14 DAY TRIAL // It’s been a little more than a week since I received the Android Lollipop update for my Nexus 4 phone. Being the security conscious user that I am, the moment the notification came, I wasted no time accepting the installation request.
Since Google had already delayed the initial deployment to users in order to repair some serious bugs, I was confident that the upgrade would be stable on my device, despite it being of an older generation.
Also, I chose to disregard the complaints from other users about the problems they were facing with Lollipop, SMS sending in particular, a service that was not essential for me. Security features were more important.
Apart from fixing vulnerabilities, Google also strengthened isolation of individual apps with SELinux, which should translate into decreased risk of an exploit for an app to allow an attacker to read information from another app.
Trouble ahead
The first sign of trouble came the next day after the update, when I tried to send a few short text messages and noticed a few hours later that the command had not been executed. I was expecting this and already had a fallback plan, so I switched to web-based communication instead.
Receiving text messages is not completely impaired, but the info reached my device a week after it had been sent. On the other hand, this could very well be an issue with the carrier.
However, had this been the only issue with Lollipop, I wouldn’t have minded, but waves of problems came flooding over the next days, when I was on the road.
When the clock alarms no longer worked, at the beginning I blamed me for sleeping so deeply; but sleeping through all four of them set up at a five-minute interval?
So I began investigating and did some quick testing of the phone. The notification that an alarm was about to ring did pop on the screen, but no sound came out of my Nexus 4 at the set time. Unlike SMS, the alarm is an important function for me.
Important apps no longer work
Integrating support for other email services in the Gmail app was a great improvement from Google, and for good reason. Having the possibility to access multiple inboxes from the same place is a huge productivity boost.
However, in my case, it was a short-lived joy because after the initial tour of the new features, Gmail would crash immediately after launch. And the worst part was that the issue was not limited to Gmail. Other apps, YouTube included, that worked perfectly on KitKat would refuse to launch or crash immediately after on Lollipop.
Hangouts, Google Play Music, and the store app would not behave the same, but they would still be unusable; and still are at the moment of writing.
They launch and then simply hang, with no user input being recognized (the search field is available in the store app, but it does not perform a lookup).
Worth noting is that Gmail is currently working fine, but this is little consolation.
Device no longer connects to the computer
Of course, I could restore the device to the old KitKat and recover its functionality; or I could go with CyanogenMod for more control. The only trouble is that I need to backup all my data first and I have no dedicated app on the device that can also revert the procedure when needed.
More than this, it seems that Google Chrome only lets me browse the web, and it can no longer be used for downloading apps, in case I decided to downgrade security and allow installation from third-party sources.
If one thinks that sending the installation command from the Google Play using a desktop computer would solve the issue, one would be wrong. No downloads from the store or other repository reach my device.
Another problem is connecting to a computer, which provides an extended set of possibilities. But, apparently, my luck ran out completely because none of the computers I tried, three running Windows 7 and one with Windows 8 on it, would recognize the device, thus preventing me from retrieving the data before switching to a different operating system.
Backing up via ADB does not work
I imagine a regular user would be stuck at this stage, although there are tools, less user-friendly, one could turn to, and Android Debug Bridge (ADB) in Android SDK is one of them.
Before this, I tried Nexus Root Toolkit, which worked fine for storing text messages, call logs and contacts on the computer, but when I tried to save the media files, the operation either resulted in failure or in a zero-byte file. An empty folder was also the result of working with ADB.
At this point, there is one backup solution that I have not tried: BitTorrent Sync, which is available on the device and works to synchronize folders with a computer.
After this, my Nexus 4 will become a smartphone again running a different operating system. Waiting for Android 5.0.1 is not an alternative because I've seen a performance hit with Lollipop.