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Unexpected device updates give us Android geeks warm fuzzies, and candidates for updates don't get much less expected than budget tablets — but here we are. We've received several reports that Samsung's Galaxy Tab A, released in the spring of 2016, is being updated to Android 8.1 Oreo.
Back in April, one of Jordan's complaints about the Asus ZenFone Max Plus M1 was that it shipped with Android 7.0 Nougat. Seven months later, Asus is rectifying that (sort of) with an update to 8.1 Oreo. It's a little frustrating that manufacturers aren't skipping right to Android 9 Pie, but Oreo has a lot of what's good about Pie, and late updates are better than no updates.
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- The ZenFone 4 Max Lite (ZC520KL) is also getting the update to Oreo 8.1 with Zen UI 5.0. Asus says it will take about one week for the OTA to reach all devices.
We're currently on the fifth generation of ASUS ZenFone devices, but that doesn't mean that previous models have been (entirely) forgotten. The ZenFone 4 Max has just begun receiving its update to Android 8.1 Oreo, which also includes ASUS's ZenUI 5.0 skin. This is a few months behind schedule, but at least it's here now.
Android Oreo continues to make its way to lower-end devices. This time, it's the $120 LG K20 on AT&T. The carrier posted a support update that noted Android 8.1 is available for the phone last week. While it's not the latest and greatest, Oreo carries with it some significant upgrades, like picture-in-picture support for certain video sources — and any news is good news for budget phones.
Remember the Moto G5S Plus, the strangely-named almost-flagship that debuted about nine months ago? We haven't heard much about it for a while, but according to Motorola's support page, it's now receiving its Android 8.1 Oreo update. That means that it's skipping 8.0 Oreo, which comes as something of a surprise given Lenovorola's update reputation.
Asus launched the ZenFone 4 Selfie last year, with the highlight feature being its dual 20MP front-facing cameras. The phone initially shipped with Android 7.1, but just like Asus promised a year ago, it's now receiving an update to Android Oreo.
The non-Plus model of the Moto G5 was never released in the US, but for those of you overseas who have one, here's some good news. The Android 8.1 Oreo-based kernel source code for the Moto G5, codenamed 'cedric,' has now been published on GitHub, meaning that developers can start cooking.
You hear us talk a lot about manufacturers releasing the kernel source codes for their devices. Some resist hard, while others just take some time. In the case of the latter, Motorola released the Android 8.1 Oreo sources for the Moto G5 Plus over on its GitHub.
After buying Motorola, Lenovo doesn't seem to know where it wants to go and how it wants to brand things. Currently, it still releases devices under its own Lenovo brand, it has also made countless variants of every Moto E, G, C, M, Z, and X (but Y?), and now it's back to using the full "Motorola" name for its new line-up of Android One devices: the Motorola One and One Power.
All manufacturers are required by the GPL to release the kernel source code whenever there's a change to it, which usually happens when a major update is pushed. The Moto G5S Plus, codenamed 'sanders,' has been waiting for its Oreo update for quite a while now, but with news of a soak test occurring in Brazil and this 8.1 Oreo source code's release, it looks like it may be coming soon.
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- Xiaomi hasn't had the best update experience with the Mi A1. Just like with Oreo 8.0, the 8.1 OTA rollout was halted and has now officially resumed. This time, it comes with the July security patch and it's rolling out to both devices that were still on 8.0 or those that already got the 8.1 OTA in June. Thanks, SS, Gurkanwal Singh, and u/Blastoooise!
We're big fans of the Android One-powered Xiaomi Mi A1 here at AP. Its combination of a handsome design, top-of-the-line software, great performance, and solid battery life makes it one of the best budget phones out there (even if it's not officially sold in the US). The phone received Android 8.0 Oreo just before 2018 kicked off, but it's taken until now for 8.1 Oreo to roll out. Unfortunately, it comes with two pretty major bugs.
The Moto X4 started receiving Android 8.1 Oreo back in May, and it brought with it a couple of issues. Two months later, Motorola has released the kernel source for that update as it's mandated to do by the GPL whenever there are any modifications to the Android kernel.
Android tablet lovers have fewer and fewer options nowadays, and it doesn't help that these tablets often get relegated to the back of the update priority list. Samsung just recently began rolling out Android 8.0 Oreo to its Galaxy Tab S3, the Huawei MediaPad M5 ships with Oreo too, but Lenovo's most recent tablets, the Tab4 series, are still on Nougat 7.1. There's hope though, if you're very patient.
Nokia and HMD are at it again, releasing an update to Android 8.1 Oreo for another one of their devices. This time, it's the low-end Nokia 2 that was announced last October. The device launched with Nougat 7.1.1 and skipped the Android Oreo 8.0 release to wait for a direct jump to 8.1 with some under-the-hood optimizations from Android Go. That update is now available for beta testers.
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Huawei today unveiled the new Honor 10 smartphone in China. The handset packs an edge-to-edge display and high-end specifications, but it’s the gorgeous color options that are most impressive. The phone is already available to pre-order from the Honor site.
Late last month, Razer released an Oreo preview build for the Razer Phone, with the final release slated to arrive in mid to late April. Well, we're now solidly in the territory of mid to late April, and Razer has kept its word. The company has also announced that the Razer Phone is now available at Best Buy.
At the end of January, Essential announced that it would be skipping a full release of Android 8.0 Oreo, instead going straight to 8.1. About a month after the first beta build of 8.1 came out for the Essential Phone, the official Android 8.1 Oreo update has been released from the floodgates.
Custom ROMs almost never have Google apps and services built-in, partially to give users more choice, and partially to avoid any legal issues. If someone wants the Play Store and other Google apps, they have to flash an additional zip file containing those components. Open GApps has been the most popular source for these zip files for a while now, and it is now making builds for Android 8.1 Oreo.
Many open-source projects, LineageOS included, live by the same motto - 'don't ask for an ETA.' Most developers of Lineage have other jobs and responsibilities, so large undertakings (like creating a new major update) take time. At long last, the waiting is over - LineageOS 15.1 is official, and it's coming to a device near you.
While open Wi-Fi networks are nice to find, they can sometimes be so slow that you'd prefer to just use your precious mobile data. Google seems to agree with this, having implemented these Wi-Fi speed labels for open networks in Android 8.1 Oreo to let users decide whether they should connect to a certain unknown network.