O is for Oreo: Android 8.0 is now finished

After months of speculation, Google's revealed which sweet treat the next major version of Android will be named after: the humble Oreo (which we totally called, by the way). More importantly, Android Oreo is finished and will be rolling out to the Pixel, Pixel XL, Nexus 5X, and Nexus 6P shortly.

If you were testing the Android O beta, you'll be able to upgrade to the release version of Android Oreo as of today.

If you've got a non-Pixel or non-Nexus device, Samsung, LG, Motorola, Sony, Huawei, HTC, and Nokia have all confirmed that they will either be upgrading existing smartphones or releasing new ones running Oreo before the end of the year.

Key new features added in Oreo include iPhone-like notification dots which show you which apps have unread notifications, picture-in-picture video support, the option to snooze notifications, and a redesigned set of emojis.

Oreo will also provide significant under the hood improvements in terms of performance and battery life. Phones running Oreo will boot as much as two times faster, and will place stricter restrictions on what apps can do in the background to improve your battery.

Alex Choros

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Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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