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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) by RedBear on Thursday August 24 2017, @05:47AM (1 child)
Thank you for taking the time to point out something specific. I hadn't heard of this LineageOS before. Hopefully I can follow all the install instructions.
I actually looked at the ZenPad but was turned off by the fact that it's not stock Android UI. Plus the base OS is just Android 6.0. I guess the question now is how close LineageOS is to stock Android. It would be nice to have something close to stock Android 7.x on a brand-name quality device like the ZenPad.
¯\_ʕ◔.◔ʔ_/¯ LOL. I dunno. I'm just a bear.
... Peace out. Got bear stuff to do. 彡ʕ⌐■.■ʔ
(Score: 3, Informative) by urza9814 on Thursday August 24 2017, @01:36PM
It's a fork of the old Cyanogenmod which you might be more familiar with. Cyanogenmod went commercial and died so the same community picked up the open source components and rebranded as LineageOS.
AFAIK it pretty much IS just stock Android, with any Google/OEM bloat ripped out since that stuff isn't open source. It does have Privacy Guard, which I love, but I think something like that has been added to stock Android now too. That just lets you customize the permissions you grant to each application -- something Android should have had since day one. There might be some other additions I'm not aware of, but if so they're pretty minor. And it's open source so you aren't going to get marketing bloat like TouchWiz or S Voice or whatever else you get on most stock roms. But "stock Android" is a bit vague too -- if you're thinking of something like a Nexus, LineageOS is actually going to be significantly lighter. Because the Nexus roms aren't just Android, it's Android plus a bunch of preinstalled Google apps.
Of course, if you do want those Google apps (because you probably want at least the app store) you can still install them separately. And that also lets you pick exactly the ones you want. You could skip it entirely if you wanna get apps from F-Droid or Amazon or something; if all you want is the app store, you can do that; if you want Gmail and Google Now and everything else, you can get all of it. There's a number of packages available from http://opengapps.org/ [opengapps.org] , and it looks like some even include older apps that Google no longer supports should you want any of those.