Last year, HMD Global launched Nokia 2, the company’s cheapest smartphone, running on Android 7.1 Nougat operating system out of the box. The company had previously revealed that it will be skipping the Android 8.0 update and will directly roll out Android 8.1 Oreo update for the device.

Now, the Finnish company has started rolling out Android 8.1 Oreo operating system update for the users of Nokia 2, although in a beta stage. HMD Global is opening up registrations for Nokia‘s Beta Labs. The company will soon roll out the stable build of the Android Oreo update.

For those users who are interested in trying out this beta version of Android Oreo, they’ll have to register with the Nokia 2 IMEI number. After that, a notification will pop up letting enrolled users download and install the Beta version of the Android 8.1 Oreo.

The smartphone features a 5-inch IPS LCD display and is powered by Qualcomm’s 1.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 212 processor. It packs 1GB RAM and 8GB of onboard storage which can be further expanded using a microSD card.

The smartphone has an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. It runs on Android 7.1 Nougat operating system out-of-the-box and comes with Google Assistant. The Dual SIM phone supports 4G VoLTE connectivity and is fuelled by a massive 4,100mAh battery that is rated to provide two days of battery life on a single charge.

Read More: Nokia X6 Global Edition Likely to Debut Soon, TA-1083, TA-1116 Models Gets Bluetooth SIG Approval

Recently, HMD Global launched the successor of the Nokia 2, dubbed as Nokia 2.1 or Nokia 2 (2018). The company decided to move the smartphone from being a regular device to joining the Nokia 1 as an Android Go phone. It comes with a redesigned premium look and upgraded specifications.

(Source)

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If you are using a smartphone that is older than a couple of years, there’s a possibility that the company has given up on rolling out Android version update for the device and is instead of its recently launched flagship smartphones.

In a situation like that, for those who want the features of the newer version of the Android operating system, custom ROMs come to the rescue. LineageOS, a popular custom ROM, has now released a newer version of its ROM for a range of devices, including OnePlus One, Samsung Galaxy S5 Plus, and Oppo Find 7 / Find 7A.

The custom ROM, LineageOS 15.1, is based on Android 8.1 Oreo operating system and comes with a lot of customization to the stock Android Oreo experience while still maintaining stability for a wide range of devices. LineageOS is one of the popular custom ROM for the users of OnePlus as well as Samsung and Oppo. According to the official stats from LineageOS, its custom ROM is running on 62,099 OnePlus One smartphones.

Along with the newly added features of LineageOS and some custom modifications, this new version of the custom ROM brings in all of Android Oreo’s features, including picture-in-picture (PiP) mode, Autofill apps, notification channels/snoozing, and native support for theming.

Read More: Xiaomi Starts Rolling Out MIUI 10 Global Beta ROM To Compatible Smartphones

Some of the most popular features of LineageOS are also present, including Privacy Guard, Live Display, Button/Gesture customization, and a bunch of stock applications such as the Eleven Music Player and Snap Camera, among others.

(Sources – 1, 2, 3)

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Before launching the Nokia 7 Plus, HMD Global unveiled the original Nokia 7 back in late 2017, a mid-ranger which has been launched as a China-exclusive phone. The handset has just started updating to Android 8.1 Oreo, the latest stable version of Google’s operating system available. With Android P right around the corner, the device has received a big update weighing 698 MB which brings the firmware number of version to 224B.B01. The update is arriving via OTA alongside a complete changelog of all the improvements implemented into it, and it requires at least 1402 MB of free space in order to be installed correctly.

Besides the main improvements brought by Android 8.1 Oreo on every handset, Nokia 7 has just gained the support to dual VoLTE. This means that the phone now supports VoLTE technology on both its SIM card slots. Now, the phone can also show the battery status of devices connected via Bluetooth. Face Unlock has been added as well: the front camera will allow you to unlock your phone through 2D facial recognition. With this update, HMD Global has also added a Do Not Disturb mode for gaming and a Camera Pro mode which should allow experts to improve the quality of their photos through manual commands.

RELATED: Nokia X6 Pricing Will be 1,499 Yuan (~$237), Reveals Suning Listing Before Official Launch

Now, the system theme can automatically adapt to the wallpaper color in order to provide a more beautiful and homogeneous user interface. The power management has been enhanced, so the battery should be able to last more. And the camera user interface has been enhanced as well, alongside the compatibility of 3.5 mm audio jack. At last, the new update heading on the Nokia 7 contains the latest security patch released by Google for the month of May.

If you live in China, you own a Nokia 7 but you still haven’t received the update, you can head to Settings and choose the software update tab to force its arrival.

(via)

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A while ago, Razer announced that it has started rolling out Android 8.1 Oreo update to those users who have purchased its first gaming smartphone, Razer Phone.

The smartphone comes with Android Nougat operating system out-of-the-box. However, the company had said that the device will directly get the latest Android 8.1 Oreo update.

Keeping its promise, Razer started rolling out Android 8.1 Oreo update for the Razer Phone about two weeks ago. Since the update seems to be rolling out in phases, it has not yet reached every region.

However, things are not going as planned for the company in the UK. Three, one of the carriers in the UK, has announced that they have stopped the rollout of Android Oreo for Razer Phone due to some issues. Three says that the company is working closely with Razer “to get a reliable 8.1 software update soon and hopefully a release can be pushed out in the near future.”

At this point, it is not known if the rollout of this new Android version update has been stopped in other regions also. However, the users in the United States have already received the Android Oreo update on their Razer Phone.

According to the reports, owners of the Razer Phone, who have already updated to Android 8.1 Oreo are complaining of issues with the SIM card. It seems that the issue is widespread as users all over the world claim they have cellular data problems regardless of the carrier. However, the company has not given any official statement regarding this issue. We expect the company to fix this issue soon with a new software update.

The Razer Phone comes with a 5.7-inch QHD IGZO display with 120Hz refresh rate. Razer calls it an Ultramotion Display and likens it to NVIDIA’s G-SYNC. Surprisingly, the display is protected by Gorilla Glass 3. Under the hood, it is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 processor along with 8GB RAM and 64GB of expandable storage.

Read More: Nubia Red Magic Gaming Smartphone Launched, Comes With 5.99-Inch 18:9 Display, SD 835 SoC And 8GB RAM For $399

The smartphone comes with dual rear cameras — 12-megapixel f/1.75 wide angle primary lens and 12-megapixel f/2.6 telephoto secondary lens with 2X zoom. On the front side, there’s an 8-megapixel f/2.2 snapper. The device is powered by a 4,000mAh battery and comes with support for Quick Charge 4.0+, making it the first phone to ship with the new fast-charging technology.

(Source)

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Just a couple of months after releasing the public build of Android 8.0 Oreo update for the Nokia 8, HMD Global has now started rolling out Android 8.1 Oreo beta update to the users of Nokia 8.

Juho Sarvikas, the Chief Product Officer at HMD Global, has announced through Twitter that they would begin testing the Android 8.1 Oreo beta update starting with the Nokia 8. This beta release of Android 8.1 for the Nokia 8 makes HMD Global one of the first OEMs to roll out this Oreo Maintenance Release to the non-Google devices.

This new beta version of the Android update is about 1.55GB in size and can be downloaded through Wi-Fi only. While there are no major changes in this update, it comes with optimized battery performance, Bluetooth battery percentage display, redesigned settings as well as fixed hamburger emoji. Further, the company has also included the latest January Android security patch.

The update is being rolled out through Nokia’s Beta Labs Program — a program which enables users to test public beta version of upcoming Android updates from the company. The program was started with the Nokia 8 with Android 8.0 Oreo beta update which was released as an official update a month later.

Read More: Nokia Sends Invitation To MWC 2018 Launch On February 25, Nokia 9 & Others Expected

Nokia 8, having a 5.3-inch display, is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, comes with 4GB RAM and packs 64GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 256GB via a microSD card. As for the cameras, it features a 13-megapixel primary camera on the rear and a 13-megapixel front shooter. The Nokia 8 is powered by a 3090mAh non-removable battery.

While most of the smartphone manufacturers are still struggling to provide Android 8.0 Oreo update, HMD Global has now started releasing beta builds of Android 8.1 Oreo — making it one of the few companies to be at the front when it comes to software updates.

(Source)

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While most smartphone manufacturers are working on to roll out Android 8.0 Oreo update to their devices, Oppo has now started rolling out Android 8.1 Oreo update to the Oppo R11s  — the company’s flagship smartphone which was launched a couple of months ago.

Along with the Android 8.1 Oreo, the update for the Oppo R11s also brings a bunch of new features to the device. One of the major highlights of the update is that it brings support for the Dual SIM and Dual VoLTE feature.

Another major update is the addition of a new photo album named “Memories”. It intelligently recognises important events, trips, as well as people in the photos and videos and arranges them accordingly. There is also support for editing and sharing the media files.

It also adds some fitness related to functions, such as pedometer which counts steps taken and distance travelled, helping users in their daily exercise schedule. The weather application has also been updated. It now automatically identifies the location to provide weather information. It also displays information related to air quality index, fog and haze.

The Oppo R11s features a 6.01-inch Full HD+ display with a screen resolution of 2160 x 1080 pixels and an aspect ratio of 18:9. The phone is powered by Qualcomm‘s Snapdragon 660 processor. With the recently introduced 6GB RAM model, the phone is now available in two models — one with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage while the other one with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage.

Coming to the camera department, the rear camera features a combination of a 20-megapixel camera sensor with f/1.7 aperture and a 16-megapixel camera sensor with f/1.7 aperture. On the front side, there is a 20-megapixel camera sensor which comes with Artificial Intelligence (AI) features that support more than 200 facial enhancements, scene detection, and portrait mode.

Read More: OPPO’s Next Flagship Phone May Feature Super VOOC, Charges Full in Just 15 Minutes

The phone is running Color OS 3.2 and comes with Android 7.1.2 Nougat operating system out-of-the-box. It is fueled by a 3,205mAh battery, which supports company’s own VOOC fast charging technology. While the 4GB RAM model of Oppo R11s is priced at 2,999 Yuan (approximately $454), the 6GB RAM model costs 3,599 Yuan (approximately $545).

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Google has announced a new version of its latest Android operating system. The version is dubbed Android Go, the new version is built specifically for entry-level smartphones. As result of that, the new OS comes with a lean size and is optimized for Android devices with RAM sizes of 512MB to 1GB RAM. Now, Google can put its money where its mouth is by delivering on that promise with Android Oreo (Go edition) as part of the Android 8.1 release coming tomorrow.

The new Android Oreo (Go edition) would be made available as part of the Android 8.1 update that would be released tomorrow. Google shared some details of the new lite Oreo version, revealing that it is comprised of three aspects; the operating system, Google apps and the Play Store. All three aspects have been optimized to run with fluidity on smartphones with low RAM sizes.

Read Also: Google Search Now Has Phone Comparisons Built Into Results

The operating system is said to have been optimized to a point where the average app is 15% faster on the new OS. The OS is also optimized as well as the pre-installed apps to take up 50% less space. In addition, there won’t be a problem of monthly data getting exhausted rapidly by the background apps because Google’s data saver is turned on by default. The Go edition is also coming with just nine apps preinstalled. These apps are super lightweight and they include Google Go, Google Assistant Go, YouTube Go, Google Maps Go, Gmail Go, Gboard, Google Play, Chrome, and Files Go. The optimization also includes the Play Store preinstalled on the Go edition coming with a new section that recommends apps that are tuned for entry-level devices. However, users still get access to all the regular apps on the PlayStore. Google also hinted that devices running Android Go will be delivered in the coming months with disclosing further details. So, we might actually see the launch of Google’s entry-level smartphones soon.

(source)

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