Honor 8 Pro Chinese Model Receives Android Oreo Beta with EMUI 8

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Honor 8 Pro Chinese Model Receives Android Oreo Beta with EMUI 8

 

 

It’s been over two months since Google officially released Android Oreo and only a small subset of Android devices have actually received the update so far. Last month’s Android distribution numbers revealed that Android Oreo was running on 0.2% of Android devices. While this may sound like really slow progress, the numbers will likely ramp up as more OEMs start rolling out the new version to their smartphones in the coming months.

In the past couple weeks, we have already seen quite a few OEMs announcing their own beta tests of Oreo for their flagship devices. OnePlus was the first to announce such beta program with its announcement of OxygenOS Oreo beta for the OnePlus 3/3T, followed by Nokia with its Beta Labs announcement for the Nokia 8, and Samsung who launched Oreo beta program for the Galaxy S8/S8 Plus just yesterday. Now it appears Huawei’s sub-brand Honor has also begun conducting Android Oreo beta software tests for its flagship lineup, at least in China.

A beta version of Android Oreo-based EMUI 8.0 is now available for the Chinese variant of Honor 8 Pro, the Honor V9. If you are rocking an Honor V9, you can try out Android Oreo beta now by enrolling your device in the beta program. The software is currently only available for closed beta users so there are no direct download links available for the firmware. The full details about the closed beta program and how to enroll your device in it can be found in this thread (in Chinese).

Speaking of the update, all the new features introduced in EMUI 8.0 are available in the beta software, including new Smart Resolution feature, navigation bar customizations, ambient display, improved camera app and more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As for the Android Oreo specific changes, you will be happy to know that Project Treble support has also been added in this update. As you can see in the screenshot below, running getprop ro.treble.enabled command in the terminal emulator returns a true value which basically confirms that Project Treble is up and running.

 

 

Finally, Bluetooth audio codec customization features are also available in the software and can be accessed from within the Developers Options.

 

 

So there you have it, Android Oreo beta for the Honor V9. While the beta software program is limited to the Chinese variant Honor V9 for now, it could be a good sign that its international variant, the Honor 8 Pro, may also get a taste of Oreo through a similar beta program in the near future.

For those wondering whether they can install this firmware on their Honor 8 Pro, the short answer is yes, you can. But to do so, you’ll first need to rebrand your Honor 8 Pro to the Chinese version using a third party service like FunkyHuawei.

There were rumors that Huawei was planning an Android Oreo release for the Honor 8 Pro by the end of this year. Though, those rumors later tuned out to be inaccurate. But given that Android Oreo is already in the beta phase, it’s still possible that we might see an Android Oreo release by the end of the year.