This week, on our weekly firmware news roundup: 6 LG devices are set to receive the LG Velvet's UI, Samsung is no longer going to support the Samsung Galaxy S7 Active along with the Galaxy Tab A 10.1 (2016), and more!
What's New This Week?
Asus
- ZenFone Max Pro (M1) is now on its third Android 10 beta
LG
- 6 LG devices are set to receive LG Velvet's UI
- Major Android updates are now being delivered faster than ever
Samsung
- S10 series starts receiving July's patch once again
- Galaxy Note 9 is now receiving the latest security patch as well
- Galaxy A71 and A51 are now getting One UI 2.1 with S20's camera features, and more
- The Galaxy S7 Active and Galaxy Tab A 10.1 (2016) just reached their end of life
- Galaxy S8 Lite, Galaxy A6+, Galaxy J3 Top, Galaxy J4, Galaxy J6, and Galaxy J7 Top get thrown off from the quarterly schedule
Asus
Asus ZenFone Max Pro (M1)
Android 11 may be getting closer now. But, many devices are still waiting for their Android 10 update. The Asus ZenFone Max Pro (M1) is one of them - but at least it's getting closer to the stable version now. After all, it's now in its 3rd Android 10 beta.
There are no new features to be seen. However, at the very least there is a newer security patch (June) with a few bug fixes.
To be more specific, the VOIP call silent issue after opening "OK Google" has now been fixed. PUBG didn't have any HD, HDR, or high frame rate options - but that should be okay now as well. Last, but not least, NFC should be working normally now as well.
The update weighs 1.7 gigs and is only available for specific variants of the phone that are already enrolled on the beta.
Since most of the bugs have already been fixed, we can safely assume that the stable version is not that far now.
If you're thinking about enrolling to the beta, don't forget that there is always room for bugs and errors. So, don't do it unless you're ready to use your phone as a sort of test subject.
LG
Multiple Devices
LG recently launched the LG Velvet, a new device with a new UI that we haven't seen before in other LG devices. According to our sources, LG is now planning on pushing that UI on at least six devices.
These devices are the:
- LG V50 ThinQ
- V50S ThinQ
- LG G8 ThinQ
- V40 ThinQ
- V35 ThinQ
- And LG G7 ThinQ
The update is already rolling out for the V50 ThinQ in South Korea and delivers a few UI changes and options with it.
We currently don't have any information on when these updates will be delivered. But, since we're talking mostly about UI changes, we expect that by the end of the summer, at least a couple of the aforementioned devices are going to get it. That's all for now.
Android 10 and 11
It's no secret that despite how objectively good Android is, it also has a few disadvantages. One of its biggest ones is without a doubt how often and for how long we receive updates - be it with major ones (Android 10/11) or even smaller ones (Security updates and bug fixes).
A big part of this is due to the fact that each manufacturer needs to "tailor" each update for each specific model. And that's no doubt a very time-consuming task, to say the least.
Google has been trying to change this for quite some time now and its efforts go as far back as Android Nougat 7.0. And it took a while - but it looks like its efforts are now paying off.
Ever since the introduction of Project Treble in Android Oreo, the later versions of Android have been getting adopted increasingly faster. To be more precise, we went from about a hundred million updates in Android Oreo in the first 300 days all the way to 400 million with Android 10!
And things are only going to get better - mostly thanks to both the new Google Play updates that are coming and with the virtual A/B system.
Most updates in Android 11 will have to get delivered through the Google Play Store. In order for this to become possible, Google is standardizing many OS components and that's going to make things easier for developers.
The virtual A/B system, on the other hand, is a sort of feature that allows the phone to install updates in the background; aka seamless updates. And they only apply after the next reboot.
So, in the near feature, we can expect:
- Seamless updates that are getting installed much faster without interrupting your work
- Much more frequent small and big updates alike
Samsung
Galaxy S10 Series
As we mentioned last week, the Galaxy S10 Series has already started receiving July's security patch. The thing is that for some reason, it was temporarily canceled.
Thankfully, everything seems to be back to normal for now.
The update has already reached tons of countries in the EU and keeps on rolling out normally. As far as we know, it doesn't bring anything else apart from the security patch and small bug fixes and it's available for all of the S10 series.
Galaxy Note 9
Samsung's latest flagships along with the Z Flip, A50, A70, Note 10/10+, and the S10 series already started receiving July's security update a while ago. After them, it looks like it's now the Note 9's turn to receive the very same update.
As far as we know, there are no new features or other additions. It's just a security patch which is currently being delivered in Germany and we expect that it'll soon arrive in other regions as well!
According to Samsung, this patch fixes four Android vulnerabilities and fourteen more that are exclusive to Samsung devices. And that's about it for now.
As per usual, some minor improvements and bug fixes may be present as well. But, generally, nothing that's worth noting.
Galaxy A51 and A71
As we've most likely mentioned before, the Galaxy A51 already received One UI 2.1 a couple of months ago. However, that update didn't include any of the S20 camera features. That changes now as both the Galaxy A51 and A71 are receiving One UI 2.1 again, but, this time, with most of the S20's camera features included!
As you can see, the update is rather "meaty" at slightly above 1.7 gigs. It's worth it, though. You're getting features like Single Take, Night Hyperlapse, Pro Mode, My Filters, and that's only for the camera stuff. Cause, other than that, you're also looking at exclusive One UI 2.1 features like Quick Share and Music Share.
Unfortunately, only June's security patch is included - which is honestly not that far behind and there's also always a chance that you're going to get July's patch soon afterward.
These updates have already been seen in Poland, India, and UAE. But, we expect that they'll soon become globally available.
Galaxy S7 Active and Galaxy Tab A 10.1 (2016)
It's no secret that manufacturers prefer focusing their resources into newer flagships or newer flagships, in general. And at some point, you just can't afford to focus on older devices at all anymore - there are just too many of them. Unfortunately, both the Galaxy S7 Active and Galaxy Tab A 10.1 (2016) belong to that category now.
As of now, both devices are not going to receive another update ever again. Maybe if it's something urgent. But, don't get your hopes up. These devices were released all the way back to 2016!
Galaxy S8 Lite, Galaxy A6+, Galaxy J3 Top, Galaxy J4, Galaxy J6, and Galaxy J7 Top
As we mentioned before with the Galaxy S7 Active and Galaxy Tab 10.1 (2016), manufacturers simply cannot afford to support their older devices forever.
And thus, it's now the Galaxy S8 Lite, Galaxy A6+, Galaxy J3 Top, Galaxy J4, Galaxy J6, and Galaxy J7 Top that are going to be left behind. All of them used to be on the quarterly schedule - but now they are just on the "other regular" schedule.
This basically means that none of them are guaranteed to receive any updates from now on.
Wrapping Up
That's all for now. Feel like we forgot to mention something important? Got anything wrong? Then let us and everyone else know about it in the comments section down below!
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