When will my phone get Android Oreo? That's a question we're seeing and hearing often at the beginning of 2018. Many OEMs have officially kicked off beta programs to test 8.0, while others have confirmed a list of devices receiving the update. In addition, rumors have leaked about phones that might receive Oreo at some point this year. Let's take a look at everything we know so far.

At this point, the largest Android OEMs have shared their Android Oreo roadmap for their flagship devices. A few companies, like Samsung and LG, have even released statements regarding some mid-range phones. As we take a look at each device, we also note which stage of development the 8.0 update is currently in.

About This List

For the purposes of this article, there are three stages: Rumored, confirmed, and beta. Devices in the rumored category have not been confirmed to receive Oreo by the OEM, but evidence suggests they may. Confirmed status means that the manufacturer has officially stated the phone will receive the update. Lastly, phones in beta status currently have an open or closed Oreo beta testing program.

Phones with confirmed Oreo updates or existing builds are marked in bold.

Essential

The list of phones Essential made in 2017 is fairly short, as the PH-1 is the first device ever released from the young company. With only one phone to support, you would think Essential would have an easier time getting out timely updates. Currently, the PH-1 Oreo update is in beta status, with two beta updates released at the time of writing. The second Oreo beta is quite stable on the Essential Phone, hinting that perhaps a stable release is coming soon.

• Essential Phone PH-1: Beta available

Google

One of the main perks of purchasing a Pixel or Nexus device is the timely Android OS updates. As of publication, all of the recent Pixel and Nexus devices are running a stable build of Android 8.1 Oreo — not even just 8.0. This list includes the Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Pixel, and Pixel 2. You can check out a full list of what's new in Google's version of Android Oreo in our guide.

• Nexus 5X: Stable OTA available
• Nexus 6P: Stable OTA available
• Pixel: Stable OTA available
• Pixel XL: Stable OTA available
• Pixel 2: Android Oreo out of the box
• Pixel 2 XL: Android Oreo out of the box

HTC

Thus far, HTC has confirmed that their flagship devices from 2016 and 2017 will receive Oreo. This includes the HTC 10, HTC U Ultra, and HTC U11. The unlocked model of the HTC U11 has already received the update, but we are still awaiting the official release for the HTC 10 and U Ultra. In addition to the flagships, the mid-range HTC U11 Life received Android 8.0 in late December 2017.

• HTC 10: Confirmed
• HTC U Ultra: Confirmed
• HTC U11: Stable OTA available
• HTC U11 Life: Stable OTA available

Huawei/Honor

There are a number of Huawei devices rumored to receive the Android Oreo update. Huawei was busy pushing out the update to several phones at the end of 2017. The flagship Mate 10 series ran Oreo out of the box. Below is a list of devices expected to get the Oreo update.

• Honor 7X: Rumored
• Honor 8: Rumored
• Honor 8 Pro: Confirmed
• Honor 9 (AL00, AL10, TL10): Stable OTA available
• Mate 9: Stable OTA available
• Mate 9 Porsche Design: Stable OTA available
• Mate 9 Pro: Stable OTA available
• Mate 10: Android Oreo out of the box
• Mate 10 Lite: Rumored
• Mate 10 Pro: Android Oreo out of the box
• Mate 10 Porsche Edition: Android Oreo out of the box
• Nova 2 (PIC-AL00): Rumored
• Nova 2 Plus (BAC-AL00): Rumored
• P9: Rumored
• P9 Lite Mini: Rumored
• P10 (VTR-L09, VTRL29, VTR-AL00, VTR-TL00): Stable OTA available
• P10 lite (Lx1, Lx2, Lx3): Rumored
• P10 Plus: Stable OTA available

LG

LG has been fairly mum about the status of its Oreo updates. However, for the company's 2017 flagships, we have concrete information about 8.0's status. It is worth noting that we believe an Oreo update for the LG G5 seems unlikely. The G5 sold very poorly and the time invested would not be worth it for LG's software team.

• LG G6: Official beta released in China.
• LG V20: Rumored
• LG V30: Official Oreo released in Korea

Motorola

Historically, Motorola is one of the best Android OEMs when it comes to quick updates. This year has been no exception, as they've already rolled out updates for the Z2 Force and Moto X4. In addition, Motorola has confirmed on their blog the full list of phones that will receive the Android 8.0 update. All of the phones in the list below are confirmed, some of them have already received the update where noted.

• Moto G4 Plus: Confirmed
• Moto G5: Confirmed
• Moto G5 Plus: Confirmed
• Moto G5S: Confirmed
• Moto G5S Plus: Confirmed
• Moto X4: Stable OTA available
• Moto Z: Region-specific beta available
• Moto Z Droid: Confirmed
• Moto Z Force Droid: Confirmed
• Moto Z Play: Confirmed
• Moto Z Play Droid: Confirmed
• Moto Z2 Force Edition: Stable OTA available
• Moto Z2 Play: Confirmed

Nokia

Nokia has only been on the Android scene for a year, but they've done a fantastic job of making their phones Oreo-ready. While only two of their devices are widely available in the US, they've outsold Google and OnePlus in Q4 2017 across the globe. Every single Nokia device running Android will receive Oreo at some point, which should only draw more consumers to them over time.

• Nokia 2: Confirmed
• Nokia 6: Stable OTA available

OnePlus

Over the past few years, OnePlus has taken some criticism for their Android OS update practices. Android Oreo is scheduled to be the final major OS update for the OnePlus 3 and 3T. Both of these phones currently have Oreo beta builds available. The OnePlus 5 and 5T also have beta builds available, but are not as far along in testing as the 3 and 3T. OnePlus began rolling out the stable Oreo build for the OnePlus 3 and 3T, but halted it due to an apparent bug.

• OnePlus 3: Beta available
• OnePlus 3T: Beta available
• OnePlus 5: Beta available
• OnePlus 5T: Beta available

Samsung

As the largest Android OEM, Samsung pushes out a ton of devices every year. While Samsung never officially confirms OS updates before release, a leaked Oreo schedule appeared online in November 2017. The leaked document speculates that older flagships like the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge will get Oreo, as well as the Note 5. In addition, a number of phones in Samsung's A line of phones are scheduled to get the update.

Due to the speculative nature of this leak, nearly all Samsung phones are currently in the rumored status, with a few notable exceptions. Both the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8 have Oreo beta builds available, which you can easily install on your device now.

• Galaxy A3 (17): Rumored
• Galaxy A3 (18): Rumored
• Galaxy A5 (17): Rumored
• Galaxy A5 (18): Rumored
• Galaxy A7 (17): Rumored
• Galaxy A7 (18): Rumored
• Galaxy C5 Pro: Rumored
• Galaxy C7: Rumored
• Galaxy C7 Pro: Rumored
• Galaxy C9 Pro: Rumored
• Galaxy C10: Rumored
• Galaxy J5 Pro: Rumored
• Galaxy J7 (2016): Rumored
• Galaxy J7+: Rumored
• Galaxy J7 Core: Rumored
• Galaxy J7 Max: Rumored
• Galaxy J7 Prime: Rumored
• Galaxy J7 Pro: Rumored
• Galaxy Note 5: Rumored
• Galaxy Note 7 FE: Rumored
• Galaxy Note 8: Leaked beta build available
• Galaxy S6: Confirmed
• Galaxy S6 Edge: Confirmed
• Galaxy S6 Edge +: Confirmed
• Galaxy S7: Confirmed
• Galaxy S7 Edge: Confirmed
• Galaxy S8: Official build available
• Galaxy S8+: Official  build available

Samsung Internet crosses 500 million installs on the Play Store

A feature-packed browser

While the install numbers may seem large, it doesn’t look all that colossal when you consider the fact that Samsung Internet comes pre-installed on all the Galaxy devices. Samsung has also opened the app to devices from other brands, which might have helped the app in reaching 500 million installations on Google Play.

Samsung Internet has some nifty features like an ad blocker, night mode, secure private mode, and support for extensions, etc. The app also offers many region-specific features for users in India and China as seen in the most recent update. The app is based on Chromium code and performs admirably well compared to other popular Android browsers.

If you’ve not yet tried it, do give it a go, you might end up liking it. Samsung Internet browser is available as a free download from the Google Play Store, and it’s also available on our APK page.

Samsung Experience 9.0 brings new emoji design

Emoji design is not standardized and often varies based on the device, OS, and even apps. In the past, Samsung’s emoji design has been criticised by many users for its unorthodox design choices and inconsistencies. Samsung using a cracker to denote what is a cookie in other emoji libraries is a commonly cited example of its inconsistency. It looks like Samsung finally realized that its emoji needed a redesign and did precisely that with the new Android 8.0 Oreo update.

The new Samsung emoji library is not a radical redesign, but rather a refinement of the existing design language. From my initial impressions, the new emoji look better and more accurate in what they are trying to communicate. With the new redesign, Samsung emoji now look similar to the competition which should ensure a more consistent experience for the users. Samsung has also opted for the standard “Simpsons yellow” as the default skin tone for people and body part icons like most other emoji sets.

Emojipedia has done an in-depth analysis of the new Samsung emojis and it’s worth a read if you want to dwell deeply on all the changes.

P.S. Along with the redesign, the update also brings new emoji icons.

Images courtesy: Emojipedia

Samsung Galaxy S9 release date, price, news

Based on the rumors so far, this is what the Galaxy S9's spec sheet looks like.

Display resolution: QHD+ (1440 x 2960)
Display size: 5.8-inch
Display tech: Super AMOLED
Chipset: Exynos 9810/Snapdragon 845
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 64GB/128GB
Rear camera: 12MP
Front camera: 8MP
Battery: 3,000mAh
Rear fingerprint scanner
Waterproof
Wireless charging

Samsung Galaxy S9 camera

Hottest leaks:

• Samsung: "The Camera. Reimagined"
• A single-lens camera with variable aperture
• Super slow motion video
• Mobile HDR video recording

The Galaxy S9 camera is going to be a key feature of Samsung's phone this year, and not because of a dual-lens camera or higher megapixels.

Instead, we're expecting to see a variable aperture, super slow motion video and the possibility of the world's first phone with HDR video capture. 

The MWC 2018 launch event invite heavily teases the Samsung Galaxy S9 camera by including the words "The Camera. Reimagined." 

This could mean that the Galaxy S9 camera may beat the top-of-the-line Google Pixel 2 camera if it includes a variable aperture or becomes adds the world's first camera that can capture Mobile HDR video. 

Samsung Galaxy S9 camera rumors point to a 12MP Dual Pixel lens with optical image stabilization and a variable f/1.5-2.4 aperture. That means it would be able to switch between f/1.5 (great for low light shots) and f/2.4 (ideal when the lighting is better and you want more of the photo to be in focus).

This rumor comes from a leaked image of the Galaxy S9's box, which also lists it as being 'super speed', having an 8MP front-facing camera and supporting 'super slow-mo'.

Galaxy S8 Oreo update

Samsung started rolling out the Galaxy S8 Oreo update to non-beta users with the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+ in markets like Turkey, India, Germany, Norway, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Georgia, Belgium, the UAE earlier today.

The update is only available over-the-air at this point in time but it should go live on Samsung Smart Switch as well as our firmware section later this week. It’s the same G950/G955-FXXU1CRAP firmware version that was rolled out to beta users first with the February 2018 security patch onboard.

Samsung seems to be conducting a phased rollout for the Galaxy S8 Oreo update probably because it doesn’t want the OTA server to run into any problems. That’s just going to slow down the process for everyone and lead to a bad user experience.

Samsung will release Oreo for the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+ in the Netherlands next week and that’s also when we expect some other markets like the United Kingdom to finally receive Oreo as well.