Category: Android Oreo

In the fast paced world of Android phones (and iPhones for that matter), some devices age well while others seemingly die without much of a thought to them.  A lot of it depends on the manufacture and their willingness to continue to develop updates for the device but also it depends on the niche in which the device attempts to be the answer.

In the case of the Huawei Mate 9, the Chinese company has continued to support the 5.9″ phablet by recently releasing their Android Oreo based EMUI 8 experience.  That, along with filling the need of a large screen device for some, has let this phone age well.  It’s still a powerhouse of a device that, even though it has now been superseded by the Mate 10, I don’t have a problem recommending.

I reviewed the Huawei Mate 9 back in March 2017 and at the time, I felt it was one of the fastest devices I had reviewed to that point.  I felt the same way about the smaller Huawei P10 which has the same SoC (System on Chip) setup as the Mate 9.  Now nearly a year later, I still feel the same way.  This is a solid phone with a lot to offer despite its age.  Yes, Android Oreo will likely be the last major update for the Mate 9 but that shouldn’t completely turn you away from it.  It has a lot to offer and remains one of the best overall flagship phone options out there, especially now that it is under $500.

I’m not necessarily going to be re-reviewing the Mate 9 in this post but rather will highlight how the phone has performed over time.  I’ll cover how the chassis has held up, how battery life has performed over time and the new EMUI 8 update for the phone to name a few things.

Good news this morning for those who have the Sony Xperia X or Xperia X Compact:  Android Oreo is on its way.  The company has released firmware version 34.4.A.0.364 for both devices, bringing Oreo to the 2016 phones as well as a handful of other updates to the devices.

Along with the update comes the January 2018 Android Security Update patch so you will be protected against Spectre and Meltdown after you update your phone.  There are also new features to the camera app and overall performance improvements to both devices.

After being released in various other markets, the Android Oreo update for the US variant of the Huawei Mate 9 is now rolling out.  Both the MHA-L29 and MHA-L09 are getting the update and it should be coming to your Mate 9 over the course of the next few days.  The 29 is the dual SIM variant while the 09 is the single SIM.

Along with the update to Android Oreo itself, you will be getting the January Android Security Update patch, a new portrait mode for the rear camera, and the new AI-driving EMUI 8 user experience.

In a somewhat surprising announcement on Twitter yesterday, Essential, makers of the Essential Phone, said that they were abandoning their current Android Oreo 8.0 build to start an 8.1 build for customers.  The 8.0 build has been in beta for a few weeks now and the company stated that stability issues where the driver behind the decision.

An update on the public release of Oreo: pic.twitter.com/fPJRtX7kvY

— Essential (@essential) January 30, 2018

The decision means that any Oreo build for the Essential Phone is going to be delayed, in the company’s terms, “a couple of weeks”.

The ASUS ZenFone 3 is the latest ASUS phone to start getting its update to Android Oreo.  The update was released yesterday and should be making its way to owners as an OTA update over the course of the next few days.  The new firmware build is version 15.0410.1712.31 for those keeping score at home.

The update brings all of the things that you expect from Oreo along with an overall improved UI experience for the ZenFone 3.  One of those changes is a new app drawer where you will simply swipe up to show all the apps installed on your phone.  This behavior is similar to Google’s Pixel devices.

This one could have passed by you without you noticing because it seems to have passed a lot of people by it seems.  Twitter, sometime late last year, rolled out Notification Channel support for those running the social networking app on Android Oreo.  The problem is, they never announced it or put it in the release notes so it isn’t clear when the new feature came into the app.

Notification Channels, in case you don’t know or remember, allow you to set more granular toggles on the types of notifications you get from an app.  It is supported in Oreo but not every app has support for it yet.  Usually when a developer adds support, they advertise it.  Apparently not Twitter.