It is an open secret that electronics manufacturing giant LG has struggled in recent years to make substantial profits from their cellphones. While once a respected competitor, the company has failed to gain ground within its mobile phone division and recently reported quarterly losses, though for their part LG chalked the loss up to research and development investments. So while LG phone users may be few and far between compared to iPhone and other more popular smartphones, this relatively small audience will soon gain access to a preview of Android’s next OS update.

Though the release is limited, occurring only within South Korea, the home of LG’s corporate office and manufacturing facilities, a new and improved Android Oreo is set to reach LG V30 phones ahead of the scheduled release date. It is a situation similar to last year, where 2000 lucky owners of LG’s G5 were given early access to Nougat. Fortunately, early access is not being limited via sign-up caps, though users still need to apply voluntarily through the Quick Help app, so there should be a broader set of anecdotal reports regarding the update.


The update makes several key promises to users, so this limited release should hopefully confirm the inclusion of these much needed fixes. Touting the updated OS as faster and more powerful than its predecessors, users’ main concerns were issues with battery drain and a reduction in boot time. Android addressed these issues during a keynote address back in May of 2017, while also speaking to concerns over app security and issues with the Google Play Store. Google’s main strategy in terms of preventing battery drain was to limit background procedures, particularly in terms of implicit broadcasts and location updates. These two issues were the biggest offenders in causing memory thrashing, wherein multiple apps trigger simultaneously, thus draining the battery and causing overall slowdown within the OS.

Oreo’s next update is set to address these problems and the advanced release to South Korean users should give the rest of the world a heads-up as to how well this was accomplished. Users can sign up for the preview now and should receive the update within the month, though the rest of the world will have to wait for the official release later this year. Until then, Google says they plan to take feedback from the limited release which should further improve the update before its official rollout.