Android 5.0 for the JiaYu S3 is an unofficial build for now


jiayu s3 lollipop

Yesterday we broke news that the JiaYu forums had posted photos of the JiaYu S3 running Android 5.0. New details today reveal it is a Spanish developer working on it and not an official JiaYu ROM.

So it appears that JiaYu themselves aren’t developing the first Android 5.0 Lollipop ROM for their flaship JiaYu S3 but instead a dev team located in Spain. The team, calling themselves TF Android Developers, originally posted images of their S3 running Lollipop here, which were then found by Chinese JiaYu fans and uploaded to the Chinese forums.

The TF team haven’t only ported Lollipop to the JiaYu S3. A quick look at their website shows that they have also worked on custom ROMS including MIUI, Cooee and Blueocean ports for the phone.

As for Lollipop we are waiting to hear how development is coming along and learn news of the release date and update procedure.

[ TF Android ]
Disclaimer: We may be compensated by some of the companies whose products we talk about, but our articles and reviews are always our honest opinions. For more details, you can check out our editorial guidelines and learn about how we use affiliate links.

Previous Meizu MX4 and MX4 Pro prices dropped, still worth buying?
Next Meizu M1 Note arrives in India for Rs 11,999

35 Comments

  1. Steven Fox
    May 20, 2015

    The German Jiayu branch has reported that the S3 Lollipop update is in beta stages, so it should be official. If you don`t believe me check Jiayu.de in facebook.

    • irebel
      May 20, 2015

      jaiyu.de is a shop, not the place where they develop the rom. so far jiayu itself hasn’t replied to any of these rumours.

      • Marco Lancaster
        May 20, 2015

        Then you’re wrong, TF Developers work for jiayu.es, and for that reason they receive the full source code of the phone from Jiayu, to work on it. Jiayu.de also receive it, and they even made a custom kernel for the phone with the source.

        • erfae
          May 20, 2015

          You’re wrong, TF Android Developers is an independent group, we work with several brands, but we are unofficial developers anyone.

          • Marco Lancaster
            May 20, 2015

            I’ve saw one of you guys, on the XDA thread, saying because you work on jiayu.es you have the sources.

            • erfae
              May 20, 2015

              It is not correct, jiayu.es is a store. We are an independent group. 😉

    • irebel
      May 20, 2015

      jaiyu.de is a shop, not the place where they develop the rom. so far jiayu itself hasn’t replied to any of these rumours.

    • Marco Lancaster
      May 20, 2015

      Official update will be Lollipop 5.1 =D

  2. Steven Fox
    May 20, 2015

    The German Jiayu branch has reported that the S3 Lollipop update is in beta stages, so it should be official. If you don`t believe me check Jiayu.de in facebook.

  3. Smokey
    May 20, 2015

    Will it improve the camera quality? So far all the videos i c in YouTube taken by jiayu s3 look shitty

    • billybloggs
      May 20, 2015

      Videos I shot with the G4S are better than what I get from the S3 no matter what camera app I use.

    • Enric
      May 21, 2015

      Jiayu S3 takes nice photos, the only problem it has is with videos.

  4. Smokey
    May 20, 2015

    Will it improve the camera quality? So far all the videos i c in YouTube taken by jiayu s3 look shitty

  5. Steven Fox
    May 20, 2015

    The German Jiayu branch has reported that the S3 Lollipop update is in beta stages, so it should be official. If you don`t believe me check Jiayu.de in facebook.

    • irebel
      May 20, 2015

      jaiyu.de is a shop, not the place where they develop the rom. so far jiayu itself hasn’t replied to any of these rumours.

    • Marco Lancaster
      May 20, 2015

      Then you’re wrong, TF Developers work for jiayu.es, and for that reason they receive the full source code of the phone from Jiayu, to work on it. Jiayu.de also receive it, and they even made a custom kernel for the phone with the source.

    • erfae
      May 20, 2015

      You’re wrong, TF Android Developers is an independent group, we work with several brands, but we are unofficial developers anyone.

    • Marco Lancaster
      May 20, 2015

      I’ve saw one of you guys, on the XDA thread, saying because you work on jiayu.es you have the sources.

    • erfae
      May 20, 2015

      It is not correct, jiayu.es is a store. We are an independent group. 😉

    • Marco Lancaster
      May 20, 2015

      Official update will be Lollipop 5.1 =D

  6. Guest
    May 20, 2015

    Will it improve the camera quality? So far all the videos i c in YouTube taken by jiayu s3 look shitty

    • billybloggs
      May 20, 2015

      Videos I shot with the G4S are better than what I get from the S3 no matter what camera app I use.

    • Enric
      May 21, 2015

      Jiayu S3 takes nice photos, the only problem it has is with videos.

  7. KS
    May 20, 2015

    I was using (and enjoyed it very much) the Jiayu G4 for about a year and a half. I got it with Jellybean 4.2.1 on it and it never made it to KitKat, which left me with no choice but to get another phone with a newer OS.

    No doubt the hardware is good but the ROM updates, sad to say, was absolutely pathetic.

    Just sharing my experience with Jiayu. Of course, things might change…

  8. Marco Lancaster
    May 20, 2015

    Just wait, the problem is, Mediatek launched the new SoCs, but soon after it they saw a lot of problems and to fix it, they put the “official” Lollipop update from them to June-July, everything we saw until now, are home made work from the brands, some companies as Jiayu are waiting the stable build from Mediatek to work on it, and to be honest, I prefer this way. Also the official update for Jiayu, will be 5.1

    • Claymore
      May 20, 2015

      Is there any legit info about 5.1 coming? Jiayu S3 is on top of my list. Never expected anything beyond 5.0…

      • Marco Lancaster
        May 20, 2015

        Yeah, there is a developer on the Jiayu S3 xda thread. He works for Jiayu.de and even published a custom kernel for the device. They on Jiayu.de have fully acess to the sources of the phone, and he said the phone will skip 5.0 buggy and go to 5.1. People cares so much with updates these days, and Brands are learning that and probably putting more pressure on the supplier, A.k.a Mediatek. Btw the 5.0 lollipop that we see on some phones, are from a buggy pre-build. almost 100% sure the official update from Mediatek which comes in June is for 5.1.

    • E8hffff
      May 24, 2015

      Yeah it’s ridiculous Mediatek is so behind on software, which is a trait from Chinese companies. I noticed way back to slow progress on their kernel builds for 5.

  9. Guest
    May 20, 2015

    I was using (and enjoyed it very much) the Jiayu G4 for about a year and a half. I got it with Jellybean 4.2.1 on it and it never made it to KitKat, which left me with no choice but to get another phone with a newer OS.

    No doubt the hardware is good but the ROM updates, sad to say, was absolutely pathetic.

    Just sharing my experience with Jiayu. Of course, things might change…

  10. Marco Lancaster
    May 20, 2015

    Just wait, the problem is, Mediatek launched the new SoCs, but soon after it they saw a lot of problems and to fix it, they put the “official” Lollipop update from them to June-July, everything we saw until now, are home made work from the brands, some companies as Jiayu are waiting the stable build from Mediatek to work on it, and to be honest, I prefer this way. Also the official update for Jiayu, will be 5.1

    • Guest
      May 20, 2015

      Is there any legit info about 5.1 coming? Jiayu S3 is on top of my list. Never expected anything beyond 5.0…

    • Marco Lancaster
      May 21, 2015

      Yeah, there is a developer on the Jiayu S3 xda thread. He works for Jiayu.de and even published a custom kernel for the device. They on Jiayu.de have fully acess to the sources of the phone, and he said the phone will skip 5.0 buggy and go to 5.1. People cares so much with updates these days, and Brands are learning that and probably putting more pressure on the supplier, A.k.a Mediatek. Btw the 5.0 lollipop that we see on some phones, are from a buggy pre-build. almost 100% sure the official update from Mediatek which comes in June is for 5.1.

    • E8hffff
      May 24, 2015

      Yeah it’s ridiculous Mediatek is so behind on software, which is a trait from Chinese companies. I noticed way back to slow progress on their kernel builds for 5.

  11. hwtestone
    May 21, 2015

    The best jiayu s3 rom can be found here.
    Just check this guy work.
    Many said it is awesome, and it really doesn’t joke with his work.
    Just to name a few of his wonders, Dolby ATMOS, video bitrate mods.
    Check it out here http://roedi7.blogspot.de/p/jiayu-2gb.html

  12. Guest
    May 21, 2015

    The best jiayu s3 rom can be found here.
    Just check this guy work.
    Many said it is awesome, and it really doesn’t joke with his work.
    Just to name a few of his wonders, Dolby ATMOS, video bitrate mods.
    Check it out here http://roedi7.blogspot.de/p/jiayu-2gb.html