HMD Global Chief Product Officer, Juho Sarvikas, has confirmed that all of the company’s current devices will receive an upgrade to Android 8.0 Oreo. This includes the entry-level Nokia 3, which had initially been in doubt as it runs MediaTek chip, rather than the Qualcomm Snapdragon chips found in the Nokia 5, 6 and the forthcoming Nokia 8. Although both MediaTek and Qualcomm chipsets are ARM-based, a separate suite of testing would be required to ensure compatibility with the cheaper model and HMD hadn’t committed to guaranteeing the Nokia 3 would get the update until now.
HMD Global has been praised for its efforts in resurrecting the Nokia brand with devices that are in the tradition of Nokia’s styling efforts from the past, but which also run a near stock version of Android and offer good value for money. In fact, one of the selling points of its new range of Nokia smartphones is that they will receive timely updates. While the company has committed to bringing Android 8.0 Oreo to its line of smartphones, it has not yet revealed when each device will receive its respective update.
Android 8 brings a range of useful tweaks to the Android UI, along with a range of improved security measures and overall system stability and speed improvements. Highlights including a picture-in-picture mode, improved in app notifications and a boot up time that is twice as fast as Android 7.1.2 Nougat. There are also 60 all-new emoji on board to help keep messaging interesting and fun.