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The third beta build of the Android 8.0 Oreo for the Samsung Galaxy S8 is now rolling out to eligible units in the United States, a few days after a similar update was distributed to users in the United Kingdom. The update brings a wide variety of improvements and new features, one of which is the ability to hide notifications for apps running in the background.
Also incorporated into the software update are numerous bug fixes, some of which are likely specific to the US variants of the Galaxy S8 which is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset. The Wi-Fi reception of the smartphone should improve and general connectivity with first-party accessories should also be improved following the installation. The user should no longer experience the lag that occurs when unlocking the device either with the fingerprint sensor or the iris scanner and lock screen freezes, Samsung said. TouchWiz interface should no longer force-close when someone attempts to apply a new theme while leaving the secure folder should no longer result in a generic “Android is starting” error. All individuals owning smartphones that currently run the beta software should now be able to answer and decline incoming calls and open the camera app from the lock screen without any hitches. The responsiveness of the pre-installed Samsung Keyboard app has been enhanced by the update and the application should no longer capitalize every word that the user enters either with the normal keyboard or swipe input.
Right now, the only way for the device to be upgraded to the latest version of the Android 8.0 Oreo beta is through with an OTA download which may take several days before rolling out to all eligible devices in the country. The user should verify there is sufficient free space in the internal flash storage of the handset to temporarily keep the installation file. Samsung is advising people participating in its beta program to back up the files and images stored on the Android flagship to a personal computer or a microSD card to prevent possible loss of important data. It is also important that the handset’s battery has enough charge to last the entire procedure, with the 50 percent mark being the minimum you should aim for. Alternatively, just leave the device charging once you initialize the installation procedure.
