Sony confirms Android 8.0 Oreo update for most of its 2016 models

Victor, 31 August 2017

Sony definitely brought the big guns to the IFA 2017 show floor. Both the new Xperia XZ1 and XZ1 Compact have truly impressive flagship specs to boast and as it turns out, an equally solid OS foundation as well.

Both devices will ship, running a fresh new Sony-skinned Android 8.0 Oreo ROM from the get-go. Thankfully, the Japanese giant has thought about its current lineup as well. Most of its 2016 handsets will be updated to Oreo. This includes the:

Xperia X
Xperia X Performance
Xperia XZ
Xperia X Compact
Xperia XZ Premium
Xperia XZs
Xperia XA1
Xperia XA1 Ultra
Xperia XA1 Plus
Xperia Touch

There is no word on timing yet, nor any information on what Oreo features Sony is going to utilize and make available to its end users. Our initial hands-on experience with the early Xperia XZ1 and XZ1 Compact units, already running Android 8.0 hints at a pretty familiar, clean skin design and app loadout. That, however, might be subject to change.

On a side note, we are quite interested to see how this relates to Sony's newly announced 3D Capture application and the interesting possibilities it offers. If devices beyond the new XZ1 pair and perhaps the XZ Premium and XZs do get it at some point, it would mean their fast RAM-buffered camera is not really a requirement for the feature. A broader release would be interesting, but we just have to wait things out and see.

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