KOREA: The LG G3 is another device in line for the Android 5.0 Lollipop update, but the question in everyone’s minds is when? Thankfully, an LG representative recently put our minds at ease when he disclosed that the official Lollipop update will be coming to the LG flagship by the end of 2014. Update: Only a short time after we saw it pop up in South Korea, European countries are now finding Android Lollipop on their LG G3’s. Head to the update section for more.
The Android 5.0 Lollipop update for the LG G3 has began rolling out in South Korea, with LG keeping its promise of updating the handset with Lollipop goodness before the end of 2014. This news is also great for those in the US and UK. Despite owners with international LG G3 variants being more likely to get their hands on the update sooner than those with the likes of Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T and Sprint – a fully functional build of Android 5.0 up and running on devices, anywhere, suggests that there are no compatibility problems or dreaded battery drain issues (as we saw on the initial Nexus range Lollipop rollout) which could potentially halt the rollout.
Update: First it was South Korea, now the European rollout of the LG G3 Android 5.0 Lollipop update has begun and you’ll likely be able to download the update straight to your device right now. Go to your settings > about phone > software update page to see if you can.
In Europe, Poland was the first country to receive it but it should have landed everywhere by now. Does this mean Lollipop in time for Christmas in the US? Recently we saw a leaked Sprint document dug up by AndroidPolice which stated that their LG G3 owners were going to receive an update beginning December 1st, but not Android 5.0. Instead, Sprint’s LG G3 is still sitting on Android 4.4.2 but with a bunch of security patches and better international Wi-Fi calling.
We’ll keep you up to date with the status of the US rollout of the LG G3 Android update as we learn more. Until then, check out the pictures below to see Lollipop running on the LG G3. And if you just can’t wait for the OTA update, follow our manual install guide further down.
This is our manual install tutorial for Android 5.0 Lollipop on the LG G3 (D855). Please remember to create a backup of your smartphone data, and refer to the original forum thread for any help. Neither I nor AndroidPIT will be held responsible for any errors or problems that occur as a result of this.
Connect the LG G3 to your PC in “download” mode. Download mode is enabled by turning off the device and pressing and holding the volume up button. Once done, connect it via USB to your PC. If your PC reports that it is “installing device”, wait for it to finish.
Flash Tool will offer several options. leave the section Type unchanged (in CDMA), while in PhoneMode choose the option DIAG.
Now select the KDZ file from the zip file that you extracted in the first step.
Run the Flash using the Flash option CSE, in order to automatically perform a wipe of all data.
Select Start, then in the next window Country> Different Country to choose your preferred language.
Do not disconnect your smartphone from your PC until the operation is finished.
Now you will have Andriod 5.0 Lollipop successfully installed on your LG G3. Let us know how this worked out for you in the comments below, and don’t be afraid to ask questions if you have any.
The Android 4.4.2 update for the European model LG G3 appeared a couple of months ago, with users reporting a number of interesting things in the patch. For starters, the update seems to correct a few of the lag issues that some users experienced on the firmware out of the box, but there’s also some display property changes and battery optimizations to be found.
The update is currently only for the D855 variant and brings a change to the software version (which you can check in Settings > About Phone) to V10e (Italy is reporting an update to V10g). Strangely, depending on which region you are in, the update claims to be bringing different things. In the UK, the update notice says the update is for apps, but elsewhere in Europe the update notice states power optimizations only.
No update notices seem to mention changes to the display, but a color spectrum analysis done by Android Central shows that saturation has indeed been tweaked in the update. LG made a conscious effort to go with more realistic color reproduction in the G3’s display, but it seems they are pushing the desaturation even further in the latest update. The new color balancing also removes some of the over-sharpening that was producing nasty artifacts.
As always, the OTA is on its way sooner or later depending on your region and the batching process, but you can check for the update manually by going to Settings > About Phone > Update Center. If you’re not the waiting type, you can grab the KDZ file from XDA Developers and doing it yourself. Of course, we cannot confirm the integrity of the contents of any files downloaded from XDA Developers, so proceed with caution.
