Google announced the release of Android 8.1 Oreo, in addition to Android Oreo (Go edition) for entry-level phones, back in early December.
It didn't take long for the company to start rolling out Android 8.1 on supported Google Pixel and Nexus devices. Though these devices may have the latest update, some Android owners won't be seeing Android 8.1 update until the next few months.
Android 8.1 Known Issues At Launch
At launch, the operating system was causing a few performance issues, such as the Pixel 2 XL screen taking longer before turning on, and the fingerprint unlock being much slower than it did before the latest update. While it might take Google a bit longer to fix these issues, the company has released a new feature allowing Android owners to see the speed of networks before connecting.
Android 8.1 Has New Speed Labels Next To Open Wi-Fi Networks
Users with Android 8.1 installed will start to see new labels next to open Wi-Fi networks. These labels are Fast, OK, Slow, and Very Fast. Users who stream a lot of videos will want to connect to Very Fast for a much better quality network, while Fast is still good for streaming most videos, according to Google. OK is fine for browsing the news and listening to music on Spotify. Slow is well, slow, but useful when it comes to sending text messages or making short phone calls.
How To Disable New Speed Labels
Most Android owners may appreciate this new feature, but for those who don't want to see the new WiFi speed labels can disable the new feature by going to Settings, Network & Internet, Wi-Fi Preferences, Advanced, and then go to Network rating provider.
Android 8.1 Other Important New Features
There's not a ton of new features in Android 8.1's latest update. Though, some Android users have the ability to deal with annoying notification pop-ups. Users can simply press down on the icon until they see a smaller version of the app's notification and then swipe it away. This is a beneficial feature because some apps seem to have more notifications compared to others.
Developers will mostly get to take advantage of Android 8.1 as the update allows them to access Pixel Visual Core, which is Google's first-customed designed co-processor for image processing and ML. Any mobile apps using Android Cameras API has the ability to shoot images in HDR+ using Pixel Visual Core.
