Google’s biggest problem got worse in 2017

Two hundred days can be considered a long enough time, especially in the world of technology. That’s how long back Google’s Android Oreo was officially launched. Yet, only a handful of flagship smartphones have got the Android Oreo update. It becomes more alarming for Google as just yesterday it previewed its next OS update, Android P.
According to a graph published by Android Intelligence, apart from Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones, most other top brands are lagging behind Android Oreo update, at least in the US. Samsung had recently started updating Oreo on its last year’s flagship devices, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. The company, however, stopped the update abruptly but has now resumed. Still, a large chunk of Samsung Galaxy S8 owners are still far away from getting Android Oreo.
The same goes for LG. The two flagship devices – LG G6 and LG V30 – are scheduled to get Android Oreo soon but it hasn’t arrived. HTC and Motorola have received Android Oreo update but just for their flagship devices. Rest of the devices haven’t yet got Android Oreo.
Not getting the current OS on a flagship device is a problem that has plagued Android smartphones for long. Google, on its part, had extended Project Treble support to make updating of OS easier for smartphone makers. With Project Treble, smartphone manufacturers don’t need to change the customer UI to roll out an Android update. However, Project Treble is supported on latest devices that run Android Oreo.
Meanwhile, Google has already given a developer preview of Android P. Several interesting changes are in the pipeline but none bigger than ‘display cutout support’. In other words, there’s a provision for an iPhone X-like notch on Android. What’s more is that messaging notifications have been improved. Android P is expected to bring new messaging style notifications. One can see images in message notifications and the avatar of the person sending it instead of just the name. Smart Reply will also be there in message notifications among others.