Samsung has been rolling out incremental beta updates to Android Oreo for the Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+, and Note 8 smartphone models over the past few weeks, and just today, a Reddit user named /u/Child_Kicker_16 noticed a new official OTA update is starting to roll out for the Snapdragon Samsung Galaxy S8.
This update includes the January Android security patch update, which notably provides protection against the potentially nasty exploits caused by CPU speculative execution. We’ll post another article on that vulnerability and how it may affect your devices, but according to Google, the January 2018 security patch protects Android devices from this kind of vulnerability.
Software Information, screenshot by /u/Child_Kicker_16
Other additions include a new boot logo and most notably Dolby Atmos audio integration. Dolby Atmos is a popular surround sound technology that provides audio enhancement to devices whose maker has licensed the technology. Atmos, along with Viper4Android, is an incredibly popular audio tuning feature on our forums, so this inclusion is bound to be welcome by Samsung Galaxy S8 owners.
To sideload this update onto your Samsung Galaxy S8, your device must be of the Snapdragon variant and must currently be on the previous Android Oreo beta BQL1 update. Rest assured, sideloading this update via your SD card or through ADB sideload in recovery does not trip Knox as this is official firmware from Samsung.
The new update with Dolby Atmos and January security patches isn’t yet available for the newer Galaxy Note 8 model, but we’re sure that update isn’t too far behind. Given the recent news that the Oreo beta program may end on January 15th, it’s likely that the official Oreo OTA update for the Galaxy S8, S8+, and Note 8 is just around the corner.
If you would like to read up on all the changes that Samsung’s Android Oreo update brings, you can read our previous article that documents most of the important changes. Those Samsung-specific changes are in addition to standard 8.0 platform features such as picture-in-picture mode, support for the Autofill Framework, notification channels, stricter background app limitations, and also native support for OMS—the theme framework behind Substratum.