Well, it seems an extra advantage for the users who are going to buy a new smartphone running Android 9.0 Pie. Project Treble will gradually help Android devices to get timely updates, and we hope it will end the Android fragmentation upto some levels. Last week at Android developers Summit 2018, Google demonstrated the benefits of Project Treble by running same GSI (Generic System Image) on all devices.

In step forward, now Google has conveyed that all the new devices launching on Android 9 Pie will endeavor Treble-compliance. All the new devices from every OEM can now take full advantage of the Treble architecture to deliver timely updates. We hope to see some significant improvements in the next month’s Android distribution charts. It would be good to see Android 9.0 Pie to get some big chunk of share in comparison to the last few months since its launch.

In a similar statement, Google said the aim is to “see more devices from OEMs running Android Pie at the end of 2018, as compared to the number of devices that were running Android Oreo at the end of 2017”.

The new experimented GSI build is built on AOSP source code with all other fixes and enhancements reported by manufacturers. It seems the makers have already played a lot with it, and now it’s time for third-party developers to test it and make it native for the devices. The app developers can also access the same build to harness the power of GSI build. It will help them to test their apps across different devices. The facility to test the app can be extended to any Treble compatible device that is unlocked.

The team behind the GSI is making it more competitive by inducing more and more features. They have also promised to bring in early access to future Android platform builds to start developing the app compatibility before the release.

• Read More: OnePlus 5/5T gets Project Treble support in the latest OxygenOS 5.1.6 update

What is Project Treble?

As like of primitive Android version, where Google releases a new update to the ecosystem, then the chip makers like Qualcomm and MediaTek make it compatible with their processors by adding support via low-level code. Finally, the OEMs prepare the software update and rollout to the users. To eliminate this three-phase update process, Project Treble has been introduced.

Project Treble simplifies this whole process. Now, instead of waiting for new codes for chipsets by major chip makers, the OEMs can use the driver interface to push the latest updates. Smartphone manufacturers need not to wait for chip makers to start developing and testing the new Android distribution.

(Source)

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OnePlus is rolling out a new update to the OnePlus 5 and 5T devices. The latest firmware brings many new changes including few bug fixes and new features. Majorly, OnePlus has added support of Project Treble for both the OnePlus 5 and 5T. Aside from new features, OnePlus has also added October Security Patch 2018 with several security improvement and measures. In total, there are 26 fixes for vulnerabilities found in the Android operating system.

OnePlus took several months to roll out the Project Treble on a Stable build as it is available since June on the OxygenOS beta channel. Furthermore, the update has added support of VoLTE for IDEA cellular network in India. You can have a look at the official changelog of the update:

• Supported Project Treble;
• Supported IDEA India VoLTE (Default On);
• Improved Bluetooth stability for phone calls;
• Updated Android security patch to 2018.10.

Project Treble will allow developers to boot a generic Android image. Ultimately, it will help OEM to update the device faster along with the ease of development to custom ROM developers. Now, OnePlus users can see some more out of the box development from third-party developers. OnePlus announced the inclusion of Project Treble while launching the OxygenOS 5.1.5 update some time ago.

Other OEMs like Essential and Huawei have already rolled out Project Treble support for their high-end devices.

• Read More: Xiaomi Mi 8, OnePlus 5T & More Gain ARCore Support

The update is rolling out to all the OnePlus 5/5T units in a phased manner, so it may take some time to reach your device. We suggest you keep your device charged at least upto 50% while performing an upgrade.

Additionally, OnePlus is set to launch the OnePlus 6T with all new waterdrop display and on-screen fingerprint sensor. The new device is coming our way on October 29th at a launch event in New York City. Though its India unveil will happen on October 30.

(Source)

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Google announced Project Treble last year as a way to make it easier for manufacturers to update their devices. It is supposed to reduce the duration between the launch of a new version of Android and when the update becomes available for a phone. It has also found usefulness by custom ROM makers who can now quickly whip up custom ROM versions (Generic System Image) of the latest version of Android in such a short time.

While Google has made it compulsory for all devices launching with Android Oreo and above to have Project Treble support right out of the box, some manufacturers have decided to not include it when updating older devices to Android Oreo since the latter isn’t compulsory.

Last year, OnePlus announced that its current phones(OnePlus 3/3T, OnePlus 5/5T)  would get updated to Android Oreo but won’t support Project Treble which caused fans to launch a petition. Two months ago, the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T devices running OxygenOS open beta received Project Treble support.

If you own the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T, then you should know that the latest stable version of OxygenOS (version 5.1.5) brings full Project Treble support. The changelog doesn’t actually mention it but you can confirm by installing one of the numerous apps on the Play Store such as Treble Checker to know if it does. Those who have received the update have already confirmed it.

READ MORE: OnePlus 6T to arrive as the company’s first US-carrier backed phone

What the changelog of the new update does mention is August’s security patch and the ability to confirm your phone’s PIN code without tapping the check button. The update is about 1.6GB in size and is rolling out in batches, so be patient if you haven’t received it.

With Project Treble now available, security updates should arrive faster and owners should even receive Android Q when software support ends.

(Sources: 1, 2)

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OnePlus has today released its latest versions of the OxygenOS Open Beta for the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T – version 13 for the 5 and version 11 for the 5T. While there latest update bring a few new features and optimizations, the biggest addition is the support for Project Treble.

Project Treble, which was announced ahead of Google I/O 2017, aims to modularize the Android operating system, making it easier for manufacturers to push updates to the software.

The newer version of Android update has been slow from some manufacturers. By separating the vendor HALs from the Android framework and providing a standard interface between the framework and HALs, Google has made it faster for device makers to bring up new versions of Android.

Project Treble support has played a big part to provide early access to the Android P Beta version to non-Google devices like the OnePlus 6, Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S, Sony Xperia XZ2, Nokia 7 Plus, among others.

In terms of other features and improvements in the latest OxygenOS build, it comes with improved launcher experience as the company has now added search tags in the app drawer, introduced a “new installs” category, and an improved app list.

In order to aviod data lose, OnePlus is advising users to flash earlier OxygenOS Open Beta (10 for OnePlus 5T and 12 for OnePlus 5) build before the new update. If you decide to update from the stable version of the system, you have to do a clean flash, clearing cache as well as data from the recovery.

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

The OnePlus Open Beta builds are available for download from here. If you are already on the Open Beta build, then you’ll will receive an OTA update and won’t have to flash the zip file manually.

(Source)

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Project Treble has been introduced by Google as a solution to one of the most important problems of the Android operating system. We are talking about fragmentation, which causes OEMs to take a long time before updating their handsets, especially when it is highly customized with custom user interfaces like MIUI and Samsung Experience.

This problem does not exist on iPhones as every Apple device has the same version of iOS, but it is a big issue on Android. Thanks to Project Treble, the OS gets divided into two frameworks: one with the core OS and another with the customizations implemented by OEMs. This makes easier and faster for manufacturers to release new updates since it is not necessary to modify the whole operating system anymore.

XDA-Developers made a very useful list containing all the smartphones which have been updated to support Project Treble. The list includes the following handsets: Google Pixel, Google Pixel XL, Huawei Mate 9, Huawei Mate 10 Lite, Honor 7X, Honor 8 Pro, Honor 9, Honor 9i, Huawei P10, Huawei P10 Lite, Huawei P10 Plus, Asus Zenfone 4, Razer Phone and Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro. Besides these devices, every smartphone launched with Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box already supports Project Treble.

(Via)

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Xiaomi released the Redmi Note 5 and Redmi Note 5 Pro at an event in India on February 14. The Redmi Note 5 and its co-traveller are already contenders for best mid-rangers in the market presently. Although some are still not happy with the choice of Xiaomi to stick with the Snapdragon 625 chip onboard the Redmi Note 5. However, the Redmi Note 5 Pro comes with a Snapdragon 636 processor which is almost similar in performance to SD 660, save for a weaker GPU and a few other minor issues.

Another downside for some is the now outdated Android 7.0 Nougat which the devices shipped with. But the Redmi Note 5 Pro may get Android 8.1 Oreo soon and this could bring Project Treble compatibility. This detail was scooped up by XDA Developers while rummaging through the firmware files of a device code-named “whyred.” The device was known to be a Redmi model running global ROM but the real name wasn’t known. The device has now been uncovered as the Redmi Note 5 Pro since it has been launched. A CPU-Z benchmark test as shown in the screenshot below proves that. Also, the firmware is said to run Android 8.1 Oreo. The SDK version is 27 and the release build is 8.1.0 with the January security patches. But what’s most interesting is that the line “ro.treble.enabled” is set to true in the build.prop, which is one of the easiest ways to check for Project Treble compatibility on an official ROM. 

Read More: Xiaomi Mi LED TV 4 Sold Out in Less Than 10 seconds In Its First India Sales!

In case you don’t know what Project Treble is, it is one of the most important features included in Android 8.0 Oreo. Project Treble separates all the low-level device drivers (known as the ‘vendor implementation’) from the rest of Android. This makes updating phones/tablets to the latest version of Android much easier for manufacturers, as long as they already support Treble. Treble makes it significantly easier to develop custom ROMs for phones, as opposed to ones without the feature. It’s even possible to develop a single system image that works across vastly different devices, as long as they are Treble-compatible. This would make it easier and faster to develop custom ROMs based on newer Android versions going forward. These are just speculations anyway as XDA Developers didn’t get the opportunity to verify by testing the Android Oreo-running Redmi Note 5 Pro hands on.

(source)

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When OnePlus revealed that there will be no Project Treble support for its current devices, fans of the brand were displeased. A petition requesting for a reconsideration was started and OnePlus has responded to it. To cut the long story short, OnePlus says no Project Treble.

A staff of OnePlus responded to the petition during an AMA session and gave reasons why they won’t be implementing it.

According to him, Project Treble requires a storage partition to house the Android framework and the vendor image. Since this wasn’t a requirement for Android Nougat and older versions of Android, all their current devices do not have it.

I guess you are wondering why devices like the Essential Phone which also runs Android Nougat gets Project treble. OnePlus said they could do the same via OTA but it comes as a risk as the device may brick during partitioning, a risk they do not want users to face.

So does it mean that Essential and other manufacturers that have added Project Treble support to their flagship phones receiving Android Oreo have taken a risk? There is a chance these other companies didn’t consider their devices getting bricked or maybe they already partitioned the storage before release.

READ MORE: OnePlus 5T Star Wars Limited Edition Launches December 14th, Tickets on Sale December 7th

OnePlus adds that while Project Treble does help to increase the rate of updates, its main function is to accelerate Android framework updates. OnePlus says it is one of the manufacturers to first release Oreo for its devices and will continue to look for ways to improve the quality and rate at which software updates are delivered in future.

(Source)

The post OnePlus Says Its All About Updates, (Still) No Treble appeared first on Gizmochina.

About 2 weeks ago, OnePlus revealed in an AMA session that it would release Android 8.1 for all its current phones eligible for the Android Oreo update. However, it said none of the phones will get Project Treble.

This has not gone down well with fans of the brand who have now launched a petition to convince them to reconsider. Project Treble is supposed to make updates faster as it separates the Android OS framework from the vendors implementation.

While devices that come with Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box must have Project Treble support, there are some which were previously on Nougat that have gotten Project Treble or that will get it, such as the first gen Pixels, the Essential Phone, Honor 9, Mate 9, and Honor 8 Pro.

If these devices can get Project Treble support, why shouldn’t the newly released OnePlus 5T or even the OnePlus 5, OnePlus 3T, and OnePlus 3 get Project Treble?

While the OnePlus 3T and OnePlus 3 won’t make it past Android Oreo, support for project treble will allow developers to create custom ROMs for them using the latest AOSP in a matter of days rather than weeks or more. That way, these phones can get longer support seeing as they will just be two years old when Android P comes out next year.

READ MORE: The Force Is Strong With The OnePlus 5T Star Wars Limited Edition

So if you are a fan of the OnePlus brand or own a OnePlus phone, you can sign the petition by visiting the link below.

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OnePlus a few days ago kept to its promise of releasing an Android 8.0 Oreo update for the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T. OnePlus had already said that it would be the last OS update for both devices.

However, during an AMA session on the OnePlus forums, it was revealed that both devices (along with the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T) will receive an Android 8.1 Oreo update later. At the moment, Android 8.1 is only available as a developer preview for the Pixels, Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X but will have a stable version before the end of the year.

Some of the features Android 8.1 brings includes the addition of a Bluetooth battery level icon next to the Bluetooth icon in the Quick Settings Panel. It also brings the ability to disable the “App is running in the background” notification, and limits notification alert sounds to one per second.

Unfortunately there is one feature that won’t be coming to OnePlus devices and that is Project Treble. Project Treble is one of Android 8.0’s key features. What it does is to make it easier, less expensive, and faster for  manufacturers to update devices to new versions of Android.

It does this by separating the vendor implementation (device-specific, lower-level software written by silicon manufacturers) from the Android OS framework via a new vendor interface. In previous Android versions. device makers had to update most of the Android code to upgrade a device to a newer version of Android. But with project treble, the stable vendor interface provides access to the hardware-specific parts of Android, so that manufacturers can push out new Android updates by just updating the Android OS framework.

READ MORE: OnePlus 5 Discontinuation Drawing Near, Confirms OnePlus India Head

OnePlus says it has no plans to support Treble for any of its devices but doesn’t give a reason why.

(Source)

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