Android 8.0 Oreo, thoroughly reviewed

Android 8.0 Oreo is the 26th version of the world’s most popular operating system. This year, Google’s mobile-and-everything-else OS hit two billion monthly active users—and that’s just counting phones and tablets. What can all those users expect from the new version? In an interview with Ars earlier this year, Android’s VP of engineering Dave Burke said that the 8.0 release would be about “foundation and fundamentals.” His team was guided by a single question: “What are we doing to Android to make sure Android is in a great place in the next 5 to 10 years?”

Take a closer look at Oreo and you really can see the focus on fundamentals. Google is revamping the notification system with a new layout, new controls, and a new color scheme. It’s taking responsibility for Android security with a Google-branded security solution. App background processing has been reined in, hopefully providing better battery life and more consistent performance. There’s even been some work done on Android’s perpetual update problem, with Project Treble allowing for easier update development and streaming updates allowing for easier installation by users. And, as with every release, more parts of Android get more modularized, with emojis and GPU driver updates now available without an OS update.Like its partnership with Nestlé for Android 4.4 “KitKat,” Google is taking its alphabetical snack-themed codenames to the extreme with 8.0. This time Nabisco is sharing its “Oreo” brand with Google. (We’ve yet to hear about any kind of monetary arrangement for this sort of thing). Google’s Eclipse-themed launch party was complete with custom Oreo cookies featuring an Android robot design and green filling.

Two billion users is a huge number, but with Android 8.0, Google shows that it still isn’t satisfied. A new initiative called “Android Go” targets the developing world, where cheap devices and limited access to data and power require taking a different look at how some parts of Android function.

Oreo will also serve as the base for three new Android form factors. It will be built into cars as “Android Automotive,” where Google works with car OEMs to integrate Android. Android 8.0 will also be the base OS for “Android Things,” an “Internet of things” (IoT) version of the OS designed to easily manage on embedded devices. Finally, Google’s virtual reality “Daydream” group will also launch a new form factor with Oreo: standalone VR headsets.

So, coming soon to your phone, your tablet, your watch, your TV, your car, your “things,” and your VR headset—it’s Android 8.0 Oreo. Let’s dive in.

Table of Contents

• Project Treble—Finally, real progress on the fragmentation problem
• HAL versioning and deprecation
• Working with SoC vendors
• A ROM revolution
• Isolating the media stack
• Android’s biggest re-architecture, ever
• Notifications—Android’s best feature gets better
• The new layout—and its awesome “By the Way” section
• The new colors and media notifications
• Snoozing notifications
• Notification Channels: Great for apps that have it, terrible for apps that don’t
• Icon badges and shortcuts
• The new ambient notification display
• The Great Background Processing Lockdown
• Mandatory JobScheduler
• RIP Implicit Broadcasts
• No more wakelocks, no silent background services
• (Somewhat) gracefully declining on older OSes
• Limiting scans for location and Wi-Fi
• A real API for floating apps
• Security
• Google Play Protect—Google says “please don’t install antivirus apps”
• Sideloading changes
• Security grab bag
• Emoji: New glyphs and an all-new design
• EmojiCompat and Downloadable fonts—updating emojis without a system update
• System UI improvements
• Adaptive icons—Shape shifting, animated icons
• A new widget picker
• Picture-in-Picture for phones and tablets
• Smart text selection and TensorFlow Lite
• AutoFill
• Settings—A new theme, a new layout
• Streaming OS Updates—never fail an update due to storage space again
• Rescue Party
• Android Go—Scaling Android for the next billion users
• The OS in “Go” mode
• Google Play Services gets chopped up
• Apps get special “Go” versions and features
• Color management
• Physics-based animation and the new Easter Egg
• The new “SDCardFS” file system wrapper
• Grab Bag
• “Foundational” improvements address updates, security, speed, and battery life
• The Good
• The Bad
• The Ugly