Android 8.0 Improves on Nougat With Basic Yet Useful Features

Android 8.0 will offer some functional improvements, making the mobile OS more user-friendly

What’s new with the Android 8.0 this year? 

(Photo: The Quint)

Android 8.0, which is possibly going to be called Oatmeal Cookie, is a few months away from its official roll-out, expected with the launch of Pixel 2 smartphones.

However, that doesn’t mean everyone has to wait that long to try out the upcoming Android flavour, especially if you have a Nexus/Pixel phone.

We spent a couple of weeks with the Beta version of Android 8.0, which is not a lot different from Android Nougat, but Google has made some minute refinements making it more user-friendly. These are some new additions to Android in 2017.

Dot Notifications

With Android 8.0, users will see this dot on top of the apps. (Photo: Android screengrab)

iOS users get to see the number of notifications they have on Gmail, WhatsApp, Twitter and others. It’s taken a while, but with the Android 8.0, users will know which app of theirs is pinging on the notification centre.

This might not be very useful, but it counts for something.

Quick-View

The quick view option has been there on iOS via 3D Touch. (Photo: Android screengrab)

Android users waiting to get their version of 3D Touch-like feature, rejoice. Android 8.0 has been bestowed with quick-view option, which lets you access features of the app (as seen above), without opening the app. You can even get notifications from the app with this mode.

Cosmetic changes to the Notification centre

Notification centre gets a new colour code with Android O. (Photo: Android screengrab)

Improved App permissions

App permission has been on the list of must-have feature for Android. (Photo: Android screengrab)

Xiaomi has been lauded for enabling the user to choose what kind of permissions the app has. This works to good effect with respect to privacy, especially when apps are known to ask for more access than they actually need.

Android 8.0 will finally offer users control over apps that are running on their devices. For instance, if an app does not need access to GPS (for location), you can disable the option.