too late to inform you all. First let me say there isn't any way to cancel the download of the update; but theres a way to cancel the installation of the update.

OH PS. If you unsure of this: please backup all data and such prior to doing this task

Step 1. When it says "Download Complete Ready to Install" Turn off Device
Step 2: Recovery Mode: Hold Down the Volume (ooh if you have the Galaxy s5 its the left TOP button) Top button; hold down the Home Button and Power on the Device.

If you did that step correctly you should see Blue Wording saying "Recovery Mode"
If you did it incorrectly and it says "Custom Rom OS" don't touch anything and remove battery for 30seconds and repeat Step 2; one more time; make sure you're holding down and keeping down Top Button (Volume); Home Button, Power until Recovery mode appears

Step 3: Scroll Down to "Clear Cache Data", hit Power button once (which selects it)
(this step doesn't erase anything off your phone, trust me I've done it; when you download an OTA clearing cache erases that)
Step 4: Repeat two more times
Step 5: It should default to "Reboot Now"..........do it; Reboot
Step 6: Once phone is back online it will say "Install Update"
Step 7: Hit "Install the update"
Step 8: If you watch the Android Guy it will say Error and Reboot phone
Step 9: It should say "Update failed; no changes made"
Click to expand...

If Step 3 concerns you I can positively say that it doesn't erase anything since I've done it a few times when fixing my friends and family's phones and tablets but to be sure make sure you make a backup. Anyway, it still up to you if you're willing to take the risk but I'm pretty sure it shouldn't do any harm to your phone since its simply just clearing the cache.
 
chanchan05 said:
Well lollipop is also supposed to have better battery management scripting. It's a major update, and a lot more than the facelift you see. A lot more happened under the hood that you don't really see.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. There are a tonne of changes under the hood not least ART being the new default runtime environment. It's much more than a cosmetic facelift.
 
k13ehr said:
Cheers, but it's already downloaded to the phone my only option now is to install or not.

I'm not too bothered about the update it's the loss of 1gb of space which is annoying, as I have plenty of apps loaded, so I would have to lose some and to be honest I think the Android writers need a kick in the rear, and I would be happy to oblige.

I'd tell them what I thought if I could contact them.
Click to expand...

I don't think it will actually cost you 1gb of space since it will be replacing the current Android version. Basically writing over what is already installed
 
Jfalls63 said:
I don't think it will actually cost you 1gb of space since it will be replacing the current Android version. Basically writing over what is already installed
Click to expand...

This is what I see on my S4
2015-10-11%2015.39.08.png
 
Jhayzone said:
Found another from AC. This is when you have already downloaded the update but haven't installed it yet.



If Step 3 concerns you I can positively say that it doesn't erase anything since I've done it a few times when fixing my friends and family's phones and tablets but to be sure make sure you make a backup. Anyway, it still up to you if you're willing to take the risk but I'm pretty sure it shouldn't do any harm to your phone since its simply just clearing the cache.
Click to expand...

It's step 6 which I would hesitate doing, after all my OP is about avoiding doing this, not I'd be confident following this.

Kev
 
Only thing I can think of would be to try a file explorer to locate the update and see if you can delete it. Then maybe disable software updates in applications manager.
 
Only thing I can think of would be to try a file explorer to locate the update and see if you can delete it.
Click to expand...

He needs to be rooted to do iirc.



I tried to look around some more but every points to clearing the cache of your phone or performing a factory reset.

I'll just post it here if you're interested.

Very simple:
1. Do a backup for your phone data
2. Restore the phone to factory default setting (that will delete all the downloaded data from your phone including that update)
3. Very important: after reboot, when you will perform the initial settings steps (like connecting the phone to a Google account) a data connection will be activated (Wifi or mobile data) and at the end of this initial process the phone will immediately start to download this update again. Turn off than very fast any data connection (the update will stop downloading and an error message will occur) and go to phone settings and deselect the autoupdate option od the OS and the wifi update option. Than go to the app manager and deactivate an app called "software update" (I don't know for sure if this app is very important to be deactivated for this purpuse because I still see it running but that's how I did)

That's all and works just fine. You will never be prompted for this update again
Click to expand...

This one is a reply on the above quote

Hey.. i've just join this site to reply you. Thanks for your help and simple solution.
I've done all backup and master reset (factory restore+Cache partition remove) my device just few minutes before, What i have done more is i did not connect to WiFi while start-up configuration, I avoid Eula Samsung feedback for progress updates and all that so i check to "No Thanks" and i did not add samsung account. After booting completely, i disable Auto system updates and uncheck all options in "settings>about phone>system updates" , then disable or turn off the System Updates app from Application manager.
But there were 2 Update applications running , one has the option to turn off but the other one is having dim/solid button , not able to turn off that 1.
and by writing this it was almost 45minutes and there is no Update option , i m using watsppp , imo , and play store. wifi is on too.
Everything Is Good till now. will Update you tomorrow or day after tomorrow.
smile.png

and Thanks Again.
Click to expand...


Turn off phone
Remove the battery and reinsert.
Hold down the Home and Volume Up keys
Press and hold the Power button while still holding the other keys.
You will see small blue writing in the upper left corner. When you see it, release all keys/buttons.
Wait for the system restore menu in yellow to appear and a little robot lying on it's back
Press on the Volume Down to scroll down to "Wipe Cache Partition."
Press the Power button to select it.
Press the Volume down button to highlight "Yes" and press the Power Button to select it.
Wait for a few minutes for the phone to clear the data.
Then press the Power button to select "reboot system now."
Wait for your phone to reboot.

That night (before midnight as I had told it to upgrade at 1 AM), I turned off the phone and removed the battery (This step might not be required, but it's what I did)

For my wife's phone, we had checked the box "install automatically" when we "allowed" the download of the update, and on mine, I didn't check that box.

For my wife's phone (having checked the "install automatically" box), when we turned the phone back on the next morning it came on, then turned off (trying to do the system upgrade) and then the little android robot appeared with "Error". Later on, on the home screen, a message appeared "system update unsuccessful, no changes were made." Then everything was fine.

For my phone, where I did NOT tell it to install automatically, a message box appeared saying the install was ready, option is to install now or later. I pressed "install now" and the phone turned off, then behaved as above for my wifes phone.

The update DID NOT INSTALL and the phone was just fine in every respect, BUT WITHOUT LOLLIPOP being installed against my will. I like the KitKat build, my phone is working fine, and my motto is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"
Click to expand...
 
chanchan05 said:
The update file is 1GB, but if you install it, the file will be deleted after installation. It will only eat additional 1GB as long as you leave it uninstalled.
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Not sure why you would say that?

It says the file size is "991.25mb", and once installed "your available memory will decrease by a minimum of 950Mbytes" to me that's 1gb as near as damn it
 
Because it will replace some files, thereby overwriting them and thus not increasing space at all.

Your call. Had a similar warning before on my Note when I updated but didn't had any change in memory size I noticed. But still, your call. At this point AFAIK the benefits of Lollipop far outweighs 1GB of lost space.
 
Lollipop is pretty sweet. I have it on my moto G and while I really liked Kitkat, I think lollipop is awesome!
I didn't lose any additional space when I updated.
 
That update file may indeed be close to a GB in size but you're assuming for whatever reason that's just going to copy itself onto the end of the existing Android operating system on your phone. That's just not the case. That 990+ file contains a bunch of individual files that do get added to your phone's existing operating system files but most are overwriting/replacing old files with newer, updated ones. So while the actual amount of disk space KitKat will take up on your phone will be slightly more compared to Lolipop, you'll be gaining not only more features but also optimizations on existing ones.
Of course depending on how you use your phone those features may or may not even be worth the bother to you. But don't forget that there are serious issues running older versions of any operating system.
 
svim said:
That update file may indeed be close to a GB in size but you're assuming for whatever reason that's just going to copy itself onto the end of the existing Android operating system on your phone. That's just not the case. That 990+ file contains a bunch of individual files that do get added to your phone's existing operating system files but most are overwriting/replacing old files with newer, updated ones. So while the actual amount of disk space KitKat will take up on your phone will be slightly more compared to Lolipop, you'll be gaining not only more features but also optimizations on existing ones.
Of course depending on how you use your phone those features may or may not even be worth the bother to you. But don't forget that there are serious issues running older versions of any operating system.
Click to expand...


So why does it say it will take up more 950mb more space if it isn't going to, surely that would only put people off, I'm not even happy with KitKat, I preferred JB.

Like Windows 10 I think I will be waiting a long time before upgrading if at all.
 
I think that message is just a precaution. If poeple are saying that it will not really eat 1gb then I guess we can trust them. Anyway, I also wanna thank this thread for the info because my phone manufacturer just announced that my unit will receive a lollipop update.
 
k13ehr said:
This is what I see on my S4
2015-10-11%2015.39.08.png
Click to expand...
k13ehr said:
So why does it say it will take up more 950mb more space if it isn't going to, surely that would only put people off, I'm not even happy with KitKat, I preferred JB.

Like Windows 10 I think I will be waiting a long time before upgrading if at all.
Click to expand...

FWIW I recently upgrade Win 8.1 to 10 on a tablet, and it didn't take any additional space, once I'd deleted the "Windows.old" folder. And also I've upgraded a couple of phones to Lollipop, including a Samsung S4, but that was CyaonogenMod and not Samsung firmware. Is your S4 a carrier customized and subsidized version, e.g. Verizon, could be additional carrier bloat?
 
I'm not sure if it is worth it. I received a notification that my phone is going to receive an update but I'm quite apprehensive after hearing a lot of issues with Lollipop
 
Laffingdroid said:
I'm not sure if it is worth it. I received a notification that my phone is going to receive an update but I'm quite apprehensive after hearing a lot of issues with Lollipop
Click to expand...

Depending on what phone you've actually got, any initial problems with Lollipop were solved a while back now, it's been out for over a year and has been well pounded on. :) But there are a some devices that can still have problems, but that's down to a few manufacturers and particular devices rather than actual problems with the Android version itself.

It's Marshmallow were you might start hearing people howling about now, because that's only just gone to wide release and is being rolled out.
 
It's the way these are rolled out which I also find annoying, you must have all these rubbish side apps which I never use, if I need a particular app, we have Google Play to go to.

I reckon half my storage is taken up by default junk I don't need when will developers realise they are digging their own graves with all this clutter.

The first thing I do after starting any device for the first time is bin all the icons I'll never need, if nothing else it means I can more easily find the ones I do want to use, and means less panes to wade through once I've installed my preferred apps.

I've yet to find an OS which is truly user friendly, they are more interested in shoving yet more useless apps at you, which might not be so bad if smartphones had followed the PC trend of giving you ever more storage, but some phones are still under supplied with only 8gb of space.

Does anyone have an accurate figure of the space taken up by KitKat &/or Lollipop, Google search seems somewhat vague.
 
It's vague because it differs per phone model based on what the manufacturer included. Kitkat + TouchWiz on a Samsung flagship range device takes up over 3GB.
 
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