Since Nokia only has a few phones under its belt, it can afford to work on regular OS and software updates. As soon as we learned that Android Q is Android 10, HMD Global immediately announced Nokia phones are getting Android 10 by Q4 2019. We’re now in the last quarter and so Android 10 upgrade is rolling out for the Nokia 8.1. The update begins today. According to HMD Chief Juho Sarvikas, it is the first Snapdragon 710 phone to receive Android 10 features like Gesture Navigation and Dark theme.
Nokia 8.1 is the first Nokia phone to receive Android 10. Sarvikas (@sarvikas) is proud to say the Nokia phones “keep getting better”. That is expected of a brand that only has a few phones.
Android 10 on Nokia 8.1 is “the latest wave of innovation” from HMD. Nokia 8.1 is only the first and one of the Nokia phones getting the major update before the end of 2019. It will be followed by Nokia 7.1 and Nokia 9 Pureview while the Nokia 6.1/6.1 Plus and the Nokia 7 Plus will follow at the start of 2020.
Other Nokia smartphones will also receive Android in the middle of the first quarter. They are as follows: First Batch (Nokia 2.2, Nokia 3.1 Plus, Nokia 3.2, Nokia 4.2) and Second Batch (Nokia 1 Plus, Nokia 5.1 Plus, Nokia 8 Sirocco). By Q2 2020, the following units will also receive the upgrade: Nokia 1, Nokia 2.1, Nokia 3.1, and Nokia 5.1.
As we mentioned before, here are some of the the things Android 10 will deliver to the phones: improved biometric authentication, Gesture Navigation, TLS 1.3 support, better fallback support for device credentials, Wi-Fi network request API, changes to Wi-Fi high-performance and low-latency modes, Thermal API, Call screening and caller ID, and Audio playback capture.
Specifically, listed on the changelog, the Android 10 (V4.15B) software upgrade for Nokia 8.1 will bring Smart reply, Dark mode, Gesture navigation, Google Security Patch (September 2019), and additional controls for location and privacy.
