Help Upgrading Android on Alcatel One Touch Idol

[AndroidMarshmallow]

Hi,

I have an Alcatel One Touch Idol phone, when I go to settings and check for new Android updates, there is none. It only has installed the 4.1.1 Jellybean that comes from factory, which is frustrating to me.

With so many newer Android versions out there, Lollypop, Mashmallow, Nougat, how to manually get them and install them? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[chanchan05]

You can't. The only way to install a newer version of Android is if one was made specifically for your device. Which means if you see an installer for Lollipop for say, an S5, it won't work on your phone. It could actually break it. Some people make Android installets for various phones, but typically only the more popular flagships get third party update treatment. You can check out XDA's section for your device, but I honestly think that you're out of luck on such a phone.

 

[AndroidMarshmallow]

You can't. The only way to install a newer version of Android is if one was made specifically for your device. Which means if you see an installer for Lollipop for say, an S5, it won't work on your phone. It could actually break it. Some people make Android installets for various phones, but typically only the more popular flagships get third party update treatment. You can check out XDA's section for your device, but I honestly think that you're out of luck on such a phone.

Thanks for your reply. I wonder what is the most recent O.S. for my phone. The One Touch Idol still seems a good phone nowadays, with pretty decent hardware. It is fast, responsive, modern. I don't see any reason why Android 5, 6, 7 wouldn't work on my phone. What's the reason? Any limitations? I think my hardware is capable of running newer Android versions.

 

[chanchan05]

Thanks for your reply. I wonder what is the most recent O.S. for my phone. The One Touch Idol still seems a good phone nowadays, with pretty decent hardware. It is fast, responsive, modern. I don't see any reason why Android 5, 6, 7 wouldn't work on my phone. What's the reason? Any limitations? I think my hardware is capable of running newer Android versions.

Doesn't matter if hardware is capable. What matters is whether Alcatel wanted to spend money for the development of the upgrade and the servers to send it out. If they didn't, then you don't get updates.

 

[psionandy]

Thanks for your reply. I wonder what is the most recent O.S. for my phone. The One Touch Idol still seems a good phone nowadays, with pretty decent hardware. It is fast, responsive, modern. I don't see any reason why Android 5, 6, 7 wouldn't work on my phone. What's the reason? Any limitations? I think my hardware is capable of running newer Android versions.

As Chanchan05 said... thats a conversation you should have with Alcatel.... and if you do, let us know what they say.

 

[AndroidMarshmallow]

Doesn't matter if hardware is capable. What matters is whether Alcatel wanted to spend money for the development of the upgrade and the servers to send it out. If they didn't, then you don't get updates.

So Alcatel and each manufacturer need to develop their own upgrade software? Android is supposed to be universal, not dependent on specific brands, manufacturers. By the way, I'm not disagreeing with you, just gathering information.

As Chanchan05 said... thats a conversation you should have with Alcatel.... and if you do, let us know what they say.

Well... I could. But honestly, I got kinda disappointed with Alcatel support over the years.

 

[chanchan05]

So Alcatel and each manufacturer need to develop their own upgrade software? Android is supposed to be universal, not dependent on specific brands, manufacturers. By the way, I'm not disagreeing with you, just gathering information.



Well... I could. But honestly, I got kinda disappointed with Alcatel support over the years.

Android is universal. Each phone is not universal, and has specific hardware which needs specific drivers to run them. Unlike Windows where these drivers are online for download, or that basic generic drivers are loaded onto the Windows installer for almost any combination of hardware. these drivers are not readily available. Windows 10 installer size is 6GB, and when unpacked after installation reaches up to 20GB. To keep installation sizes small to allow 32GB and smaller phones, Android itself does not come with hardware drivers. These hardware drivers are made by the component manufacturers, because they are the one who designed the hardware. For example, on an S7, the camera sensor is made by Sony. If Sony decides to not make Nougat drivers for that camera, then if you update the S7 to Nougat without that driver, the camera will not work. Basically, it's useless to build an update for your phone if one of the component manufacturers did not make drivers. Some of the money spent on development of updates is paid to hardware manufacturers to make drivers.


A nice example is my current laptop. The manufacturer of the Bluetooth unit in my laptop did not make drivers for Windows 10, hence it can't use Bluetooth.

 

[psionandy]

Well... I could. But honestly, I got kinda disappointed with Alcatel support over the years.

You've summarized the problem in a single sentence... Part of the money you pay for the device, goes to Alcatel support..

Either they need to spend more money on support, or people need to spend more money with a different company.

 

[AndroidMarshmallow]

Android is universal. Each phone is not universal, and has specific hardware which needs specific drivers to run them. Unlike Windows where these drivers are online for download, or that basic generic drivers are loaded onto the Windows installer for almost any combination of hardware. these drivers are not readily available. Windows 10 installer size is 6GB, and when unpacked after installation reaches up to 20GB. To keep installation sizes small to allow 32GB and smaller phones, Android itself does not come with hardware drivers. These hardware drivers are made by the component manufacturers, because they are the one who designed the hardware. For example, on an S7, the camera sensor is made by Sony. If Sony decides to not make Nougat drivers for that camera, then if you update the S7 to Nougat without that driver, the camera will not work. Basically, it's useless to build an update for your phone if one of the component manufacturers did not make drivers. Some of the money spent on development of updates is paid to hardware manufacturers to make drivers.


A nice example is my current laptop. The manufacturer of the Bluetooth unit in my laptop did not make drivers for Windows 10, hence it can't use Bluetooth.

Whoa thanks for so much info at once, I had to take a while to digest all that.

I sense on your comment the classical old problem Linux vs Windows as in Windows has all the drivers for webcams, sound cards, video cards, etc. while Linux and Linux users always have problems with drivers and no drivers for the hardware they buy. You know, you bought a game, no Linux version, only for Windows DVD-Rom. You bought a webcam, it only comes with Windows drivers, no Linux drivers.

As Android is based on Linux, here we go again.

You've summarized the problem in a single sentence... Part of the money you pay for the device, goes to Alcatel support..

Either they need to spend more money on support, or people need to spend more money with a different company.

I agree with you they need to improve their support, a lot. As for me, I bought this phone some years ago and it was at a good price then, for the specs it has. When I bought it, I thought I would get new updates for Android, since Android is so famous for being open source, versatile, and so on. Well, not so fast... I'm stuck with the Android version from factory.

 

[Dannydet]

What the basic consumer needs to know isn't always available until after the fact.
As Android users, we need to be diligent with the carrier, manufacturer, and phone specifications beforehand..

With that said I'm converting to Amish and staying off the grid! Lol.