HMD Global’s flagship phone, the Nokia 8, is reportedly receiving the Android 8.1 Oreo update. The update is rolling out via the company’s beta program, Nokia Phones Beta Labs. HMD Chief Juho Sarvikas announced on Twitter that the update is rolling out to beta testers.
“Be our guest as we serve #AndroidOreo 8.1 Beta for #Nokia8,” Sarvikas wrote on Twitter. He took a jibe at the controversy that made Sundar Pichai himself step and added, “the hamburger emoji fix with cheese now on top of the patty.”
https://twitter.com/sarvikas/status/955753890770665472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
If you think that’s the only change Android 8.1 will bring to the Nokia 8, think again. Tiny improvements like the battery indicator for Bluetooth devices, safer browsing, and better notifications and fingerprint management and Wi-Fi speed labels will be made available to the flagship phone. Additionally, the update also patches a few bugs that were there in Android 8.0.
The version for the Android 8.1 update is v 4.82A and the size of the update is 1553.9MB. You will have to sign up to the beta program by heading over to the Nokia Phone Beta Labs page and sign up with a Google account. You will require the IMEI number and other details and you will receive the notification to update within hours of registration.
The update to Android 8.0 Oreo rolled out to Nokia 8 users in November 2017. Considering this is the beta rollout for the latest version, a wider launch is imminent in the next few months.
The Nokia 8 is part of the first crop of Android devices with the Nokia moniker that HMD Global resurrected with the promise of pure, stock Android with regular updates. And so far, the phone has managed to live up to the promise, albeit a little late.
The Nokia 8 is powered by the Snapdragon 835 chipset coupled with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The phone sports a 2K 5.3-inch IPS LCD display and dual 13-megapixel sensors on the back and a 13-megapixel shooter on the front, which are used simultaneously to take a photo from both the back and the front, which Nokia adorably calls “bothie.”