The LG G6 flagship was launched in February with inbuilt Android 7.0 Nougat and the V30 flagship arrived in August with pre-loaded Android 7.1.2 Nougat. The upcoming big update for these flagships from LG is Android 8.0 Oreo.
Google released Android Oreo in August 2017, after extensive testing through Five developer previews. Already Google Pixel, Pixel XL, Nexus 5X, 6P, Sony Xperia XZ Premium devices got the update and Samsung has released the beta build of Oreo for Galaxy S8 and S8+ devices.
LG also has started registration for the preview build for V30 owners but it is restricted to South Korea only. The LG News Room says that the rollout of Android Oreo beta will begin from February 2nd for V30. The beta testing for LG G6 also probably begin in a few days, according to the analysts.
LG G6 Android 8.0 Oreo Release Date
Formerly, LG started the rollout of Android Nougat for G5 in late-November 2016. The rollout for G5 in the US started in December and some carriers began rolling out in January.
So by analysing the update rollout schedules of LG, we can easily predict the rollout dates of Android Oreo for G6. In late-November or early-December, LG G6 flagship might start receiving the Android Oreo update. The rollout might hit the US and UK G6 devices in late-January.
LG V30 Android 8.0 Oreo Release Date
LG started the beta testing in South Korea in November 2017. Later, on December 25th, the tech giant began the full rollout of Android 8.0 Oreo update for V30 devices in South Korea. The users in other regions still yet to receive the update notifications. The major US and Canadian carriers like Verizon, AT&T and Rogers may begin the Oreo update rollout for V30 devices in Q1 of 2018.
Android Oreo update Exclusive Features
The new features of Android 8.0 are PiP (Picture in Picture Mode), Battery saving through background limits, Smart text selection through improved Machine learning, Notification channels and Dots. According to the LG news room, the speed of the device increase massively and boot times are also reduced. Fluid like user experience is one of the improvements of Android Oreo.
1. App Background Limits
Google implemented strict background limits for apps to reduce the unnecessary drain of battery by apps. These limits don’t affect the foreground processes, so they are not visible to the user. The execution limits of Android Oreo only limit the resources consumed by background services and broadcasts. These restrictions only apply for the apps that target Android 8.0 API level 26 or later.
To apply these restrictions for the older apps which target API level below 26, Google implemented an option in the Android Oreo. Users can restrict background processes for apps through Settings>Apps & Notifications>App Info>(Pick any app from the list)>Battery and in the options toggle off the Background activity option. So LG G6 users can save a lot of battery juice through the Android Oreo background execution limits feature.
2. Picture in Picture Mode
The Picture in Picture (PiP) mode is one of the most exciting features of Android 8.0 Oreo. This is an enhancement to the Multi-window feature arrived with Nougat, last year. In Android Nougat, there was no special multi-window feature for video playing and video calling apps. Now with PiP of Oreo, LG G6 and V30 users can play YouTube videos at the corner of the screen and also chat or browse web in the remaining screen real estate. Users can play, pause, enlarge or close the PiP Window with controls.
Currently, limited apps are supporting the PiP feature of Oreo. The list of apps include Chrome, Google Duo, Whatsapp, Google Play Movies, YouTube and so on. The list may further enriched by more apps in the future.
We will update this post soon with latest news about Android Oreo update for LG G6 and V30 devices.
Update on 29/12/2017 :
Finally, LG started the rollout of Android 8.0 Oreo for its flagship devices. LG V30 users in South Korea have started receiving the Android 8.0 update which also brings the LDAC codec. The update is now available as an OTA and also through LG Bridge.
A user uploaded the screenshots of Android Oreo beta running on LG G6 to a chinese forum, Gfan. The user also stated, the models receiving the update are : LGM-G600L, LGM-G600LR, LGM-G600LP, LGM-G600K, LGM-G600KR, LGM-G600KP, LGM-G600S, LGM-G600SR, and LGM-G600SP. Both performance and battery life of G6 have been improved with the Oreo beta, according to the user. So it seems that the US LG G6 users may also receive either beta or final update in a few days.
