Sony is one of the best OEMs around when it comes to updating its smartphones in a timely fashion, but the company's smart TVs are another story. Even though Android 9 Pie was released five months ago, and Android Q is on the horizon, Sony is just now rolling out Oreo to some of its smart TVs.
Android TV 8.0 Oreo is making its way to 24 Sony TVs, released from 2016 to 2018. Here's the list of all supported models:
- XBR-100Z9D
- XBR-43X800D
- XBR-49X700D
- XBR-49X800D
- XBR-55X700D
- XBR-65X750D
- XBR-65Z9D
- XBR-75Z9D
- XBR-43X800E
- XBR-49X800E
- XBR-49X900E
- XBR-55A1E
- XBR-55X800E
- XBR-55X806E
- XBR-55X900E
- XBR-55X930E
- XBR-65A1E
- XBR-65X850E
- XBR-65X900E
- XBR-65X930E
- XBR-75X850E
- XBR-75X900E
- XBR-75X940E
- XBR-77A1E
In addition to all the features that Android TV 8.0 brings, like the revamped channel-based launcher, there are also plenty of bug fixes. Amazon Prime playback has been improved, DTV 1080i signals no longer randomly flash, 4K HDR 60FPS content should no longer cause frame drops, and more. Here's the full changelog:
- Improves the Home screen menu for better usability
- Improves the keyboard design
- Improves the Search function using Google Assistant™
- Resolves picture quality issues viewing Dolby Vision™ content on Netflix®
- Resolves a DTV 1080i flashing issue
- Resolves a condition where there is no sound at times when playing the UHD BD movie “Dunkirk”
- Resolves a condition where the TV switches from Standby to Semi Standby and switches on any AV Receiver connected via HDMI CEC
- Resolves a condition where the TV goes to 8X red LED blinking when starting to play games (HDR content) from the PS4™ Pro gaming console (XBR49X900E, XBR55X900E, XBR65X850E, XBR65X900E, XBR75X850E, XBR75X900E)
- Improves performance for Amazon Prime® video playback
- Resolves a condition where a short beeping sound is heard when changing channels
- Adds support for Dolby Vision content (XBR-65Z9D, XBR75Z9D, XBR-100Z9D, XBR-55A1E, XBR-65A1E, XBR-77A1E, XBR-55X930E, XBR-65X930E, and XBR-75X940E only)
- Adds support for the Amazon® Alexa™ app that runs on Amazon Echo™ devices
- Resolves an issue where optical digital sound sometimes stops
- Resolves an issue where the TV speakers and the sound from the PS4 controller are out of sync
- Resolves an issue where frame drops occur and the AV is out of sync when playing 4K HDR 60fps content
- Adds support for PIP (Picture-in-Picture) while using an app (watch TV in a small window while using an Android TV™ app)
- Adds support for Hybrid Log-Gamma HDR content via HDMI® and USB/Home network
- Improves the Settings screen to support changing settings while viewing TV (some exceptions may apply)
- Adds support for task-switching (switch between previously used apps and the current app by holding down the HOME button on your remote until the task-switching menu appears)
If you don't want to wait for the slow rollout, you can update your TV manually by downloading the sideload file from the source link below. The sideload zip contains a .pkg file — just copy that to a flash drive and plug it into your TV. Further instructions should appear on-screen.
Source: Sony Support
Thanks: Justin V