LineageOS is one the most popular Android custom ROMs available in the market. The project supports multiple devices, thanks to hardworking developers and maintainers. But unfortunately, as it has begun to work on Android 11 releases, the organization has halted development for Android 9.0 Pie. Due to this move, 24 devices are no longer supported by the LineageOS project.

LineageOS 16.0 based on Android 9.0 Pie was officially released in March 2019. A number of older devices and then newer devices were supported by developers and maintainers over the course of the next year.

Last year, when Android 10-based LineageOS 17.1 was released, select few devices running the previous version of the OS were updated to the latest one. However, 24 of those smartphones and tablets continued to remain on LineageOS 16.0 up until now.

Now, as the project is readying to release LineageOS 18.1 based on Android 11, it has dropped support for Android 9.0 Pie. As a result, the below listed 24 devices are stuck with LineageOS 16.0 unless any new maintainer shows up to update them to LineageOS 17.1 (Android 10).

• ASUS
  • ASUS ZenFone 3
  • ASUS ZenFone Max Pro M1
  • ASUS ZenFone Max Pro M2

• BQ
  • BQ Aquaris X2
  • BQ Aquaris X2 Pro

• HONOR
  • HONOR View10

• HUAWEI
  • HUAWEI P20 Pro
  • HUAWEI P20 Lite
  • HUAWEI P Smart

• Lenovo
  • Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 Plus Wi-Fi
  • Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 Plus LTE

• OPPO
  • OPPO F1 (Intrernational)
  • OPPO R5/R5s (Intrernational)
  • OPPO R7s (International)
  • OPPO R7 Plus (International)

• Redmi
  • Redmi 3S/3X
  • Redmi 4X

• Samsung
  • Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 Duos
  • Samsung Galaxy S5 LTE-A
  • Samsung Galaxy S5 Plus 
  • Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 WiFi (2016)
  • Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 WiFi (2016)

• Xiaomi
  • Xiaomi Mi5s

• ZUK
  • ZUK Z1

Anyway, it is worth noting that some of the above-mentioned devices do have unofficial newer LineageOS builds, in addition to other custom ROMs based on Android 10 or Android 11.

Hence, if you are still rocking any of these smartphones and tablets with LineageOS 16.0, it is time for you to switch to another ROM.

RELATED:

• OnePlus One will soon run Android 10, courtesy of LineageOS 17.1
• Xiaomi Mi 5 & Mi 5s Plus get updated to Android 11, thanks to LineageOS 18.0
• F(x)tec Pro 1-X is XDA’s first-ever Smartphone priced at $899, runs LineageOS out of the box

(Via)

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LG announced the V40 ThinQ about a month ago with the major focus being on the combined five cameras which the device packs at its front and rear. The LG V40 ThinQ also comes with an attractive design but we are not sure how well the device will perform against the competition. However, if you own one or plan to get one, the latest Android Pie update may soon be available on the model, bringing the latest features which the new Android version offers.

This much was revealed by a GeekBench listing of an LG model with model number LGE LM-V405. This is the V40 ThinQ and it ran through the benchmark app with obviously a test build of Android Pie onboard. The model was also listed to have 6GB of RAM onboard.

Read Also: LG G7 One gets Android Pie before other LG phones

Although LG is yet to officially announce anything of such, the listing does mean the update could be close. LG isn’t very fast with latest update , though, so an update may not land very soon. Presently, only the LG G7 One, which was launched under Google’s Android One program, is enjoying Android 9.0.

(source)

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Google recently released the new Android 9.0 Pie version of its mobile operating system and also rolled out the update to its Pixel-series smartphones. Along with Google, Essential also rolled out the update for its Essential Phone.

Other smartphone manufacturers have announced the list of devices that will be updated to the latest version of the Android operating system, including HMD Global. Now, the Finnish company has confirmed that all Nokia smartphones will receive Android Pie update.

While the company has not yet provided a timeline for the update, it has said that no matter what Nokia phone, it’ll eventually receive the Android 9.0 update. The smartphones from HMD Global which will receive the update includes Nokia 1 (Android Go), Nokia 2, Nokia 2.1 (Android Go), Nokia 3, Nokia 3.1, Nokia 5, Nokia 5.1, Nokia 6, Nokia 6.1, 6.1 Plus, Nokia 7 (China-exclusive), 7 Plus, Nokia 8, 8 Sirocco, Nokia X6, and Nokia X5.

Among all these devices, the 7 Plus is expected to be the first smartphone from HMD Global to receive the Android Pie update given that it’s the only device from the Finnish company in the Developer Preview program. Later, the update could roll out to Nokia 8 and 8 Sirocco.

All the recently launched smartphones from the company are part of Google‘s Android One programme and we expected the Android One devices to receive the update before it rolls out to other mid-range or budget devices from HMD Global. The company has revealed that the update will be rolled out in phases as usual in order to secure quality delivery.

The Android 9.0 Pie, which was available in beta phase since March this year, comes with a number of improvements, including new personalization features, battery-saving optimizations, and tools that help tracking time users spend on the phone.

Read More: HMD Global launches Nokia 5.1 and Nokia 2.1 in India, Nokia 3.1 gets 3GB RAM variant

It also addresses the latest trends in smartphone designs with revamped navigational controls. It introduces a new gesture-based navigation system. There are also a number of other gesture-based shortcuts. It is also said to be the most personalized version of Android yet.

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Android 9 Pie was officially announced on Monday, 6th of August, two weeks earlier than the August 20 date it was expected to launch. The new version of Android started rolling out to Pixel devices immediately after the announcement, and in what can be termed a pleasant surprise, to the Essential Phone too.

I own the Essential Phone and have already updated my device to Android 9.0 Pie. So I’m going to share the new features the update brings to the phone.

First, if you own an Essential Phone and haven’t received the update, you should head to the settings menu and manually check for the update. I didn’t get a notification for the update myself but the update was available immediately I checked.

The update is about 1GB and you may want to switch to a Wi-Fi network if you are on cellular data. Once the update is done, you should restart your phone for the changes to take effect. Just before we dive into the new features, do note that the update comes bundled with August’s security patch even though it still shows as July. Essential has provided an explanation for that. It turns out they failed to update the patch string.

Our Android Pie release DOES include August security patches. In our enthusiasm to get it to you as soon as humanly possible, we forgot to update the security patch string. It will be corrected in our next release. In the meantime, enjoy a slice of pie served up by Elyse. pic.twitter.com/7Rpprzeeb4

— Essential (@essential) August 6, 2018

New Navigation and Recent Apps Menu

The biggest change you will notice after restarting your device is the new navigation mode. Gone are the back, home, and recent apps buttons and in their place is a new pill-shaped button and a small “back” arrow. Thankfully, Google has provided the option for users to switch to the previous navigation system. However, the icons are now like the ones on the Pixels.

If you want to go check your recent apps or switch between apps, all you have to do is swipe the pill icon upwards. Doing that brings you to the second visual change.

In Android Pie, Google has switched from vertical arrangement to a horizontal layout. You can scroll between open apps by dragging the pill button but I find scrolling through the apps itself faster and better. Apps can be closed by swiping them upwards.

Getting into split-screen mode has changed too since there is no more recent apps button. Entering into split-screen mode now is still pretty simple as well.

Can you see the icons above each app when you open the recent apps menu? Tap on it and a menu will show up. The menu includes app info, split screen, and pin. Apps that don’t support split screen won’t have the option listed. Select the split screen option and the selected app goes to the top half of the screen. You can select the second app from the rest of the open apps.

To quickly switch between apps, just drag the pill button to the far right and it’ll take you to the previous app.

Adaptive Battery and Adaptive Brightness

These are two of the main features that come with Android Pie. Adaptive battery uses AI to improve your battery life. What it does is study your usage pattern and limits the resources allocated to infrequently used apps. This is supposed to improve battery life.

Adaptive Brightness also uses AI to automatically adjust brightness. The phone studies your environment and usage pattern to adjust display brightness. The system also studies the manual adjustments you make to the brightness slider.

Notification Shade and Quick Settings Menu

The Quick Settings menu wears a new look now. On Android 9.0 Pie, the quick settings icons now sit in a circle. When a setting is activated, the icon takes on a green color or teal if the device theme is set to dark.

One complaint about the redesigned quick settings menu is that you have to completely drag it down to access the gear icon that takes you straight to the phone’s settings.

There is also an edit button along with the notification when you take a screenshot. So you can jump right into editing the screenshot.

Settings

The main phone settings looks better as Android 9.0 Pie brings much-needed colors to the icons. Also, the icons are now in a circle like those of the quick settings menu.

Volume Controls and Bluetooth Audio Controls

Volume control has also been redesigned. The control slider is no longer at the top of the screen but now on the right where the volume buttons are. We don’t know if the position will be standard irrespective of where your volume buttons are since there are some phones with their volume buttons on the left.

There is a gear icon below the slider that takes you to sound settings where you can adjust volume for calls, alarms, media etc.

There is also an icon above the slider that you can tap to mute all sounds or put the phone in a vibration-only mode.

A neat feature Android 9.0 Pie brings is the ability to remember the volume level of each individual Bluetooth audio device. So you can set your speaker to the maximum level and your earbuds to 50% and the phone will remember the volume level for each individual device.

Dedicated Screenshot button

Android Pie brings a dedicated screenshot button to pure Android. Rather than the usual volume down + power button combo to take a screenshot, you can hold down the power button for a few seconds and select the screenshot button that has been added to the power menu.

Easter Egg

The Android Pie Easter egg is fun and colorful and changes everytime you check it. To access it, go to Settings > System > About Phone > Android Version. Tap the Android Version (9) multiple times and it will open the easter egg. Be careful, this easter egg has the ability to hypnotize you.

What is missing?

Some features are missing in the update. Some are available on the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL and others are scheduled for release later.

• Overview Selection – this allows you to copy text from one app to another while in the recent apps menu without you having to enter into any of the apps. It also allows you to share images too.
• App Actions – App actions use machine learning and AI to predict the apps you need and at certain times of the day using the Pixel launcher. For example, you can have recommendations for playing a song when you connect your earphones
• Slices – this brings features in an app to the surface (read search). So if you search for Uber or Lyft in search, part of the search results you get is the distance and duration to your home or if a driver is close by. This is already available on the Pixel and will be available for other phones by fall.
• Digital Wellbeing – this is supposed to help you use your phone less than you currently do by allowing you set timers for app usage or switching to grayscale when it is near a preset bedtime. There is also a chart that shows you the duration spent per app and the number of times you unlocked your phone. Digital Wellbeing is available as a beta for Pixel devices running Android Pie. A stable version will launch this fall to Pixel, Android One, and other phones.

READ MORE: Xiaomi Mi MIX 2S Android 9 Pie beta update now rolling out; More Xiaomi phones to receive soon

Conclusion

Android Pie is a great update that brings a lot of new and interesting features. It is sad that some cool features are being reserved for Pixel phones but Android being what it is, there will definitely be a port in the near future to other devices.

So far, I have not encountered any issue since I updated. Essential still has its own issues that have not been fixed such as the occasional ghost touches but it doesn’t happen frequently to make usage unbearable.

Releasing the Android Pie update the same day as it was announced is commendable and if you are someone who cherishes having a phone running the latest version of Android or having the latest security patch, the Essential Phone is the device for you.

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Google‘s latest Android version yesterday made a surprise entry yesterday when updates were pushed to Google Pixel, Pixel 2 and the Essential Phone. Android 9.0 Pie, as it is called, harnesses the power of machine learning to make your phone smarter, simpler and more user-friendly. The new OS does this in several ways, bringing features like Adaptive Battery which learns how you use your phone so that apps and services that are not being used regularly don’t drain your battery so much.

XDA Developers reports that they detected google has changed their wording on the rollback protection feature which was introduced first in Android Oreo. The feature is propelled by Android Verified Boot 2.0 (also known simply as Verified Boot) but it wasn’t mandatory for OEMs to implement AVB 2.0 in the Oreo release. Some OEMs have already implemented that like the Pixel 2, Razer Phone, and OnePlus 6. Some OEMs like Xiaomi are rolling it out with their latest updates while there are others who are yet to implement or may never do. However, Google has now made it compulsory that all devices launching with Android Pie support Verified Boot, and by extension, rollback protection.

Read Also: OnePlus 7 Could be One of the First Phones to Support 5G Connectivity

The rolback protection feature prevents the smartphone from booting if it is detected that the device was downgraded to an earlier version that is deemed insecure because of a security vulnerability. A slightly more technical explanation is that the VBMeta data structure, which holds the hash for the boot partition and hashtree metadatas for system and vendor partitions, uses a rollback index to reject images that have an older rollback index. The feature brings system stability and offers some form of security.

(source)

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After months of beta testing, Android P is official. And no it is not called Android Pistachio Ice Cream as revealed by this Huawei employee but Android Pie! That’s not all. If you are a proud owner of the Essential Phone, the update should hit your device today.

Android 9.0 Pie comes with a ton of new features. One of the biggest changes is the navigation system. With Android Pie, navigation is now gesture-based. There is also a new feature called Adaptive Battery which uses machine learning to improve power management.

There are tons of other features which we will cover in a separate article or we just might update this one.

Android 9.0 Pie is already rolling out to the Essential Phone making it the first non-Pixel phone to receive the update. It is 1047.2MB in size. Below is the full changelog for the Essential Phone:

• Gesture-based navigation
• Adaptive Battery
• Adaptive brightness
• Refreshed Notifications
• Rotation suggestion

We’re proud to bring Android 9 Pie to Essential Phone the same day it’s released! Check your phone now for the update. pic.twitter.com/pniUDl9yr8

— Essential (@essential) August 6, 2018

READ MORE: Android P coming to OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T, no Android 8.1 Oreo

There is no news yet on when other devices will begin to receive the update but we believe it should arrive on the Pixel phones and other devices that were part of the beta testing program before launching on others. So if you own the OnePlus 6, Nokia 7 Plus, and Xiaomi Mi MIX 2S, expect the update to arrive soon.

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Yesterday, Google rolled out the first developer preview of Android P (Android 9.0). The new version of Android OS does not support Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P and Pixel C that were launched in 2015. The Android P has also dropped support for the obsolete Nexus Player.

The Nexus Player was introduced as a competitor for Apple TV in 2014. It was launched with Android 5.0 Lollipop and was treated with Android 8.0 Oreo update in September last year. However, it was confirmed in the very next month that device will not be receiving the Android 8.1 Oreo upgrade. Also, it won’t be getting the upcoming Android 9.0 OS.

The Nexus 5X and 6P that had arrived in the market in 2015 with Android 6.0 Marshmallow have received the latest Android 8.1 Oreo update. However, these phones won’t be upgraded to Android P. The well-received Pixel C tablet was provided with Android 8.1 Oreo in December 2017 as the last major OS update.

The support page of Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P state that these devices have “no guaranteed Android version updates after” September 2017. The reason why these devices will not be getting the Android P upgrade is that Google has a policy of providing major OS update to Android devices for a period of two years. The Nexus 5X and 6P users will continue to receive monthly security updates until November this year. The Android P will be arriving first to Google Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL.

Read More: Nokia 8 Sirocco, Nokia 7 Plus and Nokia 6 (2018) Are Now Included in the List of Android Enterprise Recommended Devices

The forthcoming Android P will bring along various new features and improvements. Devices running on Android P will prevent background apps from accessing camera or microphone without the consent of the user. Android 9.0 will also prevent secret call recordings and it will be also coming with powerful call-blocking feature to prevent spam calls. It will carry native support for iris scanning and HID Bluetooth. It will provide the power to mobile operators to modify the signal strength indicator. A new addition on Android P is the support for iPhone X-like notch. Google will be showcasing all the new features of the Android P at the Google I/O 2018 event in May. It is speculated that the final version of Android 9.0 will be released sometime in mid-August.

(source)

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