After what seemed like ages, Motorola and Verizon have finally gotten their act together and have started rolling out the Android 5.1 OTA update for the Droid Turbo.
The Droid Turbo was released as the flagship Droid handset on Verizon’s network last year. The handset was filled to the brim with top-notch internals, but ran on Android 4.4 KitKat that looked stale when compared to KitKat. Motorola has usually been quick to update its devices to the latest version of Android, so many customers got the Turbo in hope of something similar from the company.
That did not happen though, as the Android 5.0 update for the Droid Turbo kept getting delayed. Then once Google released Android 5.1, Motorola decided that it would be better to just skip Android 5.0 and update the handset to the latest version of Lollipop. The patience of Droid Turbo owners have finally paid off, as the Android 5.1 OTA update for the handset is now live on Verizon’s network in the United States. In case you have not yet received the OTA update notification, you can manually update the handset to Android 5.1 Lollipop by following the steps below.
Note: The below steps do not require root access and will not touch your personal data in anyway as well. They do, however, require that your Droid Turbo is unrooted and running the stock firmware from Motorola that has not been modified in anyway.
Step 1: Download the Android 5.1 OTA ZIP file of Droid Turbo from here and it to the internal storage of the handset.
Step 2: Switch off the device and proceed to boot it into Bootloader mode by pressing the Volume Down + Power buttons simultaneously.
Step 3: Once the bootloader mode comes up, use the Volume Down button to navigate to the ‘Recovery’ option. Then confirm your selection by pressing the Volume Up or the Power button.
Step 4: Your Droid Turbo will then automatically reboot and you will be greeted with an Android logo on the screen. Press and hold the Volume Up + Power button for 2-3 seconds to enter Recovery mode now.
Step 5: Once you are in Recovery mode, use the Volume buttons to navigate to the ‘apply update from sdcard’ option. Confirm your selection by pressing the Power key and then navigate and select the Android 5.1 OTA ZIP file you had transferred to the handset in Step 1.
Step 6: The OTA installation process will then start. It can take up to a few minutes so be patient. Once done, your handset should automatically reboot into Lollipop. If not, you can always manually select the ‘Reboot system now’ option in the Recovery mode.
The Android 5.1 Lollipop update for the Droid Turbo should bring about a noticeable improvement in performance. In addition, Turbo owners will also get to experience Google’s new Material Design in all its glory and new features like Smart Lock, Device Protection, App Pinning, and more. You can find the full release notes of the update here.
How are you liking the Lollipop experience on your Droid Turbo? Drop in a comment and let us know.
