Android 9.0 Pie: New features, release date, and everything you need to know | Google's latest OS
Channel: Techno Mate
Date: 2018-08-09

Android Pie review: Early impressions of Google’s latest OS

We've tested Android Pie, and now we're looking ahead to its release on more smartphones later this year

We finally have a name for Android 9. Android Pie, as Google is now calling it, is the ninth version of its mobile operating system and the California-based tech giant has finally lifted the lid on all the new features. We’ve also been test-driving the newly-released version for the last couple of weeks.

Following months of rabid speculation about what Android 9 will be called, yes, we finally have a name. I lost the office sweepstake – Peanut Butter Cup was my guess – and I expect Android Q will be an even trickier dessert-themed name to nail down. At the lack of better alternatives, I’m going to go with Android Quality Street for the time being.

As for Android Pie’s specifics, we now know all sorts of details about Google’s latest version of its popular mobile operating system. Android Pie is currently doing the rounds on a wide number of handsets, and we’ve written up our brief first impressions below. Before we begin, though, let’s discuss the new features coming with Android Pie.

Android Pie: New features
Adaptive battery: Android Pie “learns” the apps you use most, and prioritises battery
Adaptive brightness: Display brightness can be configured to specific actions and settings
App actions: Predicts the actions you perform on your phone – i.e when you switch on your Bluetooth headphones, your phone will suggest the Spotify app. 
Slices: Displays bite-size info of the apps you’ve downloaded
Refined navigation: Revamped home button with one-handed swipe features
Digital Wellbeing: New features include app timers, Wind Down mode and an app dashboard, which shows how much time you’re spending on your phone.
Android Pie: How to download
So, you're interested in Android Pie and want to download the new version right away, but how do you go about doing that? For starters, Android Pie isn't available on all Android phones – you'll need a Google Pixel or Pixel XL, Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL or the Essential Phone. If you own one of those handsets, you can get cracking. If you don't, well, you'll have to wait I'm afraid.

The Android Pie update should arrive on your phone automatically via an over-the-air update. You should get a notification telling you that an update is ready to be installed, but you can also check for the update in your system settings. Tap download, and install the update – it's that simple. 

We'll be keeping an eye on the list of smartphones receiving the Android Pie update, and will update this article as and when new handsets are supported.

Android Pie review: Early impressions
Google's beta version of the next edition of Android allowed developers and enthusiasts to test-drive its new features. Notably, where Google in the past only supplied preview code for its own-brand Nexus and Pixel phones, the beta supported a range of handsets from eight different manufacturers (I tried it out on a Nokia 7 Plus). That’s thanks to Project Treble – an under-the-bonnet redesign introduced in Android 8 Oreo that makes it easier to install new versions of the operating system on a diverse range of hardware.

Android Pie came out of beta on 8 August, when the ninth iteration of Google's mobile OS was given its dessert-themed name. Now that the full version is out in the wild, read on to find out what to expect from Android Pie when it eventually appears on your smartphone.

Android Pie review: New homescreen and navigation gestures
Let’s get the anti-climax out of the way: there’s no big killer feature in Android Pie – nothing that really transforms what Android can do. What we’re mostly looking at is a bundle of interface enhancements.