Ars has a very detailed review – more of an in-depth deconstruction, to be honest, and that’s a good thing – of Android 8.0 Oreo.
Take a closer look at Oreo and you really can see the focus on fundamentals. Google is revamping thenotification system witha new layout, new controls, and a new color scheme.It’s taking responsibility for Android security witha Google-branded security solution. App background processing has been reined in, hopefully providing better battery life and more consistent performance.There’s even been some work done on Android’s perpetual update problem, with Project Treble allowing for easier update development and streaming updates allowing for easier installation by users.And, as with every release, more parts of Android get more modularized, with emojis and GPU driver updates now availablewithout an OS update.
Saving this one for tomorrow.
New version of the UI is so flat that to improve upon it in 9.0 the would have to remove all colours, fonts, controls and option. Leaving the user with a white empty space.
Edited 2017-09-04 22:53 UTC
And to think that growing up, children used to brag about the number of colours our computer of choice could display on the screen… little did we know that we’d end up in 2017 with black and white interfaces just because of the whims of some fancy designer.
Are enough to make this a great update.
Update modularity is nice and all that but the real question is if there will be any driver updates for the majority of devices.
Most devices are released and forgotten right away by their manufacturers, so nothing will change. Phones from google and maybe a couple other manufacturers may see updates outside large system updates, and that’s good, but those were already receiving regular updates anyway.
This is a step in the right direction but it’s not going to be the holy grail many people hope it will be.
Edited 2017-09-05 09:33 UTC
from what i understand, this is not really an update.
it’s more of “throw out your old stuff, and new one should be supported for longer from now on”.
some devices may become updated to this release, but for many of them it will be more or less impossible.
Most Android devices are. Apple has an admirable record of long-term support and simultaneous upgrades for their smartphones and tablets. The current version of iOS (10) supports iPhones all of the way back to the 2012 iPhone 5. On the day of its release, it was available for every supported iPhone.
Android manufacturers appear to view product abandonment as a means of driving sales of new devices: If you want the new features and security fixes of the current version of Android, then buy our new smartphone.
Apple’s closed ecosystem offers huge advantages in the development, testing, and deployment of OS upgrades. For consumers who view smartphones as essential tools for their lives, rather than as toys or hobbies, Apple’s approach has a lot of appeal.
Edited 2017-09-06 08:17 UTC
I doubt most people know or care. OEMs don’t support their phones properly because it’s far easier and cheaper than doing so.
Most people don’t buy the high-profit, high-dollar Android phones. Those who do are the ones who know and care about OS upgrades.
Millions of flagships are still sold. I doubt a significant chunk of those buyers are buying them thinking about anything other than fancy designs, camera, or display quality.
To be frank, I don’t care if people who buy Galaxies and other “customized” junk will receive updates.
Will Project Treble result in Google phones getting upgrades from more than 24 months? Will Project Treble result in Google phones not being held hostage to Qualcomm’s BSP (non)support policies? Then that’s good enough for me.
Anybody who buys a “customized” phone knows what he is getting, but as of previous week, even if you went the Google experience way, you were still getting only a paltry of 24 months of upgrades.
Edited 2017-09-06 10:57 UTC
Good question. Eagerly listening for the answer myself. Stupid 24 months of support make it absurd to buy anything but the newest phone when it is released. Which I’m sure all oems love.
Project Treble is huge. It’s basically a userland HAL for Android, which is critical for generic builds since there’s no firmware level abstraction like x86 PCs.
Big problem, Android File Transfer, a must have for people (like me) who transfer files from their phone to their Macs, no longer works in Oreo. You make the connection with the USB cable and AFT says it either can’t see the device or can’t access the phone internal storage.
AFT definitely worked with Nougat (7.1.2) that my Google Pixel came with.
This is definitely a ‘must fix’!!
FYI, I have a workaround for the videos and pictures I want to transfer – involving a bunch of uploading and downloading that I would rather avoid doing.
Edited 2017-09-06 04:23 UTC
Well, what actually should be a must fix is Apple getting off their ass and adding support into MacOS for the MTP protocol. I think MacOS is the only major os left that doesn’t support it.