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It looks like owners of the latest Samsung Galaxy devices have a bit of a wait before they see the Android Oreo update.  The company’s Turkish site has posted that the testing of the new Oreo build has begun and that it will begin rolling out next year.

Our work on our pilot model for Android 8.0 (Oreo) has begun. We aim to present the new operating system to you at the beginning of the new year.

The problem, of course, is when exactly it will be in the new year but this all-but confirms that the update won’t hit in 2017.  Samsung has been very quiet about a timeline on when the update will roll out and this is the only confirmation that has been seen to this point.

If it is indeed 2018 before the Galaxy S8 phones and the Note8 see Oreo, it will once again make Samsung one of the last of the major OEMs to get the update out to their current devices.  Huawei, OnePlus, LG, Sony, HTC and Moto have all confirmed that at least some of their devices will get the update prior to the end of the year.

Microsoft’s Skype for Android has hit a rare benchmark.  The communications app has hit the 1 billion downloads mark, something that few apps have reached, especially those outside of Google itself.  The messaging, calling and video app has been around in various names for years and is one of the linking apps between phones and PCs for Windows users.  It may have taken it a while to hit one billion downloads but it did it and many others have never come close.  Indeed, even Microsoft’s other apps are mostly in the 100 million download range.

Like many of their other Android apps, Microsoft has continued to update the features of Skype and that continues today.  There is a small update that is rolling out in the Play Store that bring messaging improvements.  The update is version 8.9.0.64295 for those keeping score at home and should be rolling out to users over the course of the next few days.

Verizon has begun rolling out a new update to the Moto Z2 Force that brings support for their upcoming Gigabit LTE (5G) network.  Verizon has been testing faster LTE networks over the course of the past months, mostly in their labs, but have pushed this update out for some real world testing.  To be crystal clear on this, you have to have this update on the Moto Z2 Force and be in a test area for Verizon’s Gigabit LTE.  Verizon has not begun rolling it out to the public yet so think of this as a “getting you ready” update.

The updated build is version NDX26.183-15 and it brings the September Android Security Update patch along with the Gigabit LTE support.

You can read my review of the Moto Z2 Force here.

Through a blog post made this morning, Sony has announced that Android Oreo has begun rolling out to the Xperia XZ Premium.  The update was released to unlocked devices today and it could take several days before everyone sees it.  It also makes Sony one of the first manufactures to get an Oreo update out to a device.

As you would expect, the update is big at over 1GB in size so you will want to make sure you have your phone connected to WiFi to download and that you have at least 70% battery life available (if not connected to AC).

In addition to Oreo itself, Sony has added several new features to the Xperia XZ Premium with this update.  There is a new 3D Creator app that lets you scan any object and render it as a 3D avatar or free form image.  The app can do this in less than a minute and can share it with friends, on social networks or even send it to a 3D printer.