Category: Android Oreo

Good news this morning for those of you who have the 2017 LG G6 on the Verizon network.  Your Android Oreo update has been released and is on its way.  The update is about 1.9GB in size so you will certainly want to download it via WiFI.  You are looking for build VS98820a according to the release notes from Verizon.

The update of course brings all the goodness of Oreo to the G6 but also brings a few refinements to the phone too such as an improve home screen layout as well as some new lock screen wallpapers for you to enjoy.

It has taken a bit longer than the company expected but if you have a Mobvoi Ticwatch E or S model, you should have your Wear OS update that brings Android Oreo available.  The company, in a recent post in their forums, indicates that 100% of devices should have the update now available and installed (or ready to install).

Originally the company had indicated that the update would roll out in March of this year but “Due to unexpected circumstances” the updates were delayed.  The company then began rolling out the update early last week with the 100% mark for all devices hit on May 16th.

I can confirm that my Mobvoi Ticwatch E has been updated.

As expected today, Google has released the May 2018 Android Security Update for the Pixel and Nexus devices.  The update, which consists of two patches, is rolling out now to compatible Google devices.  With it being the Monday of the first full week of the new month, it was expected we would see these patches land today.

As has become the norm, there are two patches for this month’s Android Security Update.  The first, dated May 1, 2018, consists of 7 patches, all of which are marked as High priority.  The patches in this build deal with general Android items like frameworks, runtimes and other base elements to the platform.

Good news this morning for Moto X4 owners who are on Project Fi.  Your Android Oreo 8.1 update is now ready to download.  The update follows up the Oreo update back in December for the device which is the first non-Google branded phone to work with Google’s MVNO service.

If you have a X4 on Fi, you should have the update available by checking for it in the device’s settings under the About phone section.  It is a small update given that it is incrementing the Oreo build on the device but it is always a good ideal to download these types of updates via WiFi.

Some seven months after it was released, Android Oreo is now the required Android version for manufactures who want their new phones certified by Google.  The change means that if a manufacture wants to introduce a new phone to the market and wants that phone certified by Google to run Google Mobile Services and access the Play Store, it will have to be on Oreo 8.0 or later.  Phones running Android Nougat will no longer be certified.

While we can debate why it took the Mountain View company seven months to require this, it is good news on the whole.  Oreo is far more stable and secure than any previous version of Android and it arguably provides one of the best user experiences at the same time.

On the Apple Developer site, the Cupertino company has released the latest update of iOS distribution figures and it is pretty astounding.  For the report which is dated April 22, 2018, 76% of all iPhones and iPads coming to the App Store were running a variant of iOS 11, the latest version of the mobile platform.  A further 19% were running iOS 10, meaning that stunning 95% of all devices are running the last two major updates to the platform.

The numbers stand in stark comparison to Android Oreo, the latest version of Android from Google.  There, you will find just 4.6% of Android devices coming to the Google Play Store.  In fact, if you add up Oreo and Nougat, the version prior, you only get to 35.4%.  While it is easy to point the finger at Google, the reality is that the blame for the lack of updates to the majority of devices in the Android ecosystem lies with manufactures, a problem Apple clearly doesn’t have with iPhones and iPads.