The Oreo update for the Mi A1 has been a bit of a roller coaster ride. The device received its first round of updates at the beginning of January, which was then suspended after several user reports of degraded performance and bugs. Xiaomi said that they'd resume the process after they've ironed out all the kinks. The update was then resumed about a week or so ago.
Here we are, almost a month after the original Oreo update was rolled out and Xiaomi announced that they suspended it again. The reason was cited to be 'bugs.' The Mi A1 is Xiaomi's first device that doesn't run their home-brewed Android Fork MIUI. The reason behind these repeated delays is anyone's guess, but we're hoping for the Oreo update to resume shortly, as the Mi A1 is arguably one of the best devices at its price point.
Oreo beta program for the Galaxy S8 ends on January 26
The Oreo beta for the Samsung's 2017 flagships, the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus begun in October last year and testers have received several updates over the course of the beta. A few days ago, testers received an email from Samsung stating that the update they are going to receive was going to be the final one and that the program would end by the end of January.
Today, Samsung is getting ready for the final public release. In the release notes for the most recent beta, the company announced that the program would end on January 26. This means that testers will not have the option to send feedback to Samsung and get support. It is very likely that a stable release of Oreo for the two devices is in the works and can be expected sometime in February. Judging by their track record, Samsung typically takes about 12-15 days after the termination of a beta program to publicly release a stable version.
Android Wear v2.9 will add unread notification counter and more
Android wear 2.9 will include a few new options for notification counters on your watch face and some changes to the way developers handle complications. A dot-style indicator will be displayed by default at the bottom of watch faces to indicate you have unread notifications. Developers can customize the color of this indicator if the standard white color doesn't look good with a watch face or use the counter style, which is much better aesthetically. The counter appears at the top of the watch face in the "system tray." The other changes are largely for developers and won't affect the end users day to day experience of using an Android-powered smartwatch.
