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2017's Samsung Galaxy S8 receives a surprise software update just weeks from 2022
But it comes from Verizon, so we have some questions
The Galaxy S8 and S8+ were pretty great phones for their time, but that time is long over now... or is it? Some long-haul owners are now getting a new software update for the device and we have some questions about it.
Samsung adds new phones to its security update schedule — here's the complete list
The A22, M32, and F22 will only get quarterly patches
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Back in 2017, the Galaxy S8 represented a big step in the evolution of Samsung's flagship S line-up, removing the home button and igniting the war on display bezels in the process. Four years later, it's still a great-looking phone, but it's sadly reached the end of the line when it comes to updates — Samsung has ended software support for both the S8 and S8+, as well as moving other older devices to a less regular update cycle, and adding new phones to the schedule.
Samsung halts monthly Galaxy S8 updates, moves phone to quarterly releases
Joined by other A-series mid-rangers from this year
Samsung’s once-flagship Galaxy S8 series turned three following the recent launch of the Galaxy S20 line. While the company usually commits to two years of regular OS and security updates for its high-end models, the releases start to get a bit more infrequent after that. That's just what's happening now to the manufacturer's 2017 Galaxy flagship.
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Google promised over a year ago that the wireless version of Android Auto would work out-of-the-box on any Android 9.0+ phone, but that hasn't quite panned out. The only devices that have been able to use it are Google's own Pixel devices (plus the Nexus 5X and 6P), but that finally appears to be changing.
Broken displays often end up being the death sentence for old phones, so in a great marketing move that's also good for the environment, Sprint has decided to offer $50 repairs for shattered Samsung Galaxy screens. The deal is valid regardless of your carrier and will run through February 9 or while supply lasts. To take advantage of it, you need to drop in at a nearby Sprint shop.
A group of security researchers has discovered an exploit that lets Bluetooth and USB accessories wreak all sorts of havoc on multiple Android smartphones. In both cases, the door of entry was the cellphone modem, or baseband, which is found inside all smartphones.
For years, AT&T has been trying to push its SMS successor, Advanced Messages. The problem is that the standard only supports a handful of flagships and isn't even interconnected with the networks used by other carriers. Still, AT&T is working to get Advanced Messaging out to more devices and has just pushed out one such update to the Samsung Galaxy Note8 as well as the S8 and S8+.
More than two years after Samsung announced its original Dex dock, Plugable designed a competitor that can work with virtually any USB-C device. The Cube is a tiny hub that connects to your device through an external cable and acts as a dock to link it to USB peripherals, a monitor, and even an external network.
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Some Sprint customers who own smartphones in the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S10 series are facing major cellular reception problems. There has been some progress in solving the woes of S10 owners, but for those with plagued S8 devices, the investigation is just beginning.
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Samsung's One UI is possibly the hottest update the company has issued for its devices. Owners of the S9, S9+, and Note9 have enjoyed it for a while, and so have those who bought the new S10/S10+/S10e, but users who have the older generation of flagships from 2017 have had to wait a little longer. After a few months in beta, the S8 and S8+'s update began rolling out in Europe and is now crossing the Atlantic to the US.
With One UI, Samsung introduced a system-wide night mode for its Android Pie devices. The new feature darkens the manufacturer's proprietary software such as the Calculator and Messages apps and also alters the overall menus and interface colors, but still requires you to manually enable dark mode in other applications like Messenger or Slack. Android Auto, on the other hand, happily receives this setting and defaults to it, no matter the time of the day.
Samsung really, really wants you to use Bixby. That's why it has included a physical button to access its woefully underpowered assistant on most phones since the Galaxy S8. Samsung has traditionally tried to prevent remapping that button, but the Galaxy S10 changed that. The official Bixby remapping feature from that phone is now spreading to Samsung's other devices.
Samsung just unveiled the much-anticipated Galaxy S10, but the company hasn't completely forgotten its two-generation old flagship. The Pie update has reached the Galaxy S8 and S8+, but only if you're in Europe.
After releasing Android 9 Pie for the American Galaxy S9, S9+, and Note 9, Samsung is now rolling out the new software to the US variants of the Galaxy S8, S8+, and Note 8. People in other countries, such as the UK, India, and Korea, were already able to participate in the beta program, and it only made sense for the 2017 handsets to follow in their siblings' footsteps.
If you're a Sprint customer, you can now get Samsung's 2017 flagship for a great price. The Sprint version of the 64GB Galaxy S8+ is now just $244 from Samsung.com. That's a $500 reduction from the original price, and $256 cheaper than the unlocked US version.
Samsung's Android 9 Pie rollout has been rather swift. After beta testing it along with its new One UI on the Galaxy S9, S9+, and Note9, it began rolling it out to users of the first two models late in December. Back then, the company also released a Pie update roadmap with the months it expected to push the OTA for its remaining devices. Now, an updated roadmap has been spotted by SamMobile, pointing to quicker release dates for the Note9 and Note8.
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Although T-Mobile has offered its own in-network implementation of RCS messaging since 2015, it wasn't until this summer that the carrier joined Sprint in deploying an inter-carrier solution — GSMA's Universal Profile 1.0. At the time of roll out, though, the magenta carrier only updated subscribers with the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. Now, it's expanding by pushing the update to the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ along with October bug fixes.
If you own a Samsung Galaxy Note8, you may soon have a bit less envy for those who bought the latest-and-greatest Note9. A recent update for last year's Note device brings AR Emoji and Super Slow-Mo video capabilities to the camera, along with the September security patch. It's worth noting that as of now, this update seems to have rolled out to only some Note8 phones running on the Exynos 8895 chipset.
Grabbing a year-old flagship is a good way to save some cash on your phone purchase without sacrificing too much. And among 2017's flagships, Samsung's Galaxy S8+ was one of the best, and you can get the dual-SIM international version for just $460 right now on eBay.
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- Samsung has formally announced its new Good Lock release, detailing all this customization functionality in its latest news post. In addition to all the features you've read about here, the company also discusses the new ClockFace app, which arrived after the rest and we covered separately.
Some smartphone users are perfectly content to just use their handsets as they arrived, with the phone's interface configured to all its default settings. Others will take the time to personalize a little by changing the wallpaper, and maybe tweaking something like font size to their liking. And then there are users who will settle for nothing less than a fully customized user experience. For Samsung fans counting themselves among that latter camp, we used to have the Good Lock app, presenting multiple avenues for adjusting the Galaxy S7's interface. Now it's time for a new generation of Good Lock to pick up the slack, as a revamped 2018 edition of the app lands for Oreo-running Samsung phones.