Back in August, Google officially released the stable build for Android 9.0 Pie. When the company announced this, it said that the update was to roll out to those who were part of the beta program first before other users. After this initial rollout, this update was then scheduled to roll out to those who own the Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones.
Besides the Pixel phones, the new Nokia phones made by HMD Global were also in line to get Android Pie but we were just not sure when that was to happen. We knew the update was to roll out before the end of the year but we did not have the exact date.
HMD Global has kept its word and has started pushing out the update to the Nokia 7 Plus. The company has confirmed that the update started rolling out last week.
Juho Sarvikas, Chief Product Officer, HMD Global, said: “We constantly strive to deliver on our promise of offering pure, secure, up-to-date Android on Nokia smartphones. Today, we are extremely delighted to start the rollout of Android 9 Pie on Nokia 7 Plus – making us among the first to offer the latest innovations from Google, including Android One exclusive features such as App Notifications, to the value flagship tier.”
Android Pie New Features
So, what is Android Pie bringing to the market?
Adaptive Brightness
This is the best one for me as I did not expect to see it. Currently, on Android, there is auto-brightness that changes the screen’s brightness based on ambient light but this is not good enough and Google wants to use past behaviour and the lighting around you to set the phone’s brightness for a much better experience. Google says that 50% of the people who have tested it so far have stopped adjusting their screen’s brightness manually.
Adaptive Battery Life
We all want to get the best battery life when using our smartphones. Android Pie will work towards this as it will use on-device machine learning to predict the applications you will be using within the next few hours and which ones you will not. With this, it will be able to perform smarter power allocation to reduce battery consumption by the CPU.
App Actions
Still focusing on AI, the app drawer changing a bit. For the longest time now, the top row of the app drawer consisted of apps that you may want to use and this was based entirely on your usage. Google is making changes with Android Pie with app actions that will predict what you will be doing next. The shortcuts will sit right below the predicted app icons and are meant to give you a better and seamless experience.
Dynamic Screen Rotation
Dynamic screen rotation button that appears when you rotate your phone when the auto-rotation function is disabled. When you tap on this button, the screen will rotate without you having to enable the auto rotation feature.
Volume Slider
Android Pie is moving the volume slider from the very top of the display to the right side near the volume buttons. When you press the volume buttons, they will now adjust the media volume and will not mess up with your ringtone volume or any of those things as it currently does.
Navigation changes
With Android Pie, we now have a new navigation interface that will hopefully make multi-tasking easier. According to Google, this is more approachable to new users. You will be able to swipe anywhere from the bottom to see the recent open apps as well as predicted apps at the bottom of the screen. Swiping up twice will bring up the app drawer.
App Slice and Digital Wellbeing
Later in the year, Android Pie should get the App slices and the Digital wellbeing dashboard that monitors how you use your phone for you to understand how you use your phone and make the necessary changes if you find that you waste so much time doing certain things. This is pretty cool and I am looking forward to trying it out.
Also Read: The Nokia 7 Plus Review
