Huawei launched an Oreo beta program for the Mate 9 in October this year. Now the Huawei Mate 9 series has reportedly begun receiving the Android Oreo-based EMUI 8.0 update. The update is available to – Mate 9 (MHA-AL00) Mate 9 Netcom Version (MHA-TL00), Mate 9 Pro (LON-AL00), and Mate 9 Porsche Edition. The update is currently rolling out to Chinese versions of the handset and not available outside of China, but the update is likely to release in more regions in the coming weeks.
The Android 8.0 Oreo update is currently not available as an OTA but can be manually downloaded to the phone. So for the update, you can go to Huawei Mobile Services App directly and follow a series of on-screen prompts which will guide you through the upgrade process.
After the Oreo update, the smartphones will have picture-in-picture mode that lets users to two tasks simultaneously. So, for example, one can minimise a YouTube video while sending a text message or writing an email. Android Oreo has other features like including Background limits, installation of apps via APK, over 60 new emojis, notification dots, Wide-gamut colour for apps, Snoozing individual notification, Adaptive icons, Keyboard navigation, WebView enhancements and much more.
Apart from these regular features of Oreo update, there will also be AI-related features, a digital assistant with voice commands, translation and more, a Samsung DeX-like PC mode, Dynamic Wallpaper which changes the wallpaper as your day progresses, LinkedIn Built-In giving users the option to sync their contact lists with their LinkedIn accounts and One-Step Shortcut for adding app shortcuts to the home screen.
The Huawei Mate 9 was launched along with Mate 9 Pro and Porsche Design Edition last year in December. All the smartphones were running EMUI 5.0 based on Android 7.0 Nougat at the launch. The company has ditched EMUI 6 and 7, instead, it unveiled EMUI 8.0.