There aren’t too many Android users that are actually using Lollipop just yet. Primarily it’s Nexus devices and a few Motorola devices that have received the update so far, but as we approach 2015 many more devices will receive updates to the latest Android operating system, and there’s a bit of an issue.
While Lollipop went through a fairly extensive testing and public review process, a nasty little bug has snuck through and users are starting to notice the issues. Under certain circumstances, Android 5.0 and 5.0.1 suffer a memory leak, and when the system runs out of allocatable memory, Android basically craps itself and tries to close apps to recover the memory. The problem? This doesn’t work, because it isn’t an app that’s causing the problem, it’s Android itself.
The only way to (temporarily) recover when this situation arises is to restart your phone or tablet, but that will only work until the system runs out of memory next. What we need is a more permanent fix, and it looks like Google’s onto it.
Google has agreed that this is a bug, and that it has been fixed in the source code. This doesn’t do anything to help users today, but when we see the next releases of Android 5.0 (probably as 5.0.3) the bug will be fixed, with others.
Are you running Android 5.0 / 5.0.1, and have you noticed this issue on your devices? Let us know.
Seen on my Nexus 5 – at one point almost every app that I tried to opened was getting killed. Reboot daily to avoid the problem (I was tempted to rollback to KitKat) until the fix is deployed.
Other than that – Lollipop is AWESOME!
I have an 2013 N7 running 5.0 since October. Do yourself huge favor, do not install 5.x until Google resolves the issues. I have been stuck with tablet that is beyond frustrating. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to snap it in half b/c its frozen and won’t respond to any input. That includes attempting to turn the unlit off. At one point I figured I wait for the battery to depleted and that would shut it down, it was that frozen. Out of frustration I put the unit down in about 15 minutes later I was… Read more »
I’m on 5.0.1 and i havent noticed any issues…. well yet that is
this week I’ve started to notice it’s a bit slow loading my homescreen when I leave an app then when I looked at the memory usage the system has consume half of it
Got sick of all the lolliflop issues on my Nexus 5 and now happily back on 4.4.4 with ElementalX kernel
I’m on 5.01 and it’s certainly been affecting me!
2014 Moto x pure edition 32G w lollipop here….I haven’t noticed any problems except voice command stopped after 3rd day, I restarted my device and haven’t had the problem since.
I dropped 5.0.2 on my wife’s 2012 Nexus 7 last night. Does anyone know if the memory leak has been addressed in 5.0.2?
I don’t think so. The issue was closed after 5.0.2 was released for the N7 2012.
OK. Well, it’s going good so far. As good as a 2 and a half year old tablet could be expected to run on the latest OS anyway.
If nothing else it’s nice and lean.
Google has a track record of botched OS releases. KitKat wasn’t really stable until 4.4.3 or 4.4.4 either. This issue effects my N7 2013 running 5.0.1. Every couple of days I have to turn my tablet off and on again.
Turning your tablet on and off is a good thing regardless. That’s a massive case of first world problems if you ask me.
This explains a lot. After a couple of days notifications stop on my Moto 360 for txt and more stop as time goes on, MS Outlook email client crashes when trying to send emails, opening a photo in Photos takes forever if you don’t have a good wifi or data signal and screen transitions slow down badly, facebook is a dog on Android 5. I like Lollipop but it isn’t quite right yet.
It’s December 31st 2014, Samsung S6 should be on display at CES2015. still no update for Aussie S5. Samsung wonders why they are losing market share. And now Lollypop has a flaw. this certainly is not a good look for Android. I hope by the time we officially get the update the bug would have been fixed before release rather than a fix.. this year I had 3 S5 replacements for the camera issue. the phone now is working perfect.
Read the release notes of any software product and you’ll wonder how they ever worked in the first place 🙂
As for updates, Samsung has always been slow at updates. One of the reasons I wouldn’t buy them
Not as slow as HTC ….
That’s why I stopped buying Samsungs, and Touchwiz is way too laggy! 🙂
First of all, it’s spelled lollipop. Second, Samsung is already rolling out lollipop worldwide. They have been for a while. If you want to blame someone, blame the carrier you’re on.
Last time I looked, Samsung was not losing market share.
I think he was referring to losing market share, not being out sold.
OK. Point taken. Maybe I misunderstood.
Sujay I wasn’t going to ask you an thing, Samsung has lost ground this year they have not done well with the S5 as far as sales go. Companies Like LG, HTC just to name a couple are doing good business globally. I must not speak English very well. Thank you “The Bagging Man” I know here in Australia The LG G3 is selling very good here it might have something to do with the price. I have been a Samsung supporter for years, I had the original galaxy, S3, S4 LTE , galaxy S5 and the note 4. I… Read more »