Owners of the Honor 8 smartphone – which debuted to an overwhelming response, raking in 1.5 million unit sales worldwide within a few months of its release – will be pleased to learn that the handset is poised to benefit from the much-awaited Android 7.0 Nougat software update in early 2017.
Come February 2017, the 5.2-inch phablet is set to receive a bump-up from Android Marshmallow and get a taste of Android 7.0 Nougat. With the arrival of the Android Nougat update for the Honor 8 in February, it will become the first handset in the Honor lineup to benefit from the latest OS from Google.
The news comes straight from the horse's mouth i.e. Huawei, which is Honor's parent company. According to a report from publication PhoneArena, Huawei confirmed this information via an email.
The publication also reveals that the impending software update for the Honor 8 will bring in its folds EMUI 5.0, which is the latest custom launcher from Huawei. The Honor 8 was launched with EMUI 4.1 and with the arrival of EMUI 5.0 it will join the ranks of Huawei Mate 9.
For the uninitiated, even though the Honor 8 debuted in July 2016, it went up for preorder in the United States a month later in August. The handset started making its way to consumers in September.
The premium handset with its $399 starting price point (32 GB variant) found favor with consumers instantly with many lauding it as the best phone they had ever owned. That the handset with its top-end features and functionalities was viewed as value for money by customers and even had the tech gurus giving rave reviews.
What Does EMUI 5.0 Bring?
What improvements will the updated user interface bring users' way you wonder?
"EMUI 5.0 brings plenty of improvements, including an app drawer, enhanced notification shade, a better power management system, and the ability to use different profiles in parallel," reveals the publication.
The Honor 8 is also expected to gain from the machine learning algorithms which EMUI 5.0 supports. These algorithms "dynamically optimize processing resources by analyzing the user's behaviour over time and prioritizing frequently used apps" per Huawei.
Beta Build Available?
Yes, a beta build has been available since November. However, only select users in the UK are able to test the beta build of Android 7.0 Nougat, with the EMUI 5.0 in tow, for the Honor 8 phablet per the Honor Community.
When Will The Update Hit My Device?
While Huawei has shared that it would push out Android N update for the Honor 8 in February 2017, it has not revealed the date. Whether the update will be rolled out in early or late February is shrouded in mystery.
The Honor 8 is currently up for grabs for a discount of $100 on Amazon.
