LG may not have been prompt with the rollout of the Android 9 Pie update but it wants to prove to its users that it’s still a dependable smartphone brand for regular software updates with Google’s most recent Android update. According to a press release published by LG yesterday, the Korean electronics manufacturer is launching the LG OS Preview Program for Android 10 for selected devices. In other words, the LG G8 ThinQ will start seeing Android 10 beta updates this month, followed by the LG V50 ThinQ and LG V50S ThinQ next month.
If you own one of these LG phones and want to experience Android 10 in its beta form as soon as it’s out, you can head to the ‘Quick Help’ app that’s bundled with your phone to sign up for the programme. It’s important to note that the first few beta releases of Android 10 could be full of bugs, since it’s still in the development phase. If you depend on the stability of your phone’s software, then you may as well wait for the final stable release of Android 10, which is expected to roll out to all three LG phones in the coming months.
According to LG, its new Android 10 update will include a refreshed user interface, including ‘menu tabs and pop-ups at the bottom of the screen’. The update will of course include the ‘Full Gesture Navigation’ feature that Android 10 brings with it, along with improved digital wellbeing features. LG appears to be determined to recover the trust of its users with timely software updates. “LG Electronics is focussing on recovering the trust of smartphone customers through the SW Upgrade Center, which opened in April last year,” reads the Google-translated press release.
The LG G8 ThinQ was first announced in February this year. It’s powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset with up to 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage (expandable up to 1TB). The display is a 6.1-inch P-OLED panel with a resolution of 1440 x 3120 pixels and an aspect ratio of 19.5:9 with support for Dolby Vision and HDR10. While we’re still uncertain about the availability of these models in India, we reported that the LG G8S ThinQ went on sale in the market earlier this year at Rs 36,990. We’re not sure when it will receive the Android 10 update. You can read our first impressions of the LG V50 ThinQ here.