You can now download the Android 8.1 factory image for Pixel and Nexus devices
Google has released the Android 8.1 OTA and factory images for the Google Pixel 2, 2 XL, original Pixel and Pixel XL, Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X and the Pixel C tablet so you can go and download them and flash them onto your device. The 8.1 update will start rolling out to Google Pixel and Nexus devices next week, while today Google is seeding Android 8.1 to the Android Open Source Project. Android 8.1 includes the Neural Networks API which gives apps access to machine learning and hardware acceleration, there are enhancements to Autofill, memory optimizations, bug fixes and security patches. Android 8.1 also unlocks the Google Pixel 2 and 2 XL's , giving third party apps access to the HDR+ capabilities of the device. The display color modes have been tucked into their own submenu under Display. There's a new battery indicator for connected Bluetooth devices in the Quick Settings menu. The firmware's build number is OPM1.171019.011. Interestingly, we were unable to install the OTA zip file for the final 8.1 on top of the 8.1 Developer Preview 2 because the former has an older timestamp compared to the latter. |