Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus have begun to get their updates to Android 8.0 (Oreo) in some variants, and users who have gotten the update have discovered that it indeed does not come with Google’s Project Treble. Treble is a modular base framework for Android that takes some initial setup by manufacturers, but makes updates and modifications extremely easy. Samsung faithful had no reason to believe that the Galaxy S8 and its ilk would see Treble in this update; an experimental build of Oreo for the Galaxy Note 8 had leaked back in December, and Treble support was nowhere to be found. Samsung did not comment on the issue, leaving fans to assume that the company would take its time getting Treble out to its devices, and that appears to have been confirmed as the case.
The newest version of The Samsung Experience, the revamped TouchWiz that shipped with the Galaxy S8 generation, has all of the usual Oreo goodness underneath. Improved multi-window features, better accessibility, notification controls, and under the hood tweaks are all on board, to name a few improvements. On the Samsung side of the fence, meanwhile, users getting the update can expect new shortcut controls, changes to how edge lighting is handled, and some UI tweaks, along with changes to the settings menu, lockscreen, always on display functionality, and Samsung’s first-party keyboard. These, of course, are alongside security fixes, performance tune-ups, and Samsung app updates that are almost certain to coincide with the update. Beta testers will reportedly be getting the official update first, and it will begin rolling out to regular folk about a day later. There has thus far been no word on carrier variants.
For those not in the know, Project Treble is a modular framework that essentially sandboxes off different parts of the core Android system. What this means is that device makers will no longer have to issue an entirely new system update just for a few small tweaks or a security patch, and when something breaks on the software end of things, it will be easier to fix without having to disrupt users’ experiences. Devices shipping with Oreo or above are required to have Treble on board, and most device makers are going to begin implementing Treble once they update devices to Android 8.1 (Oreo).