Problem with Android 5.1 Lollipop

[Guest pgaunt]

Since upgrading to Lollipop at the weekend (I'm one of those for who the update was available) I've had a couple of problems which I can't solve. What they're due to and whether they're affecting anyone but me I couldn't say. I've just sent a lengthy question to Tesco support. Rather than explain the problem all over again here I'll just paste what I wrote to Tesco. My Hudl is not and never has been rooted by the way.

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My Hudl 2 was upgraded to Android 5.1 (Lollipop) at the weekend. Generally it's fine but there's definitely a problem somewhere.

It first showed up in the Guardian app. If I scroll the stories (but not the comments or section home pages) there is a lot of flickering a stalling. This ONLY happens when the Hudl is in portrait mode, only when scrolling upwards and, bizarrely DOESN'T happen if the Hudl is upside down, ie with the USB port at the top.

I now find this problem affects photo viewing apps too such as QuickPic and the built in Photos. Again it ONLY happens in portrait mode (whether upside down or not). Swiping left or right to go to the next pic is fine for a couple of pics and then becomes very sluggish with much waiting around for anything to happen.

I have tried other photo apps and found the problem only occurs if the app is 'full screen'. If the 'soft keys' at the bottom are visible the problem doesn't occur. I have now found an app (which I don't like because of the ads) which doesn't turn the soft keys off and it’s fine.

It also seems to me after these problems have shown up that the Hudl slows down for a while. The soft keys for example become somewhat unresponsive with a second or two’s delay before anything happens.

In addition to this I have a problem when waking up the Hudl from the lock screen. Sometimes pressing the power button works but other times either nothing happens or the lock screen appears briefly before turning off again. I have found that the screen IS active if this happens and swiping up from the bottom wakes the Hudl up after a four or five seconds delay.

I have tried doing a factory data reset followed by a reinstall from the backup on Google's servers and this has made no difference - the problem persists.

Is this a known problem which you can help with? I find it difficult to believe that you've released Android 5.1 in this state. It's turned what was a rather lovely machine into a bit of a pain in the neck.

I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks.

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I'll report here if I hear anything sensible from them.

 

[Guest CPN200]

I, for one, would be very interested in their reply if any... There were quite a few issues when I first got 5.1 on my Nexus 5 but the 5.1.1 update seemed to resolve those.

I'm surprised that Tesco didn't just jump straight to 5.1.1 actually...

[Guest warwound]

Sounds similar to an issue i had on my Moto G when i upgraded to Lollipop.

The solution was:

Settings > Developer options > Tick "Disable HW overlays"

[Guest pgaunt]

Settings > Developer options > Tick "Disable HW overlays"

Ah-ha! That does indeed solve the flickering and stalling problem although I had to fathom out how to turn on the developer options first (hit the 'build number' seven times in 'About tablet'). Not sure if it solves the wake up option. It seems to but time will tell on that one. Thanks an awful lot!

I think I'll wait until I hear back from Tesco support (assuming I do) and see what they say before telling them about this :-)

Is disabling HW overlays likely to have any noticeable bad effects?

[Guest pudpoh]

Not had any issues with my hudl after lollipop update, made sure I updated all apps, went into recovery and cleared the cache. Had huge battery drain for around 6-7 hours, pretty sure this something to do with apps being recompiled for art runtime. Battery life now is way better than kit kat and my tablet seems to be running better than ever.

[Guest pgaunt]

Not had any issues with my hudl after lollipop update, made sure I updated all apps, went into recovery and cleared the cache. Had huge battery drain for around 6-7 hours, pretty sure this something to do with apps being recompiled for art runtime. Battery life now is way better than kit kat and my tablet seems to be running better than ever.

Yes, I had a similar experience with the battery. I'm still finding a little bit of sluggishness when returning to the home screen after pressing the middle soft key but that had started to happen under Kit-Kat in the past month or two. I wonder if clearing the cache might help there - can I do it without being rooted?

[Guest CPN200]

Yes

[Guest CPN200]

Recovery menu. After power off , hold power on and volume up until the screen appears... Volume up/down to move up/down the list, power button to select

[Guest pgaunt]

Recovery menu. After power off , hold power on and volume up until the screen appears... Volume up/down to move up/down the list, power button to select

Thankee kindly. Done that. I shall see if it makes any difference.

[Guest pgaunt]

Next question: is there any way to make 'Disable HW overlays' survive a power off/on cycle?

[Guest pgaunt]

I've just heard from Tesco support. They told me to do what I'd already done (reset, reload all the apps and clear cache and data).

I've replied to that and told them what does work (disabling hardware overlays) and suggested the problem needs passing on the development team.

Sigh.

[Guest mindmagic]

Google have issued a number of security updates to Lollipop - there was one yesterday. If Tesco are going to release it to the Hudl 2 it needs to be the latest version.

[Guest CPN200]

Indeed. Got my update on the Nexus 5 yesterday also. Tesco's update process seems painfully slow. They're taking way to long about it...

[Guest pgaunt]

I've now had a further suggestion from Tesco about solving the problem. They suggested uninstalling updates to Android System WebView and reinstalling. Made no difference but it perhaps suggests there may be a problem there too. I've replied to tell them this and said my aim is to help find bugs which can be fixed not to moan for no good reason.

Meanwhile the, I hope temporary, solution of disabling hardware overlays continues to work with no apparent side effects. The only problem with it is that the setting doesn't stick if I power off and on again.

[Guest mindmagic]

My Hudl 2 is downloading the Lollipop update (5.1). I'm not sure if I want to apply it ...

[Guest CPN200]

Mine's currently encrypting all of its files so if you want to hang on, I'll let you know how well it went (or not)...

[Guest mindmagic]

Thanks. I shall certainly hang on!

[Guest CPN200]

Ok, looks like I'm done and dusted! However, it wasn't without a few hiccups along the way but the watch phrase must be "don't panic!" :)

One of the main issues was Google play services which kept stopping whilst all the apps were being updated (and I do mean "ALL"). Quickest way around this problem seemed to be to keep on going into the apps section of settings and clearing GPS's cache when it was needed then rebooting until Google play services finally managed to get itself updated successfully (which happens in the background with no direct control possible) and then it started to go a little more smoothly...

Also, at one point I booted into recovery and made sure the system cache partition was reformatted and clear but it's very important that you have a reasonable amount of internal memory free (the update gobbled up a gig on mine!) and that you wait for every single app to get updated via the play store before you try and use your tablet...

Have to say that right now it seems to be running more snappily than before but time will tell... Oh and I did have a couple of occasions when the wifi went off randomly on a restart but a further reboot fixed that and things are now smooth...

[Guest pgaunt]

The small update (2.1.0) to lollipop has bricked my Hudl. After installing the update the system rebooted and got as far as the 'hudl' screen with the pulsating star and will not go any further. I've booted up in recovery mode once and wiped the cache but it still just sits there. I'm about to try a factory reset which is a pain in the bum.

[Guest CPN200]

It took a long time for the "small update" to update all the applications I had installed on mine... Did you wait long enough?

[Guest pgaunt]

About 15 minutes (perhaps a little more) which is less time than I waited after the full Lollipop update. I've now done a factory reset and it's booted up. Unfortunately, I now have to spend the rest of the evening getting everything back how I want it. Hum bahbug!

Edited September 28, 2015 by pgaunt

[Guest mindmagic]

Sounds like a very good reason to stay with KitKat. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[Guest CPN200]

...ah but then you'd be missing out on all the new Lollipop goodness now wouldn't you?! ;)

...notice that the SD Card slot now supports 128Gb cards also...

 

Edited September 29, 2015 by CPN200

[Guest CPN200]

Ok, today I have now completed the Lollipop update to our two Hudl2's. These are both completely standard and unrooted. They are (and were before the update) both setup to use the Google Now Launcher instead of the Tesco one (which is rubbish) and all the Tesco Apps (bar one) have been and are still, disabled. Each has a total app count installed of around the 200 mark.

In both cases it took the best part of 2 hours for each one to fully complete the update process and by complete, I don't just mean the system update itself but also all of the app updates that were triggered and became required due to the update changes.

This time also included all of the optimisations that the system itself did and also the time taken for Google's core apps (the ones that DON'T appear in the app store) to get their "knickers untwisted", cause reboots when they felt like it and eventually update themselves so that the rest of the app updates went smoothly (which they wouldn't until this part completed) but once those hiccups and a couple of cache partition cleanups were done, everything completed nicely with not a single need to re-install anything at all, no loss of any user data and no further "bumps in the road" as it were... edit: I nearly forgot to mention that most of our apps (that can be) are moved to the SD card and these also survived the update process without drama...

Both Tablets are now running really well and the only downside I can tell from inspection "before/after" is the loss of roughly 900Mb of available RAM that got eaten up in the process. In all other ways they both are running snappier and smoother than before and so far not a single problem from any application that either I or my wife uses regularly.

This pretty much reflects the update experience I had on my (standard, none rooted) Nexus 5 when I updated that from KitKat to Lollipop also last year...

Edited September 29, 2015 by CPN200

[Guest CPN200]

After a bit of consideration, I thought I ought to say that the average none Android savvy novice user would almost certainly suffer problems with this update because of all the (seemingly) random things that happen whilst updating, simply because they probably wouldn't know how to react, overcome them or what remedial action to take to complete the update successfully and Tesco Technical deserve all the support calls they are liable to get out of this... Just my 2 cent's worth...