Masters of the LG G Pad 8.3 felt like they had struck a pretty good deal when they acquired it. It was the first ever tablet to come with an FHD display and it was running Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean out of the case. For some users, however, that very build caused a few problems and many people were ready for their carriers to roll out a new update. The good news is Europeans are now starting to see a fresher Android 4.4.2 build arrive over the air into the device’s settings and that is the latest operating system users can ask for because there is nothing newer. This update is 300 MB in size and that comes it bigger than many of the other one’s we have covered for different tablets. With that in mind, don’t get too thrilled if you see it in your tablet settings waiting to be installed unless you are around the home. That way you can lock into the home WiFi instead of using up your data.
To check if you have it Settings > About device > Software update and check if there is anything waiting. If not do not be alarmed as these updates can take weeks before they eventually make their way around to everybody.
Roughly a month ago people with the G Pad 8.3 got their first taste of Android 4.4.2 by using the CyanogenMod 11 custom ROM. Not everyone likes to use custom firmware though, and that makes this much more appealing because it is an official release we have here today.
Those of you looking to cut to the chase and learn some cool new features we will fill you in on some common features that have been included in this build to other devices. We cannot be exactly sure with this one because firmware features do slightly vary between devices, but it should carry many of the same things with it.
We know that it improves performance and fixes the stability as well as gets rid of many system bugs developers have found. A lot of the bugs go undetected by regular users like you and me, but the performance is the first thing worth mentioning because it is noticeably faster from the moment you unlock the passcode. It is a very common theme no matter which device it is running with. Android go out of their way to focus on creating new firmware that outperforms the last and speed is part of the key criteria.
Copying iOS 7, Android shifted the camera icon to the bottom right hand corner so that people can now take photos and access the camera app right from the lock screen before the device is unlocked. That means people who don’t have official access can still pick it up and take a photo. The idea behind it is that you might want random people taking pictures because that does not require privacy to do and we always take pictures when we are out with strangers.
Aesthetically, at the top of the right upper corner we now have all white icons in the status bar. Now it did get a shift towards being white but they were not completely white until now. The idea here is that having them all white makes them easier to see and it does not make it look so boring that it is unbearable which was likely their first opinion of it and why they did not have it all white in the beginning.
Performing a swipe gesture downwards and opening up the notification tray exposes a new font. It is similar to the last, but it is a new font in there. All of the writing will be in white also. The idea here is to shift it back towards the stock Android 4.4.
Other notable inclusions are the new landscape keyboard that is easier for typing, automatic emoji icons can now be accessed from the keyboard, a new default messaging app place and permissions with one click and more.
If you have received the updated to your device OTA then please leave a comment and tell us what you think of it and any cool new things you may have noticed. All opinions are welcome, we take the good with the bad and the bad can often lead to some helpful, constructive criticism.