Over a month since reports started coming that users of the Huawei Mate 9 were receiving the Android 8.0, Oreo, update in the United States, it appears that Huawei has finally opened the floodgates for those of us who only know the States from Google Maps. At least for the European model of the Mate 9, like the one I have been using for the last 16 months.
The update that I received this afternoon is version number MHA-L29 8.0.0.363.
The update brings with it everything that’s new in Android Oreo like picture-in-picture, better support for autofill for those of us who use apps like LastPass and more. See further details here.
Of course, this being a Huawei device, a lot of the changes that one would ordinarily expect to get on stock or near-stock Android builds will be hidden behind Huawei’s overlay, Emotion UI, which gets a bump from version 5.0 to 8.0. Version 8.0 of EMUI brings with it some specific features that users may like. Like a floating navigation dock for easy access to things that one does often from anywhere, enhancements to one of the features that Huawei made a lot of noise about when it launched, AI (Artificial Intelligence), deeper integration with LinkedIn (something that we find on the Mate 9’s successor, the Mate 10), etc.
Here are all the details:
This is the first major upgrade for the Huawei Mate 9. Since its unveiling in early November 2016, Huawei has all but abandoned the device, only showing up months later with the patch updates that Google releases every month. The device never got to see point releases like Android 7.1.
Have you received the update on your Mate 9?
