Android 8.1 Features: What Are the Top OS Improvements for Pixel Phone Owners?
Android 8.1 has been out since Dec. 5, so most users who have their phones updated to the latest version already knows what the new update has added to the mobile OS. Users who have Pixel 2 phones, however, are enjoying the update differently from the rest.
The Pixel 2 is one of the few phones that have a Pixel Visual Core chip, and this update could be the first to really make full use of the chip, as ZDNet points out.
Android 8.1 brings out the power of Visual Core, Google's first custom-designed chip that they have put into a consumer phone. Just like the name implies, it's mainly used as a dedicated image processing chip, but when combined with the Android 8.1 update, this new hardware from Google shines.
The new update activates the chip, if older android versions haven't already, and the impact can be immediately felt by Pixel 2 phone owners. Pictures taken with High Dynamic Range (HDR) turned on are now snapped up much faster, with Google's HDR+ mode driving the phone to take pictures in a rapid burst.
This burst of photos, taken at various exposures, are then assembled with the help of the Visual Core chip to bring out the best detail. What's more, the HDR+ mode is now available not only to the Google photo app, but also with other apps like Instagram and Snapchat.
The new update also adds TensorFlow Lite, a way for developers to optimize the Artificial Intelligence-powered features of their apps, as Androidpit notes. This means that these apps can make use of dedicated machine learning chips and the Visual Core chip to make advanced AI-powered app features faster and more reliable.
The new update also optimized some details of the Android Oreo interface, with the main menu and widgets now responding to how dark or light the wallpaper is. Google has also added a feature to let developers make their app respond to the main color of the wallpaper, as well.
