LG might have had the privilege of manufacturing the Nexus 5, but that association with upstream doesn’t necessarily translate across LG’s top devices. Despite earlier rumors, it seems that Android 4.4 won’t be coming to its G2 flagship until around February or March next year.
A leak from French carrier SFR last month pointed to a December update for the LG G2 that will bring in Android 4.4 to the device. While that date seemed almost too good to be true, it did seem to play on the relationship between Google and LG that produced the Nexus 5. Of course, it’s a bit of a jump to conclude that LG would be getting some preferential treatment that will put it ahead of other manufacturers in preparing the Android 4.4 update.
A few weeks ago, LG Canada talked about plans for Android 4.4 on the G2 that puts the release sometime in the first quarter for 2014. Now LG’s Korean newsroom has made an announcement that is in line with its Canadian counterpart’s schedule. LG says that the Android 4.4 update is already in progress for Korean G2 units. However, the rest of the markets will follow at a later date, though nothing specific has been given.
Owners of the LG G2 can do nothing else but wait, especially without a Google Play Edition that has a promise of more frequent updates, unlike the Samsung Galaxy S 4 and the HTC One, whose GPE versions are starting to get updated.
SOURCE: LG
Google gave LGE an opportunity that the company has now squandered. By spec-ing out a second Nexus device LG was handed a marketing opportunity to strengthen their market presence.
Had updates quickly materialized for the Optimus lineup and a KitKat upgrade to their current flagship G2 their reputation for less than stellar support could have become a marketing triumph and spurred sales numbers first anticipated of the G2.
Instead Optimus G and G Pro endusers will likely need to consider using custom ROM’s to attain current OS levels of Android OS (4.3-4.4). And G2 owners wondering if their choice was correct.
Now current North American customers will be watching next flagship launches while they await needed patches, fixes and firmware upgrades. Not to mention potential purchasers wondering if another OEM device is a better choice.
Two things come to mind with one mentioned being the GPE mobility platform device and getting OEM’s that don’t upgrade to unlock the boot loaders and let the open source development community do their work for them with some level of direct developer support.
When a group of technically minded unpaid (often barely part time) developers gather and create decently coded systems it certainly makes one wonder who’s in the OEM systems and test engineering labs. Especially when there is now a growing list of nightly releases by one particular group of open source devs.
LG lost a chance and certainly some of what they gained with the G2 release. How long before the dust begins to gather on this flagship’s system?
Mobility computing devices require a determined dedicated two year OEM (and carrier) support cycle until the Android platform assumes a self-upgrade pathway akin to other mobility devices (i.e. laptops, notebooks and certain tablets)