Google has rolled out the final preview of its upcoming Android 8.1 Oreo update, teasing users with supported Pixel and Nexus devices with a December release.
The update will bring various enhancements to the Oreo platform and will finally active the hidden imaging chip of Google Pixel 2.
The new update will also introduce optimisations to Android Go smartphones with at least 1GB of RAM, as well as a new Neural Networks API to boost on device machine intelligence.
"Starting today we're rolling out an update to the Android 8.1 developer preview, the last before the official launch to consumers in December," said Dave Burke, VP of Engineering at Google. "For Pixel 2 users, the Android 8.1 update on these devices enables Pixel Visual Core -- Google's first custom-designed co-processor for image processing and ML."
The Pixel Visual Core chip can be enabled via a new developer option which will allow photography apps using the official Android Camera API to capture HDR+ photos.
This Final Developer Preview ships with the official API level 27, the November 2017 security patch, as well as the latest optimizations and bug fixes. Android 8.1 Oreo launches in December for the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, Google Pixel and Pixel XL, Google Pixel C, Nexus 5X, and Nexus 6P.
