Tag: Android Oreo

Google has released the December 2017 Android Distribution Report this week.  The report reflects the version of Android on devices that visited the Google Play Store for the 7 day period ending January 8, 2018 and it shows that while Android Oreo was only one of two versions that saw growth for the reporting period, that growth is anemic.  And that is putting it nicely.

Oreo gained just .2% in this month’s report, with both 8.0 and 8.1 accounting for a total of just .7% of device share.  The only other gainer in the report, Android Nougat, gained 3% and now sits at 26.3% for device share.  That moves Nougat into second behind Android Marshmallow as the most widely used version of the platform.

As part of their efforts to get the EMUI 8, Android Oreo based update out, Huawei has opened up a limited beta for owners of the Huawei P10 and P10 Plus.  The program will allow a limited number of P10 users to sign up for the beta and download the Oreo based build to their devices.  The beta follows the release of the Oreo update for the Mate 9, last year’s flagship phablet from the company.

Huawei has already released the Oreo update for the P10 in China so this beta for the international versions of the phone will likely go quickly given the company has some experience with the build and the device together.

The Android Oreo based OxygenOS build for the OnePlus 5 is starting to roll out again.  The original update was released to a small group last week but was halted after a bug was found in the initial release.  OnePlus reworked the build, incremented it up to OxygenOS 5.0.1, and has re-released it.  So far, no issues have been reported.

The 5.x train for OnePlus’ Android builds, brings it up to Oreo as the base platform and the company has now released it for the OnePlus 3, 3T and 5.  Only the 5T remains in beta but that shouldn’t be for much longer.

As for changes, there are a lot in this update for the OnePlus 5.  The launcher has been updated, the camera now has portrait mode and there are a lot of overall system optimizations that are happening that should improve the stability and performance of the phone.

Today’s Deal is on the powerful, 5.2″ Sony Xperia XZs.  The XZs is a revamped version of last year’s XZ and has, as you would expect from Sony, some pretty impressive specs.  Today, the XZs has dropped in price down to $399 on Amazon.  This is the same price Sony was selling the phone for during the holidays.

The Xperia XZs is powered by the Snapdragon 820 processor clocked at 2.2GHz, has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.  That storage can be expanded and additional 256GB thanks to the MicroSD slot.  The XZs is IP68 rated against water and dust intrusion and, a not-so-common thing here in the US, it is a dual-SIM phone.  The display is a 5.2″ FHD and all of this is powered by a 2900mAh battery that is charged via a USB-C port and it supports Quick Charge 3.0 technology.

As we begin 2018, another phone is getting updated to Android Oreo.  The ASUS ZenFone 4 is that phone, with the announcement of the release of the Oreo update coming last Friday.  The update, build V15.0405.1711.76 for those keeping score at home, will start rolling out as an OTA update this week to owners.

The update brings all of the normal features of Android Oreo to the ZenFone 4 along with the December 2017 Android Security Update patch.  While an exact size of the update wasn’t disclosed in the announcement, you can expect it to come in at or just over 1GB based on other phones getting their Oreo update.  It is an update you will certainly want to download connected to WiFi and you will need at least 80% battery life remaining in order to install it.

After releasing the Android Oreo based OxygenOS 5.0 build last week for the OnePlus 3 and 3T, OnePlus as rolled out a minor update to address some bugs that cropped up in that build along with a few new features.  The new build is 5.0.1 and, as is always the case with OnePlus, they are slow rolling the update out to users.

The bug fixes are a key part of this update to OxygenOS as well as some performance improvements.  This 5.0.1 build also has the December 2017 Android Security Update patch.  According to the change log, here is the full rundown of features & improvements:

• Added support for aptX HD
• Added Wi-Fi hotspot device manager
• Added “adaptive mode” screen calibration
• Updated Android security patch to December
• General bug fixes and stability improvements

If you are already running the 5.0 build, the OTA incremental update is just shy of 145MB in size.