Android 8.1 Oreo rolls out for Pixel phones; brings WiFi Labels and activates Pixel Visual Core

Google announces Android Oreo

Google has started rolling out the Android 8.1 Oreo update for its Pixel-branded smartphones. The update is being pushed out first to original Pixel and second-generation Pixel phones, and will also be available for Nexus devices.
The update being tested via Android beta program for sometime now brings general bug fixes, and performance enhancements. The update also brings a new feature that will show Pixel users the expected speed of nearby public Wi-Fi networks. Google notes that the feature called WiFi Speed labels will denote Wi-Fi networks as Slow, OK, Fast or Very Fast.
“Today, and over the next few weeks, we’ll begin the rollout of Android 8.1 Oreo to Pixel and Pixel 2 devices. This update contains a number of features, bug fixes, and general performance/stability improvements,” Orrin, Pixel Community Manager wrote in a post.
Orrin adds that WiFi Speed label will mark speeds between 0-1 Mbps as Slow, while speeds between 1-5 Mbps will be marked as OK. Wi-Fi networks offering speeds between 5-20 Mbps will be called Fast, and networks capable of more than 20 Mbps will be labelled as Very Fast.
The update also brings open networks notifications where Android 8.1 users will be able to see the network name (SSID), and directly connect to the network from within the notification. Google is also improving how smart text selection works where Android 8.1 Oreo will now recognize the text when the user highlights the relevant words by long pressing on it. The feature will then recommend the next logical step via a suggested app.
At the launch of Android 8.0 Oreo, Google said that Smart text selection will improve the copy and paste experience for smartphone users. The feature is capable of recognizing addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and URLs among other options.
Android 8.1 Oreo update also activates Pixel Visual Core, a dedicated image processing chip for processing the HDR images captured by Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones. It also brings improved Bluetooth connectivity with Android Auto, audio improvements while recording video, touchscreen sensitivity, and general stability among other bug fixes.