LG has given its first announcement on the LG G2 software, revealing that Android 4.4 KitKat will be available on the current flagship before the end of Q1 2014. Currently the LG G2 runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, the second iteration of the Jelly Bean OS.
The LG G2 launched on August 2013 and has not had any major firmware updates. LG did not seem to be willing to jump onto Android 4.3, skipping the update entirely and for a while it looked like the LG G2 would not get Android 4.4 KitKat either.
Android 4.3 was mainly changes to Bluetooth and other back-end changes, but it did have some new front end features for users. Android 4.4 is a more collective update, but Google has made this out for all low-end devices, making sure it can be optimised for devices with just 512MB of RAM.
We are not surprised the LG G2 will get this update, Samsung and HTC have announced their plans to update top-end devices to Android 4.4 and if LG didn’t follow suit they may lose a few buyers, especially long term buyers who may worry about grabbing another LG device.
The question is will the LG G2 get any long term updates, the smartphone has only been out for six months and this is the first scheduled update, but LG have been pretty poor when it comes to supporting their high-end devices for more than a year.
Google will probably announce the next update to their OS in April at Google I/O 2014, we wonder if LG will latch onto this update for the LG G2 or if Android 4.4 KitKat is the last update we will see on the current flagship.
Considering the LG G3 may be announced before Google I/O, we really would be cautious if you are looking to have the LG G2 for more than two years. The phone may be an ace on the battery life right now, but if Android 4.4 KitKat is the last update, it may be a little rendudant next year.