[Poll results out] LG's Global Software Upgrade Center was a total waste of time (and resources)

New updates are being added to the bottom of the story…

Original story (from December 06) follows:

In August 2019, Counterpoint Research ranked the performance of Android vendors as far as rolling out software updates is concerned. Nokia topped the list while LG ranked almost last, just above Alcatel and Tecno.

This ranking came over a year after the launch of the LG Global Software Upgrade Center, a program meant to take charge of developing and delivering faster software updates to LG smartphones.

At the time, the Korean tech giant claimed that:

The creation of the center will enable LG to roll out OS updates faster in countries where LG smartphones are available to ensure that customers around the world receive the same level of quality service.
Source

Fast-forward to today, nearly three years later, this promise has never materialized. In fact, LG doesn’t have — and doesn’t deserve — a place on the timely software updates’ table.

I can hardly believe this is the same company that beat Google to the launch of the first Android Nougat-powered device out of the box – the LG V20.

Back then, the future of not just the V20 but also the rest of LG phones in general looked bright. But nope, that hasn’t been the case, not even for the V20, which only received Android Pie a month ago.

As of this writing, only the LG V60 ThinQ reportedly has access to Android 11 beta update. This is despite the OS having been around since Q1 2020, at least for the developer preview version.

Google rolled out the stable version in September and so far, a handful of OEMs that include OnePlus, Xiaomi, and Oppo have started rolling out the stable version to some of their premium offerings.

Heck, even Samsung, once seen as one of the slowest with major Android OS updates, is already rolling out the stable One UI 3.0 update to Galaxy S20 devices on Verizon Wireless, with T-Mobile up next.

The goodies in the Samsung camp, an LG rival back at home, don’t stop with faster monthly security and Android OS updates. Going forward, Samsung will also provide three Android OS updates to its devices.

While the launch of the Global Software Upgrade Center was meant to elevate LG’s smartphone software updates to the level that Samsung is right now, it has been quite the opposite.

Tracking its progress a year down the line, Computer World’s JR Raphael termed the center as “a new level of laughable absurdity.” As I write this, nearly three years later, I couldn’t agree more with JR.

I mean, c’mon: Is there any doubt remaining that the “Software Upgrade Center” was an empty publicity stunt and a slap in the face to anyone who, for reasons I can’t entirely comprehend, continues to purchase LG Android devices? ~ JR Raphael

Take Android 10 update, for instance. At a time when other OEMs were busy recruiting devices into Android 11 beta programs, LG was still struggling to roll out the 2019 OS to some of its premium devices.

In fact, as I write this, the likes of LG Q51, LG Q61, and LG K30 are just beginning to receive their updates to Android 10. Yet, in an ideal world, first-time Android 10 updates should now be history.

This ideal world was sold to us as the “Software Upgrade Center”, but turns out it was just another empty promise that no one at LG intended to keep.

Which begs the question: Why invest huge amounts of money, time and resources in creating (launching) something that you don’t intend to see through to the very end?

Well, given the current state of affairs, I can’t help but feel LG’s investment in the Software Upgrade Center was a total waste of time and resources. Otherwise, we would be having multiple LG devices on Android 11 right now.

We wouldn’t be seeing reports of LG devices receiving Android 10 over a year since the OS hit the stable channel. If anything, LG would be high up on Android Police’s security update ranking.

But instead, there are instances of devices receiving OS updates over a year later and others like the LG G8 ThinQ even skipping monthly security updates for close to a year in total.

Absurd, if you ask me. And yeah, I’d also like to know what you think about the same. Did you have high hopes in the LG Software Upgrade Center or you knew right from the start that it was destined to fail?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Also, feel free to cast your vote on the Twitter poll below. We will update this post with the poll results after one week.

IST 10:00AM – The poll results are out. An overwhelming majority, close to 84%, agrees that LG’s Global Software Upgrade Center was a total waste of time & resources. While close to 8% said no, remaining who voted said they don’t care about updates.

If you missed out on the poll, you can share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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