This week, on our weekly firmware news: the Galaxy S10+ gets its first update, the Nokia 3.1 Plus is being upgraded to Android Pie, and more!
What's New This Week?
Huawei
- Huawei Mate 9 series and P10, P10+, Honor V9, Honor 9, and Nova 2 are getting Android Pie
Razer
- Razer Phone 2 is now getting its slice of Pie
Asus
- The Android Pie update road-map is here for the ZenFone models
Samsung
- The first update for the Galaxy S10+ is here
- Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018) joins the Pie Beta program as well
HMD Global
- Nokia 3.1 Plus is being upgraded to Android Pie
Huawei
Huawei Mate 9 Series
After almost 3 years since its launch, the Mate 9 series including the Mate 9, Mate 9 Pro, and Mate 9 Porsche Design, is getting upgraded to Android Pie. The Mate 9 originally launched with Android Nougat.
So, all things considered, it's quite amazing that it's getting upgraded to Android Pie after all this time. Seems like Huawei is one of the few manufacturers to take care
Not only you're getting the latest version of Android, but also EMUI 9. At this point, let us not forget to mention that the particular series launched with EMUI 5.
Apart from that, the P10, P10+, Honor V9, Honor 9, and Nova 2 are getting upgraded to Pie as well.
EMUI 9 brings a few new features to the table. GPU Turbo (only for certain models), AI features, Face Unlock support, WeChat Fingerprint Payment, and more.
That's all for now. We'll let you know if anything else comes up!
Razer
Razer Phone 2
The Razer Phone 2 is now officially receiving Android Pie OTA - carrier models included. Now, of course, if you got it through a US carrier, then the exact time that you'll get the update will differ depending on which carrier it is.
Generally, the update became officially available a couple of days ago. So, everyone should start receiving it in a week or two at most regardless on which model you're using.
As for the update itself, apart from Android Pie, you're also getting a few Pie features. Adaptive Battery, Gesture Based Navigation, and Digital Wellbeing.
Furthermore, you also get the option for recording videos at 4K 60FPS. Now, we know that there has been a huge debate on whether this is true 4K or not. But, seriously, who cares? It's not like we can see true 4K on a tiny display anyway.
Asus
ZenFone Series
Android Pie has been out for quite some time now but numerous devices are yet to be updated. Many models of the ZenFone series included as well.
According to official information from Asus themselves, this is going to change during 2019. They haven't mentioned when exactly. But, we do know that the updates are going to happen during 2019.
Those are the models that are expected to receive the Pie update:
- ZenFone 4 Max (ZC554KL)
- ZenFone 4 Selfie (ZD553KL)
- ZenFone 4 Max (ZC520KL)
- ZenFone Live (ZB553KL)
- ZenFone4 Max (ZB520KL)
- ZenFone Max Plus (M1) Clear Soft Bumper (ZB570TL)
- ZenFone 5Q (ZC600KL)
- ZenFone Live (L1) Clear Soft Bumper (ZA550KZ / ZA551KL)
- ZenFone Max Pro (ZB602KL)
- ZenFone Max Pro (ZB601KL)
- ZenFone Max (M1) Clear Soft Bumper (ZB555KL / ZB556KL)
- ZenFone 5 (ZE620KL)
- ZenFone 5Z (ZS620KL)
- ASUS ROG Phone (ZS600KL)
- ZenFone Max Pro (M2) Clear Soft Bumper (ZB631KL/ ZB630KL)
- ZenFone Max (M2) Clear Soft Bumper (ZB633KL / ZB632KL)
That's all for now. We'll let you know if anything else comes up. So, stay tuned!
Update: Android Pie Beta for the ZenFone Max Pro (M1) is already here.
Samsung
Galaxy S10+
The Galaxy S10 series was revealed only a few days ago. But, it seems like it's already receiving an update. After all, it makes sense for Samsung to focus on its latest flagship.
This update brings a lot of security fixes. Apart from that, it's no secret that up till now, Samsung would not allow us to change the mapping of the Bixby button by default. Thankfully, that's about to change.
After updating to the latest version, you'll be able to remap the Bixby button which essentially allows you to perform other functions with it as well. We don't have any information on what those functions will be, but we can safely assume that you'll be able to use it as a power button or for taking pictures.
At the moment, we don't know if this Bixby button update will arrive for other Galaxy models as well. We can always hope.
Moving on, you also get faster and more accurate fingerprint readings. And one more interesting thing is Instagram integration which allows you to post pictures on Instagram by using the default camera app.
The update weighs about 500 megabytes and is currently arriving in Germany, France, UK, and the Netherlands. More markets/regions are sure to follow up soon enough.
Galaxy A6 (2018)
It seems like Samsung is intending to give a slice of Pie to more smartphones than just their flagships. After all, the Galaxy A6 (2018) is now also joining the Pie Beta program in Korea.
Not only it gets Android Pie, but also Samsung's new One UI. And all things considered, this may end up making the phone more responsive and faster. After all, the Samsung Experience UI was known for being rather heavy.
Now, it goes without saying that you won't get this update automatically. It's in the Beta program. So, you must join the Beta program in order to get it. And that's assuming that you're living in Korea.
We don't have any info on when that update will arrive for us westerners as well. But, it shouldn't be too far now.
The fact that the update is already available in Beta means that we'll possibly see a stable version coming out for everyone as well. We'll let you know when that time comes.
That's all for now. Stay tuned for more. Till then, see you later.
HMD Global
Nokia 3.1 Plus
The Pie update for the Nokia 3.1 Plus was promised about a month ago. Now it's here. And you know what they say, "better late than ever".
Right now, most Nokia devices have been upgraded to Android Pie. The Nokia 2 is one of the few exceptions as it will only get Android Oreo at best. As we've mentioned before, that happened because Nokia 2 is a low-end device that can barely handle even the regular version of Oreo. If it was an Android Go device then things would probably be different. But, oh well.
Anyway, back to the 3.1 Plus. The latest update brings not only Android Pie, but also some of its features. Gesture based navigation, Adaptive Battery, improved Adaptive Brightness, and more!
Furthermore, you also get the latest Android security patch - which is a plus. No pun intended.
HMD Global is most certainly taking its time with updates. But, again, better late than ever. Not to mention that having functional updates is more important than getting them fast and buggy.
That's all for now. We'll let you know if anything else comes up!
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