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Nokia's been talking about giving the 2017 Nokia 2 Android 8.1 Oreo since 2017, with the first beta landing all the way back in June of last year. Today it has been officially released, though there is a catch. You see, the Nokia 2 on Android Oreo suffers a few performance problems, even with a few Android Go optimizations pulled in for it. The Nokia 2 has a mere 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage, and a Snapdragon 212 to power it. Together, that's not really enough oomph for Oreo, so Nokia's making this update optional.
[Update: New G6 Play release] Motorola releases Oreo kernel source code for Moto G6 Play and E5 Play
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- Motorola has released another kernel package for 'jeter,' the Moto G6 Play. This one doesn't have a carrier name attached, so it's probably more general-purpose.
Back in April, Motorola introduced six - yes, six - smartphones simultaneously. Three belonged to the Moto G6 line, and the other three were in the Moto E5 family. The company has now published the Oreo source codes for the Moto G6 Play and E5 Play.
Buckle up, Asus lovers and users, the ZenFone series is starting to get its Android 8.1 update and the first lucky device is the ZenFone 3 Max (ZC553KL). The two-year-old phone had already received Nougat 7.0 a year ago and an update to Zen UI 4.0 last December, but Oreo 8.1 is certainly a nicer milestone to cross and a sign of Asus' commitment to updating most of its product line.
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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.
Android updates aren't always guaranteed, especially on lower-end devices, so it's nice when budget phones receive newer versions of the operating system. Case in point, Android 8.0 Oreo is rolling out to Samsung's very affordable Galaxy J3 on Verizon.
Slowly but surely, LG is upgrading each variant of the V20 to Android 8.0 Oreo. All of the US carrier versions have already received the update, including the models for AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint. Now Oreo is rolling out to the international unlocked (H990DS) and Hong Kong (H990N) variants.
Asus and Verizon have had an on-and-off deal here in the U.S., both for phones and tablets (the latter of which aren't half bad). One of of those devices, the Zenfone V Live, is getting an update to Oreo starting today. Another one of those better-late-than-never situations, I guess.
Lagging behind the other carrier versions (by months, in some cases), T-Mobile is finally pushing out the Android 8.0 Oreo update for the LG V20. Better late than never, I guess?
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.
Android 9 Pie has already arrived on a few phones, but many other devices are still waiting on promised Oreo updates. The LG G6 was updated to Android 8.0 earlier this year, and the company also promised upgrades for the V20 and G5. Oreo is now rolling out to the T-Mobile and Verizon variants of the LG G5, according to multiple user reports.
While many of us are using Android 9 Pie or at least looking forward to an update in the not too distant future, some LG V20 owners have been simply hoping for an Oreo update. Both AT&T and Sprint have already gotten the job done. Today, Verizon customers with LG's last removable battery flagship are getting the much-anticipated OTA.
Android 9 Pie has arrived, but a few devices are still waiting on promised Oreo updates. The Verizon variants of the Samsung Galaxy J7 and J7 Prepaid, are among them. According to the phones' support pages, Android 8.0 Oreo is now rolling out for the two devices.
August isn't even properly over, but already Google has pushed the month's platform distribution numbers, detailing the precise statistics of Android versions used across devices. Last month's statistics were of particular interest after the two-month gap, resulting in some inflated numbers, but this month things are back to normal. As always, newer versions of Android are up, and older versions are (mostly) down. Interestingly, Pie has yet to rear its head, despite launching earlier this month.
Are you ready for a surprise? Paranoid Android/AOSPA, of long-standing ROM fame, has just pushed out a status update on the project's plans, as well as the first ever Oreo releases for the ROM. Unfortunately for the vast majority of us, they're only available for a handful of Sony phones.
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.
2016's LG V20 was basically the last flagship to ship with a removable battery, so it's no surprise that plenty of people are still using it. Its Android 8.0 Oreo update started rolling out in South Korea last week, and it's now hitting the Sprint model here in the States.
All four major US carriers pushed the Android 8.0 Oreo to their Galaxy S7 and S7 edge variants back in June. AT&T, surprisingly, took the lead, with Verizon shortly behind. Sprint came in next, and T-Mobile took last place. One and a half months after the update first started rolling out in the US, Samsung is finally pushing Oreo to the US unlocked S7 and S7 edge models (SM-G93xU).
We get it, Google. You're busy with a lot of things, and platform distribution updates can fall by the wayside. Still, the most recent two-month gap was unusual. Someone finally had time to spit out new numbers today, and it's actually rather good news. Oreo usage is up to 12.2% across both versions, which is more than double where it was back in May.