How do I know that the upgrade installed correctly?

If you can turn on and navigate your phone after upgrading, and your cell phone will allow you to make selections and open the settings then the upgrade worked and was installed properly.

Causes and symptoms of bad updates and upgrades

The most common causes of bad upgrades and bad updates are caused by interrupting the installation process. If the upgrade doesn’t get to finish installing then bad things often happen to the phone. Some of the more common reasons why a software installation might not get to finish installing properly include the phones battery draining to zero during the install, a power outage that powers off a computer being used to upgrade the phone, a laptops battery running out while upgrading, intentionally or unintentionally disconnecting the phone from a computer that’s installing the software, etc.

More information about how to circumvent these types of problems can be read at How to avoid issues when updating or upgrading an Android phone. These types of circumstances can result in a bricked/broken phone that is little more than a paper weight.

So if you’re able to navigate and use your phone then it’s not bricked and there is a very good chance that it can be fixed.

Causes of issues after updating an Android

The original applications

The most likely culprit and number one cause of problems on an Android phone after upgrading are the phones applications. The applications that you have downloaded onto your phone since you got it might not be 100% compatible with the phones new software. This is especially true as new versions of Android are released. The people who wrote the application(s) might need more time to update their applications software to keep it running smoothly on the newer version of Android.

A problem with the software release itself

This is extremely rare as updates and upgrades are thoroughly tested before being released but once in a blue moon new software is released that might have a minor issue or bug that eluded testing. These bugs are often patched quickly depending on the severity of the issue and new software is released to fix the issue.

Software hiccups

Rarely does a hiccup occur when updating/upgrading that can cause minor or commonly occurring problems on the phone but these issues can be solved much of the same way that you would solve issues relating to your applications.