Android 8.1 Oreo Final Release Pushed Out To Pixel And Nexus Devices
For starters, you will have quick access to the battery status of connected Bluetooth devices by accessing the Quick Settings menu. Google has also implemented a feature to help mitigate screen burn-in on the system bar (which was most notable on the Pixel 2 XL, which features an LG OLED display) by inverting the color scheme in certain situations. System buttons will also be allowed to dim while idle to help reduce burn-in.
Users can allow their smartphone to automatically disable the fingerprint reader when an unregistered finger is used multiple times in an attempt to unlock the device. Browsing security has been enhanced by detecting WebView-based attacks that could be used for malicious URLs. In addition, there are fixes in place to fix audio playback issues on the Nexus 5X and distorted audio when streaming video on the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. For emoji fans, Google has fixed its highly-panned cheeseburger and beer emojis.
However, the biggest update comes with the activation of the previously dormant Pixel Visual Core on the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, which is used to enhance images on the already-stellar rear camera. The Pixel Visual Core features 8 custom, Google-designed cores that allow the Image Processing Unit (IPU) to perform 3 trillion operations per second. Google says that this AI co-processor can churn through HDR+ content 5x faster than a general purpose SoC while using one-tenth the energy.
This final release of Android 8.1 Oreo is available now for the Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel C, Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X. You can download the system images for these devices right here. In case you didn't notice, Google wasted no time moving from Developer Preview 2 (DP2) to the final release -- Android 8.1 Oreo DP2 was just released on November 27th.
