Nexus 4 KitKat to lollipop. Downgradable if needed?

[markyb555]

Hi folks,
Relatively new to the rooting side of the handset so please bear with me if you can!

Had my nexus 4 just over 2 years and been quite happy with the hand set on the hole so much so I convinced the girlfriend to get a nexus 5 for her next handset! She has had her fair shares of issues since upgrading to 'L' with camera issues but ive stayed good and strong on KitKat 4.4.4.

Ive heard issues with battery life and such on the N4 so stayed clear of the upgrade despite being pestered to upgrade to 5.0.1. Since the new 'M' news ive heard the N4 won't be getting any new software (which is fair enough) but I'm contemplating giving it a try to see if any issues occur and the release of 5.1.1 which should see the battery and camera issues sorted.
Can I roll back to 4.4.4 if I lollipop isnt happy with the handset? Or will I be forced to use other software. Contemplated going down the cyanogenmod route but having not really 'played' with the phone behind the scenes, I'm asking for your opinions please.

Thanks

 

[Aquila]

You can install a former factory image via the SDK from this site: https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images

However, it's approximately the same degree of difficultly as flashing a custom ROM, etc. Doing so requires unlocking your bootloader, which wipes data from your device. As long as you're aware that downgrading takes a little bit of time and carefulness and it does a factory reset on the device when doing so, you're starting from the right place.

 

[anon(5527120)]

Yes, definitely go for the upgrade. You can always return to 4.4.4. My moto g 2nd gen came boxed with lollipop and I downgraded it to 4.4.4. Maybe you should ask your girlfriend to downgrade too if she's facing too many issues with lollipop