Android 5.1 Lollipop for the Moto G (XT1028, Verizon Prepaid)

[Rich215]

Am i correct in reading that Verizon has officially released the Lollipop update to the 2013 (post paid) Moto G?

I have a post paid Moto G 2013 I am now setting up for a family member. Been reading lots of bad experiences with updating to Lollipop on these devices.

Should I continue to hold off on updating from 4.4.4?

 

[Ry]

Re: Verizon sends out Lollipop to Moto G first gen?

Mine's updating.

 

[Rich215]

Re: Verizon sends out Lollipop to Moto G first gen?

Ry, can't wait to see your opinion after using the phone with Lollipop on it. I got somewhat hesitant to upgrade after reading about so many people that wanted to revert back to kitkat from the 5.0 update on there 1st gen G's.

Maybe the Verizon update will have some issues sorted out?

I just dont want to hand this phone over to the family member if it will have problems running 5.0+. It runs very well with 4.4.4 now.

 

[ericlf]

The update went smoothly on my phone. It took about an hour for the two part update to complete and then another 30 minutes for apps to update. Needed to restart the phone a couple of times before Google Play Services would update. Many apps needed an update. The phone seems to perform the same to me, although, I just use it to text and check email.

 

[Ry]

Re: Verizon sends out Lollipop to Moto G first gen?

Ry, can't wait to see your opinion after using the phone with Lollipop on it. I got somewhat hesitant to upgrade after reading about so many people that wanted to revert back to kitkat from the 5.0 update on there 1st gen G's.

Maybe the Verizon update will have some issues sorted out?

I just dont want to hand this phone over to the family member if it will have problems running 5.0+. It runs very well with 4.4.4 now.

Just a note, I use it as a WiFi device.

 

[boxodonuts]

Re: Verizon sends out Lollipop to Moto G first gen?

My wife and I both have 1st Gen 2013 Moto G's on Verizon prepaid (XT1028).
I had all but given up on getting Lollipop on them.
Got the update notification Friday afternoon on my phone and updated it first. It was 2 separate updates - first one maybe 10 minutes, second one total time less than half hour. Everything went without any problems - I did it over wifi at home. I planned to do a factory reset after the update but it wasn't necessary. I cleaned up a bunch of stuff including deleting a bunch of apps off my phone before the update but turns out that wasn't necessary. Phone works better with Lollipop IMO. I'm using Google Now Launcher and pretty darn happy with the performance. No reboots, crashes, etc.
Did the update on my wife's phone on Sunday. On her's I didn't do anything to prep for the update, just made sure on wifi, plugged into charger and clicked "Yes, I'm in". It took the same amount of time and her phone is working really well after the update too. She actually commented that it's faster now. Everything was still there after the update including wallpaper and even her home screen apps/icons were there in the same place, etc. She was happy. On her's we're using the default built-in launcher rather than the Google Now Launcher like I'm using. It works basically the same, but with the GNL on mine I have larger icons.
I'm happy we'll get some more mileage out of these nice budget phones - and I only paid $69 for them ~1.5 years ago.

 

[boxodonuts]

Re: Verizon sends out Lollipop to Moto G first gen?

BTW if you don't know the trick about changing the animation scale settings in the Developer Options google it. I have both of our phones set to Off for all three of those settings in Lollipop and the phone works great this way. I had the same setup in KitKat but had some weirdness with the dialer coming up correct. Set up this way in Lollipop the phone is nice and snappy, and no issues with the dialer.
HTH
Tried to add link for howto regarding the animation scale settings but I'm not allowed to post links or even URLs yet. I found step by step instructions on CNET.

 

[Rich215]

Re: Verizon sends out Lollipop to Moto G first gen?

Well, i just went ahead and updated to 5.1 on this Moto G. Now that I have it installed with no problems what so ever......I only want a dark theme on it. Looks like that is not possible without root.

Can a verizon Moto G 2013 be rooted on 5.1? Cant stand not having a dark theme!

 

[Javier P]

You could try a custom launcher. It would give you different options to personalise your home screens and app drawer. Much easier than rooting and you can go back to the stock launcher with just a couple of taps.

 

[Kiss of Crazy]

I have been searching the all mighty Google but nothing worked for me. Thought I would share my solution with the hope someone will share a better, easier or quicker way to do this. Also, this is my first post here, so hopefully you will all be gentle.

PROBLEM: Just using the phone for wifi. Can't bypass Verizon activation screen/setup wizard after upgrading to 5.1 and doing a factory reset. No soft keys, pull down menu not an option.

SOLUTION: Allow the setup wizard
to go through the entire auto activation process for a new customer, you'll have to put in a zip code (used to assign local phone #) and set up a PIN but no other personal info. Had to pick a plan (Don't think it matters but I chose the cheapest one) and then prompted for my payment method the last option, “pay later".* I was given a new phone number and at the very end of the call I was asked again for my payment method and was still able to choose 'pay later'.* At some point in between all that you'll get switched to elevator music for a min or so while the phone does whatever it has to do to activate. The rest of the set up was the same as before, including access to soft keys and pull down menu.

It does appear to have cell service . I assume verizon will just cut off service when there's no payment. Anyone have more info on this?

Sorry such a rambling post but one last thought....I've vaguely read about the new Google anti theft thing. Whatever makes this kick in must not have happened in my case. I had no issues after completely skipping the google sign in process during set up.

 

[henser]

i made a workaround in this video on youtube playlist, unfortunately i cant post links

this is for the users who updated thru the ota and did a factory reset

/playlist?list=PLW1aE2He3-svbhn09ZEi_ipfY5KBbrE_P

PS:

I am out of the us. venezuela, this seems to work with users in canada and maybe users in the us.