Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition (GPE) is now receiving the Android 5.1 update. This might took quite a while, but finally the over-the-air (OTA) update has rolled out today to this handset, with a catch that the device should be running stock AOSP firmware.
Even if the next major Android firmware is just around the corner, there are still a lot of devices that have yet to be updated to Lollipop, one of which is the Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition. Since February of this year, the Lollipop update was already available for Nexus devices, but has been delayed for the GPE platform. Nonetheless, the long wait is finally over for the owners of this handset.
The OTA update bumps up the software version from LRX21P to LMY470. Note that this update is Android 5.1 and not the Android 5.1.1, which is the latest public release of the platform. The rollout has just started to Galaxy S4 GPE, thus it might take some time for the firmware to go live for all users.
The Google Play Edition devices were launched a couple of years ago. It is said that the idea was to take flagships from some major OEMs and offer them with stock Android software. This edition ranked below the Nexus handsets in the release roadmap so that the users would also receive software updates quickly.
However, Google may already have lost interest in this program. As seen today, there has not been a new GPE device in ages and evidently the company does not give much priority to releasing new update for the existing GPE devices.
Those who would like to upgrade to the Android 5.1 firmware can install it through an OTA zip file manually. Moreover, GPE users can bank on custom ROM Lollipop upgrades as their handset have unlocked bootloaders, which support the installation of third-party firmware and root applications.
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