Manually Checking for OTA Updates in Android Smartphones

A few months after Google announces a version update for Android operating systems, most of the leading smart phone manufacturers follow the suite and start releasing the updated version of the Android OS through the OTA updates (over the air or wireless updates). Usually when these updates are available for your model of smart phone, you will receive a notification on your phone and you can proceed for update. But in some phone models you can manually check for any available updates too. Although this option is not available in many smart phones, more and more newer smart phones are coming with this option.

Here is how you can check for OTA or wireless updates in your Android smart phone:

  1. On the home screen of your Android device, press the menu key and select Settings or System Settings from the menu that appears.
  2. On the Settings screen, scroll down to the bottom and select About Phone or About Tablet.Android Wireless Updates
  3. On the About Phone (or About Tablet) screen, you have to select the option labeled Wireless Update or OTA Update.
  4. This will open the Wireless Update screen where you are given some basic information about how the Android system is updated. You are informed that your device must have more than 30% battery charge before you attempt to perform an update and that the update should be performed over high speed WiFi connection. You can touch Check for Updates button to proceed.Android Wireless Updates
  5. If the updates are available, then they will be downloaded and installed after your confirmation. In the settings for the wireless updates, you can choose to enable automatic updates, change the update frequency and choose to update through WiFi only (to prevent mobile data charges).

Conclusion: Its very easy to manually check for available system updates in your Android smart phone. This way you can get your Android system up-to-date at your own leisure whenever you want.