No real Changes in my Verizon LG G2 KitKat Update

[Jillxz]

Last night I checked my phone Verizon LG G2 , to see if there were any updates and it told me there was. I downloaded it and it took forever to download. Well it was KitKat 4.4.2 . It changed my battery icon from blue to gray and did away with the line at the bottom of the display that have Phone , Messenger, Contacts etc. Those are the only changes I see. No change to the dialer. The dial keypad same as always. No change to the page that should show Google Now and other Google related icons. Those pages are the same . No change All App Icons are same size as they were on Jelly Bean. So I call Verizon and Verizon sends me to LG. LG tells me that I indeed did get KitKat , but that it will be different on different phones. So I am left wondering if I really did get a real Kitkat update.

What did Kitkat change on your phones ? Those of you that have Verizon LG G2 . If it changed on these phones , why did it not on mine ?

 

[Golfdriver97]

Last night I checked my phone Verizon LG G2 , to see if there were any updates and it told me there was. I downloaded it and it took forever to download. Well it was KitKat 4.4.2 . It changed my battery icon from blue to gray and did away with the line at the bottom of the display that have Phone , Messenger, Contacts etc. Those are the only changes I see. No change to the dialer. The dial keypad same as always. No change to the page that should show Google Now and other Google related icons. Those pages are the same . No change All App Icons are same size as they were on Jelly Bean. So I call Verizon and Verizon sends me to LG. LG tells me that I indeed did get KitKat , but that it will be different on different phones. So I am left wondering if I really did get a real Kitkat update.

What did Kitkat change on your phones ? Those of you that have Verizon LG G2 . If it changed on these phones , why did it not on mine ?

First, you are using a skinned version of Android. LG probably redesigned the dialer and such so that the change was minimal. The stock KitKat dialer was a pretty big change.

Second, KitKat is an OS that does more behind the scenes changes than anything else. Some things were fixed, like miscellaneous battery reporting issues, etc. But overall this is an OS that is more friendly to lower RAM devices.
The biggest change is really one you can't see. KK introduced a new method for how apps are run. Android Run Time (ART) replaces Dalvik for app data and retrieval. It makes for a slightly faster and battery friendly app launching method.

 

[Jillxz]

First, you are using a skinned version of Android. LG probably redesigned the dialer and such so that the change was minimal. The stock KitKat dialer was a pretty big change.

Second, KitKat is an OS that does more behind the scenes changes than anything else. Some things were fixed, like miscellaneous battery reporting issues, etc. But overall this is an OS that is more friendly to lower RAM devices.
The biggest change is really one you can't see. KK introduced a new method for how apps are run. Android Run Time (ART) replaces Dalvik for app data and retrieval. It makes for a slightly faster and battery friendly app launching method.

I don't understand about I am using a skinned version of Android. Are you talking about the KitKat ? Why did LG give me a skinned version instead of the full version ? What changes can I look forward to in this Kitkat version I have ? I am sorry for the questions , but I always thought when an update came , that all were the same. This was an OTA update. So I don't have a real kitkat os?

 

[Golfdriver97]

I don't understand about I am using a skinned version of Android. Are you talking about the KitKat ? Why did LG give me a skinned version instead of the full version ? What changes can I look forward to in this Kitkat version I have ? I am sorry for the questions , but I always thought when an update came , that all were the same. This was an OTA update. So I don't have a real kitkat os?

Skinned as in a modified version of the original. Its still a full version, but LG modified it.

From a Sprint Moto X using AC Forums app

 

[Jillxz]

Thank you. Now I understand. I don't know why LG wants to do that. Oh well.

 

[rsjet]

The reason LG skins android is so that they can include features that are missing or not as good in the bare bones kit kat. For example, the LG camera app is way better than the default android camera app. So LG made their own and added their features and design to differentiate it.

You definitely got the full kit kat update. It's just that most of the changes to Kit Kat are not visible to you. But the phone should be slightly faster as well as other small differences.

 

[Jillxz]

Well that is good to know. In that case , I'm glad LG skinned it.