LG has reportedly begun rolling out the latest Android KitKat update to the company's 2013 flagship smartphone G2 in India.
Some local LG G2 owners on Tuesday have confirmed on the XDA developers' forum that the new Android software (size: around 535 MB) has been made available through OTA (Over-The-Air) as well as manually downloadable file (via PC SYNC connection).
The new update is said to bring in enhancements in processing speed (up to 17-percent increase), improved battery efficiency, wireless printing options and more.
On Tuesday (25 March), the company announced that the new improved Knock Code feature update will also be rolled out in a separate firmware next month to marquee devices - LG G2 and the curved display G Flex.
The enhanced Knock Code feature will enable the user to switch-on the phone by just tapping on the screen using more than 86,000 combinations. The knock pattern can be entered on any area of the screen, whether the display is turned on or off - using anywhere from two to eight taps.
The innovative Knock Code is safer and more convenient than the password based phone unlocking as it rules out possibility of pin-code theft and also more responsive compared to bio-recognition systems, which are much susceptible to variations in the environment.
"LG engineers placed a great amount of emphasis on providing users with exceptional security and convenience when developing Knock Code," said Dr Jong-seok Park, president and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company.
"Making Knock Code accessible to a wider audience is consistent with our direction to differentiate LG mobile devices on the basis of user experience." He added.
Brief Description of Android v4.4 KitKat OS Update Features:
Location Menu: This integrated location menu enable users to easily activate GPS, Wi-Fi and mobile networks, while simultaneously keeping a tab on the battery consumption by the location service based apps.
Enhanced Google Mobile Service (GMS) apps: This application helps user to automatically back-up photos and video clips. He/she also can create, view, share rename Google Docs and files.
Improved Caller-ID: If a user receives a call from unknown number, the phone will look for matches on the Internet with local listings via Google Maps.
Priority Contacts: The new OS empowers the phone to automatically prioritize contact list for easy access, based on the frequency of the peoples' contacts to which users' talk.
Immersive Display: To enhancethe entertainment factor, the new OS comes with immersive mode, where the status bar and navigation buttons disappear in to the background while you play music, games and read e-books. Users can just swipe the edge of the screen to bring backtheutility buttons.
Enhanced Message Grouping: Google has brought in some improvements to the new Hangouts app; now, users can find all their text SMSs and MMSs, audio and video call details all at one place. He/she can also share location and send animated GIFs.
Emoji Characters: Initially users had to install third party app to use colorful characters in their SMS. Now, with KitKat update, the keypad comes pre-loaded with native Japanese Emoji emotion icons.
NFC and Wireless Printing: Google's new OS comes with a new Quickoffice app where-in people can create and store word documents in cloud storage as well as print files wirelessly on NFC-enabled HP printers.
Multi-tasking: with efficient memory management, users can multi-task by opening multiple applications; Listen to music while you can browse through the Internet.
Performance: Like all software updates, the new KitKat enhances smartphone's performance as well as efficient RAM management, leading to increase in battery.
