New Gingerbread update for LG Optimus Black rolls out in India

Remember the LG Optimus Black? This very understated phone has managed to pass relatively unnoticed in the sub-20K price bracket, which is a shame really, since it’s one of the better phones that LG makes. Our only real gripe when we reviewed the phone was that it came with Froyo, but now, late as always, LG has finally decided to give it the Gingerbread treatment, in order to keep it relevant in the market. For now, it’s only India and Europe that will be receiving the update.

A new lease on life

The update is available through LG’s software update tool, which puts the firmware at 2.3.4. Looking at other manufacturers who’ve gone past beyond this firmware and are now somewhere on 2.3.7, it still does not seem to be quite the latest. However, it’s the changes that are made in these increments that matter and not merely a higher version number, so feature-wise, at least, we hope LG has done their part. Whether this phone will be invited in to the ICS family is yet to be seen, don’t hold your breath, though. The company has even issued a change log for the update, which goes something like this:

• Improved power management – Hopefully, this should boost the battery life a bit

• Enhanced mobile gaming experience – We’re not too sure what to make of this but we assume games should run a bit smoother with better frame rates on Gingerbread

• Faster UI – We think that’s a given with Gingerbread

• One touch word selection and copy/paste – Should make it easier to move text around

• Better download management

• New media formats supported like AAC, AVC, MPEG 4 and H.263  - Still no FLAC support though

• Misc. improvements include - active app management, shortcuts, widgets, icons, app groups, updated calendar options, camera geo-tagging, better email synching and more precise camera auto-focus.

• App updates and Google+ is no pre-loaded

We don’t have an Optimus Black handy to dig through the rest of the updates, but if you do and happened to receive the update, we’d love to know what’s fixed and what’s not. LG now says they will offer ICS in Q3, but we feel it’s too little too late, as there would be much better and faster phones available by that time, so it wouldn’t make sense to buy this in the first place.