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Android 8.0 Oreo system images have been released:
Android 8.0 Oreo is shipping out across all the usual distribution methods. The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is getting the 8.0 code drop. OTAs will begin to roll out "soon" to the Pixel, Pixel XL, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus Player, and Pixel C, and system images should be up on developers.google.com soon. Any device enrolled in the Android Beta Program will also be upgraded to these final builds.
Thanks to several developer preview releases, we mostly know what's in Android 8.0 Oreo. The update brings a big revamp of the notification panel, with a new layout, colors, and features, like "snoozing." Google is clamping down on background apps for more consistent performance and better battery life. There are new, updatable emoji, a faster startup time, all new settings, and plenty of security enhancements, including the new "Google Play Protect" malware system. Most importantly, Android 8.0 brings Project Treble to new devices, a modularization of the OS away from the hardware, which should make it easier to develop and roll out new Android updates.
Google blog. And "When will your device actually get Android Oreo?"
Previously: iOS 11 Versus Android O on a Tablet? It's Not Even Close
(Score: 2, Interesting) by metarox on Wednesday August 23 2017, @04:07PM
I worked on Android for a device manufacturer and I have to say that I wasn't impressed either. The problem with Android is that OEMs, like device manufacturers, are 3rd in line after Google and the SOC manufacturer (hardware drivers). So after Android X comes out, it takes months for it to be ported to SOC Y (that's if the SOC is recent and on the fast track list else you may never get it), then the OEM gets it and it takes months to port all the crap to it because 3/4 is borked because all the APIs/system behaviour changed or you fail CTS testing and need to find a new way of doing the same thing (a good example of this is the abysmal SD card support in Android) , etc.
And finally you have the carriers as an extra annoying and burdensome hurdle (the US ones are the worst in that respect in my opinion) for OTA approval. Now multiply that by a few devices on different SOCs from OEMs and you can see that maintaining Android is a resource hog for companies which is why most don't really update devices or even patch them for security issues once they put the effort of shipping and selling the device.
Android should of adopted a model where major releases with API (SDK and internal) breakage only happens ever 2 years, while the mid-cycle refresh adds new stuff/fixes/patches that doesn't break backwards compatibility and is mostly transparent. This would of eased the pressure for the release cycles and probably would give more time to OEMs to update their devices will less effort. It's easy to see that Google devices are at a net advantage over other OEMs (same as the Apple model) since they have access to the software stack continuously over the time they develop the next release. When Android X is announced, their devices are already fully supported.
In the end, I don't think the issue will resolve itself and Android will be fragmented forever and if you don't care about security or version updates, you'll buy whatever OEM you like and if you want devices that are a bit more up to date then you'll buy the more expensive Google device or the equivalent Iphone.