Last Updated on April 12, 2017 by Mathew Diekhake
The G Pad 8.3 from the Life’s Good company is an 8.3-inch tablet that came out during October of 2013 with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean out of the box. The presents one problem that I will cover during the prerequisites in a moment about a hidden menu that needs special access to see you through the guide but for now lets do a brief overview about what’s happening. Even though, the original tablet came out with that software out of the box, it wasn’t until a couple of weeks before Christmas in December of 2013 that the Google Play Edition otherwise known as GPE tablet came with Android .4.2.2. From that respect, we can’t be too grumpy about it getting the 4.4.4 Kitkat treatment the week after the Google I/O event where Android unveiled the new Android L software that is yet to be formerly given a name to watch it’s other tasty treat counterparts.
I touch based with a hidden menu, and the one I’m talking about is the Develop Options. Google made this secret for the previous software version it had running in 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. Go to Settings > About Tablet and tap on the build number seven times to unlock it. When you get close to unlocking it, you will witness a message pop up on the screen warning you. It will then count you down how many turns until it unlocks. Many people found this fun and a little bit adventurous, and that’s why the developers over in Mountain View though it was a good idea. However, it obviously wasn’t too crash hot as it just became, and extra thing people had to remember how to open before they could flash firmware, unchain devices with root and a number of other features that the Developer options are suitable for to use.
Checklist
- Don’t forget to update the LG USB Drivers if you don’t have them up to date to make sure you can connect the tablet to the computer successfully and hassle free. If you do run into a problem along the way before you finish where it’s almost like the tablet isn’t recognizes, this is going to be the number one reason for that.
- Just like we do with smartphones, we always want to backup our tablets before we update them OTA or manually. Just because this is official firmware doesn’t mean that things can’t go wrong and if a factory reset must happen then that will result in data loss. The data I’m talking about is contacts, SMS texts, call logs, MMS texts, any photos you have of your kids, husband, and you can the picture of the finer things you could be forced to live without if you don’t have copies backed up already on your laptop or computer.
- This guide is using ADB sideload and not the usual Odin that we love so much. The Nexus range also offers a similar experience so if you have updated using the KTU84 software for other devices you’ll surely know what’s happening here too. If not please keep reading because there are a few details that are different and just because you were fantastic with using Odin doesn’t mean, you will breeze through this. In fact, if you haven’t used it before and are a rookie its a good idea to seek help with somebody how has used it before. It doesn’t take a lengthy period to get used to but first timers beware.
- The G Pad 8.3 only comes with 16 GB of built-in storage space and a fair portion of that is going to be used up by the Android OS already before you even begin uploading pictures and all the rest of it. The point is you might not have any space when you try to back up, and Google Drive offer 15 GB of free space to new users who sign up. It doesn’t matter then this is an LG-based handset and not Google-owned because the operating system is Android and Google owns that company. No matter what green robot-based tablet you are using it can create an account. If that doesn’t please you and you still require more space there is a slot for microSD, microSDHC and microSDXC memory cards for external storage space. Some people have trouble backing up applications and if you need to find a solution try using Helium accessible from the Google Play Store. It’s an app that lets you backup apps quickly and also store other data files too.
- The camera doesn’t have flash, but the battery does perform well giving 708 hours standby time with a 4600 mAh capacity. Make sure you produce sufficient battery power to see yourself through the full installation process without the tablet shutting down on us.
- Temporarily disable the antivirus running on the computer, laptop and tablet depending on what two of the three you choose to use. We do need to connect to a system away from mobile products like a computer or laptop that has enough processing power to not put too much stress on the CPU.
- This guide is for advanced users because you need to have ADB; fastboot and Android SDK pre-installed before you continue. It can’t work without these options, but the great news is that once you have it setup on your machine it can stay there, and you will have no problems adjusting to it in the future.
Update LG G Pad 8.3 GPE With Android 4.4.4 KTU84P KitKat Official Firmware
1. Download the Android 4.4.4 KTU84P file here.
– You can use the C: Drive for Windows or any desktop
– remember to delete the file afterwards to prevent slow loading times if you chose the desktop
2. Transfer the file from ADB folder
– click the tools directory from platform and you will find the file
3. Fetch the USB cable
– most people use it as part of the phone charger everyday
4. Plug one end into the table and the other into the computer or laptop you are using to host the files
5. Open CMD from within the ADB folder and type: “adb devices”
6. You will see the device ID come up on the screen.
7. Type another command in CMD: “adb reboot recovery”
8. It is now swapping over to recovery mode.
9. Choose to “apply update from ADB.”
10. Go back to the command prompt.
11. Enter: “adb sideload ff3c360e108c52aac952f10c3dd4c6c5ce66a3ce.signed-KOT49H.L004_user-KTU84P.L002_user_update.zip.”
12. Do not touch any buttons while it flashes the new firmware.
The software version will give the latest Android experiences we know of other than what was introduced to us at the Google I/O 2014 where Android L develop previews became a hit. Don’t worry about that yet though because we still have a handful of moons to appreciate what we have here. Don’t waste any time and tell your friends to update or else they will be going to too much trouble for not enough time.