Just in time for Valentine’s Day, ZTE is offering something sweet for ZTE Axon 7 users. The company’s beta for Android Oreo will be opened up, allowing any owner to register for access before the final version hits later in 2018.
For those not currently enrolled, the update will bring improved battery life to the Axon 7, picture-in-picture (PiP) mode to allow for a more cozy multitasking view, notification dots, and faster booting speed, among other changes. Perhaps the biggest perk that users will notice when they install the new software? It’s near-stock Android, meaning it’s almost piece-for-piece what you’d see in, say, the Google Pixel.
Bringing Oreo to the Axon 7, as ZTE’s Jeff Yee put it, is all thanks to the customer demand as expressed on its Z-Community forum, saying “one of their requests was to get Android O on the Axon 7, and we are excited to make it happen.”
When the phone launched in 2016, it punched up at the same class as the Samsung Galaxy S7, LG V20 and others, but came in at a much lower price point. In addition, it stood out as one of the few phones to be compatible with Google Daydream.
Bringing Oreo to the phone might be a little late to the party, but it’s still ahead of some manufacturers, like LG, Sony, and Motorola.
