LG introduced the update to Android 7.0 Nougat for their early 2016 flagship, the LG G5, a few weeks ago for South Korean customers and at the time promised that other markets would receive the same update “in the weeks to come.” The LG G5 was originally launched running Android 6.0 Marshmallow but after Google finalized the Android 7.0 Nougat code, LG’s software team have been busy working on the update. We have already seen some carriers pushing the update and the news today is that Canadian carrier, Bell, has started rolling the LG G5 software update. Two of Canada’s other carriers, Rogers and Fido, report that the update to Android 7.0 Nougat for the LG G5 will start from Wednesday, December 21st although some customers are reporting that the update is already downloading today.
Android 7.0 Nougat brings with it a number of improvements to Android compared with the older version, Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Google have refined and improved Android’s power saving technologies by introducing an interim doze state that is activated much sooner in Nougat compared with Marshmallow. Google also further improved Android’s notification system, making them more useful and quicker. There’s a split-screen multitasking mode enabled in the operating system, which is especially useful for big-screen devices. There are improvements to device and file encryption too, making it harder for a would-be hacker to interfere with a device. Google has mandated that many of the changes to the underlying code are left untouched by manufacturers, ensuring that devices go into Doze mode the same way for example. The LG G5 is more than capable of running the Android 7.0 Nougat software as even today it uses one of the most powerful chipsets available for the Android market.
Whilst manufacturers and carriers have taken more time to release the update for Android 7.0 Nougat compared with older updates, especially the move from Android 4.4 KitKat to Android 5.0 Lollipop, it is encouraging to see the update arriving only a few months after released. For customers of these three Canadian carriers, the update will automatically arrive but for the impatient, you can force your device to check by visiting the Settings application, then tapping on About Device, then on Software Update and finally on Update.