A couple of days ago, a report surfaced claiming that the Android O update for the Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL had been delayed, and now @evleaks sheds more light on the Android O’s release in general. As most of you know, Google had released the very last Android O Developer Preview (version 4) recently, and the final build is due to launch soon. Well, if @evleaks is to be believed, the release of Android O is “scheduled for the week of 8/21, most likely on the 21st itself”. So, chances are that the company will drop Android O on August 21.
Now, we’re not sure whether the update will start rolling out to the Google Pixel devices on August 21, but it is possible. One thing is for sure, though, the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2 will be the first devices that will ship with Android O out of the box. Those two phones will be announced in October or November this year, at least if Google intends to stick to its release cycle. Android O will bring a ton of new features to the Android platform, but this update does not bring a significant redesign of Android, or anything of the sort. Android O will polish out the OS, though, it will bring some optimizations and features, and by doing that, improve upon Android 7.X Nougat. It is still unknown what will this new iteration of Android be called, rumors are saying we’re in for Android 8.0 Oreo or Android 8.0 Oatmeal naming, but we’ll just have to wait until Google officially announces it before we can say anything for sure, as Google likes to keep up guessing.
So, what’s new in Android O? Well, let’s just mention a couple of new features / changes, shall we. A notification shade will get some new options, which will increase your productivity, not to mention that battery optimizations are coming as well. A ‘Picture-in-Picture’ mode is coming as well, and it will essentially allow you to watch a YouTube video while using your phone normally, without the need to activate the Split Screen feature. A YouTube video (or any other app that is supported) will appear in a small window which you’ll be able to control, and you’ll be able to place it wherever you want, whether it’s the upper right, lower right… or any other part of the display. That’s more or less it, August 21 is only a week away at this point, so let’s wait and see how accurate is this report.