As you may have heard or read numerous times before, one of the biggest issues with the Android platform is fragmentation: the fact that there are countless smartphone brands and models on the market, making it virtually impossible for Google to release new Android OS updates across its entire ecosystem at the same time. Custom user interfaces also contribute to delays, and generally speaking, Android smartphones featuring custom UIs as opposed to Google’s stock OS have usually been slower to receive software updates. However, it is also true that some smartphone makers are quicker than others at releasing OS updates, and lately, it looks like both LG and Samsung have been at the top of their game in this regard, releasing several software updates for their latest flagship phones since their market release earlier this year.
Although both LG and Samsung may have been criticized in the past for releasing Android software updates at a rather slow pace – usually every 6 or 12 months – the two Korean smartphone makers have done things very differently this year. Following the market release of the Samsung Galaxy S7 in March 2016, the flagship already received a handful of software updates, some of which have addressed issues brought forth by Galaxy S7 users. According to user requests, the company already released an update for changing the frequency with which the Always on Display notification bar changes position, and also launched a patch for fixing an issue which would lead to the distortion of photos captured with the handset’s wide-angle lens. Additionally, it wasn’t long ago when Samsung added display scaling options to its flagship series.
As for Samsung’s closest rival – LG Electronics – the company also made great efforts to keep the LG G5 updated and tweak the flagship’s various software features to meet user demands. Although the smartphone was released without a conventional app drawer, the Korean company later released the “Home & App Drawer” update, giving LG G5 owners three home screen configurations to choose from, including one featuring an app drawer. The LG G5 “Friends” haven’t been forgotten either, and not long ago the company added the option to capture 10 pictures a second using the LG CAM Plus module. Needless to say, compared to previous years both LG and Samsung have come a long way in regards to how they handle Android software updates, and we can only hope that more smartphone makers will continue to adopt a similar mindset.