It seems many OEMs are ending the year not with new products but simply with announcements of Android OS updates. That’s alright as such news give many consumers hope that their gadgets will still be up-to-date in the coming year. Software and Android updates tell us phones are getting the latest features, improvements, and security patches. For the ASUS ZenFone 8 and the ZenFone 8 Flip, the Android 12 update is now available.
ASUS has posted the download links (1,2) on its website. The release note says it is recommended you backup your phone data before updating to Android 12. If you want to downgrade to Android 11 for whatever reason later on, you can but all data will be erased.
Several features and apps are upgraded to Android 12 including Phone, Contacts, Mobile Manager, Clock, Calculator, Weather, Gallery, Sound Recorder, and Data Transfer. You will also see changes in the Settings, Setup Wizard, Local Backup, and System update apps.
Some adjustments have been made to the volume panel, notification tray, and Quick Settings panel to Android 12 design. Android 12 also added a privacy dashboard, clipboard access, approximate location access, microphone access features, and camera and mic indicators.
Instead of ASUS Safeguard, you can now see Android 12 Emergency SOS. The Launcher now shows a new widget page design. You will notice the hotseat app icons are no longer in the Overview page.
The screenshot option has been adjusted as well. Android 12 doesn’t support support SIP calling natively so SIP calling support has been removed already. The Quick Settings layout option under the Display settings has been deleted.
