Chinese smartphone maker Honor is working on bringing the Android 8.0 Oreo update to a couple of its smartphones, according to a user on the XDA-Developers forums who apparently obtained official confirmation on the matter during a recent fan meeting held in Delhi, India. According to the report, Honor will introduce Android 8.0 Oreo on the Honor 8 Pro before the end of December 2017, and the Honor 6X will reportedly receive the update in January 2018.
The recent meet in India was organized mainly for Honor 6X and Honor 8 Pro users, says the source, adding that a lot of feedback and ideas have been exchanged between Honor and attendees. Reportedly the Chinese tech giant also touched on its plans for releasing Android Oreo on some of its smartphones, and apparently confirmed that the latest update for Google’s mobile operating system will be launched on the Honor 8 Pro and Honor 6X within the next 6 months. As previously mentioned, the Honor 8 Pro will take priority and should be the first to receive Android Oreo by year’s end. As for the new features implemented in the latest update, Android Oreo introduces a Picture-in-Picture mode for improved multitasking, as well as the new Notification dots feature allowing users to preview app notifications directly from the app’s shortcut. Android Oreo should also decrease boot up times and further improve security with the addition of Google Play Protect built-in. Additionally, Honor usually covers the Android operating system with a proprietary user interface, so it remains to be seen what changes will be introduced to the custom skin by the new OS version.
The Honor 8 Pro was launched in April 2017 running Android 7.0 Nougat with Emotion UI (EMUI) 5.1 on top. The Honor 6X was introduced in October 2016 running Android 6.0 Marshmallow coupled with EMUI 5.0, and was later launched in India, it came to India in February 2017. The latter model is upgradeable to Android 7.0 Nougat which means that Android Oreo will be the second major software release for the device. Spec-wise both smartphones make use of a HiSilicon system-on-chip developed in-house by Huawei, dual 12-megapixel cameras on the back panel, and an 8-megapixel front-facing sensor.