Having noticed that LG released Android 6 for the D852 a few days ago, I was disappointed that there was no update for the D852G, which is the Videotron version. Being an impatient person, I decided to turn my 852G into an 852. AFAIK, there is no hardware difference between the two versions only that the frequencies are locked to the respective carriers.
There were a few reasons why I did this:
1. the D852G only supports LTE on band 4 whereas the D852 supports LTE on bands 1,2,3,4,5,7,17, and 29. I have noticed in certain locations the LTE connection drops and reverts back to HSPA.
2. My D852G is stuck on Android 4.4.2 because I refused to upgrade to the buggy Lollipop version. As such, I cannot use Android Auto in my car.
3. Security... with the recent exploits in Android, it's best to get to the latest version ASAP.
So, after 2 hours of fiddling around, I finally turned my D852G into a D852. At first, I was not able to flash the D852 file onto the D852G because it recognized that my phone model was different. So after some Googling around, I found that if you used one of the G2 unbrick files (a dll of a G2 model 8974) it skips the model verification check allowing you to install whatever file you desire.
Anybody who wants to do this can just PM me for some instructions. Beware that, with any software update, there is a potential to run into problems.
Now that I have Android 6 on my G3, I tried out Android Auto this morning and all I can say is WOW! I used Spotify everyday on my commutes and the difference in the interface between bluetooth audio streaming provided by the car and android auto's Spotify interface is night and day. You have large controls on the screen as well as full screen background album art as a wallpaper. Google Maps looks like... well... Google Maps! and the bonus over the stock navigation is that GM has live traffic! So I'm guessing that if you navigate with GM, it will route you around congested areas whereas the stock vehicle navigation will just take you on whatever route it calculates. The most compelling feature of Android Auto is that, with a press of the phone button on the steering wheel, Google Now is available to accept voice commands. If you've used Siri or Google Now, you know how well it can perform... I did a quick test like "What's the temperature right now" and it came back with the result spoken back to you for the city you are currently in (for example, it said "it is currently 6 degrees in Richmond"). I also tried "Where's the closest CIBC" and Google Maps pops up on the screen with a list of CIBC locations sorted by closest first. I also sent an SMS to my wife all using voice commands. Not once did I take my eyes off the road because when you are sending a text, nothing actually happens on the screen which is great! I plan to try some different commands on my way home from work like getting it to give me the hockey scores or something like that to see how it responds.
The only downside is that I have to hook up the phone via USB cable to the car. So now I have a cable hanging around in the car. If this could all be done via bluetooth or even wifi direct, it would be perfect.
Carplay is probably just as good and I can say that this technology is well on it's way to eliminating distracted driving.
