[LG Optimus 2x] TheStonedDog:
Hello everyone.

I have seen the tweets from LG Canada posted here and since then those tweets have propagated through out other web outlets but I think way too much has been made of the LG Canada ICS update statement. The OP either did not understand the context of the statement or just had a "I'm the first to get an official answer from someone at LG" moment and got a little excited posting the info. So I thought I would give some insight into the statement so people, particularly worldwide, can understand what is going on and why that statement came from LG Canada.

In Canada phones are sold through carriers. There are no companies that sell unbranded phones, well there are small shops that import phones but their sales are so small that they are not worth noting and they are almost considered grey market as they will not support the phones officially. Since there are no unbranded phones in Canada the carriers control the availability of a phone model which also means they control the updates to their branded model. If the carriers are not interested in supporting the phone it does not get any support period. There are Galaxy Nexus owners still on 4.0.1 when using carrier updates!

Now specifically to the Optimus 2x in Canada. The phone was not that popular and was really only picked up by carriers to use the "first dual core phone" LG marketing hype to make them look like they are cutting edge. From what I remember the phone was only picked up by three carriers. Two AWS carriers (which are small players) Mobilcity and Wind, and one major carrier Rogers which put it under their "budget" sub-brand Fido. Mobilicity dropped the phone quite awhile back so they are out of the picture. Wind has recently EOL the phone and they did not even bother with the GB update so they are out. That leaves Fido.

Fido did get the GB update but never shipped the devices with the GB update. I got my 2x in March and it still had Froyo on it. My guess is Fido had not reordered stock from LG since after the GB update so that is quite awhile ago. The only way to get the upgrade is if the customer does it themselves via LG tools. This should give you an indication of how many they are selling and how well they support the device. :rolleyes: While Fido still offers the 2x they recently dropped the price which usually means they are trying to get rid of their stock before they discontinue the device so they are 2/3 out. Carriers are not interested in spending time/money updating devices they are either not selling or about to stop selling. They want to sell new phones hopefully with new/renewed plans. Updating a phone could cost them a sale. This is not LG's behavior but the carriers.

When a phone is banded by a carrier usually the carrier sends the specs (boot animations, artwork, network configs, apps to included, etc.) to LG and LG preps a ROM build which is put on the phone at shipping for the carrier. Since all the phones in Canada are branded and none of the carriers are requesting an update LG Canada does not need to consult LG HQ about the standing of ICS for the 2x. My feeling is When the LG rep on Twitter was asked the question they looked up the status of the 2x with the carriers. The status probably mentioned that there is "no future orders" and no request for ROM updates. That made it safe for the LG Canada rep to say on Twitter that there will be no ICS updates for the Canadian 2x. The rep did not contact LG HQ about the ICS update. Basically the LG Canada's statement is not based on technical reasoning but market reasoning.

What these means for us Canadians is that we are out of luck for an official carrier branded ICS update. We can now add carriers to the nVidia / LG list of people to ***** about for the lack of an ICS update. Our only option is to go with an unofficial ROM but quite frankly the carrier ROMs suck. The ROMs created by the XDA community are far superior and I would have gone with an unofficial ICS build anyways. From what I understand as long as one country gets an ICS build the drives can be used to build general ROMs that Canadians can use. From observation the 2x is still popular in other areas. I think if there is an update the first will probably be Korea. I would say look there for more accurate information.

TL;DR version:

1. LG Canada does not control updates in Canada, the carriers do.

2. The carriers have either dropped or are in the process of dropping the 2x thus the carriers are not interested in updates.

3. LG Canada was able to safely give an official statement about the 2x Canada at this time based the carriers not wanting an update, not based on technical information from LG HQ.

4. LG Canada statement should not be viewed as an early indicator of LG's general position on the ICS update for the 2x. This is not a leak.

I hope that explains the situation better and how to read the meaning behind the LG Canada tweets. For people who have been using the LG Canada statement as "ZOMG this is the beginning of the end, EVERYONE PANIC!!! LG SUCKS!" fodder, and that includes you tech bloggers reading this, please stop and understand the situation. LG may still not deliver an ICS update but this is not the sign that it is not coming. Look else where.

Also people stop assaulting the LG Canada feed with questions about your country or LG world wide. I know that LG Canada seems to be the only one responding to questions but LG Canada can only speak for the situation in Canada which as outlined is somewhat unique. Bug your own country LG reps as that might yield more interesting information for everyone.

I will also mention that I think people are being really impatient with LG. Many companies are still in the process of updating their own devices from the same generation to ICS and last I heard only around 10% of devices have ICS or JB. I agree people should be pissed with LG because of LG's failure to live up to their promises (which BTW if they don't deliver could be grounds for a class action suit) but LG is not unique in anyway with their lateness of ICS updates. If anything I think LG trying to be the first one with a dual core, LG likes to be the first at things to keep up appearance i.e. dual core, 3D, LTE, etc., and in that rush probably either pressured nVidia to pump out a rushed chipset or nVidia offered them a first gen chipset to beat everyone. As such to make the commitment technical details probably were not completely sorted out thus we have a unpopular first gen chipset that most manufactures skipped over and nVidia doesn't want to waste much time on.

That being said I do believe that an ICS update will eventually come from LG but this is my last LG device.

Good first post ? ;)