HMD Global unleashed a set of updates to some of its smartphones yesterday, bringing Pie to the 2017 Nokia 6 and Nokia 8, plus Oreo to the original Nokia 2. If you thought that was all for this week, though, you"d be wrong. CPO Juho Sarvikas announced on Twitter that the Nokia 2.1 is now getting a major software update to Android Pie.
Unlike its predecessor, the Nokia 2.1 ships with Android Go, rather than the full version of Android, so it can get updates more easily despite its low-end hardware. This lightweight version of the OS isn"t quite as capable, but it should offer much better performance on a device like the Nokia 2.1, which only has 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. In our review of the phone, Muhammad Jarir Kanji noted that even then its performance isn"t that great.
As for what"s new in this update, Nokia phones typically stick to a pretty clean version of Android, so most of the additions here are likely the same ones that are included in the Go Edition of Pie. This means that the OS installation will leave a little more free space for your apps and files, and you should also see faster boot times. There are also some new security features, such as verified boot.
HMD Global is still one of the shining examples of a good Android update schedule, as the majority of its lineup is already on Android Pie. According to a recently revealed roadmap, all of its phones, excluding the Nokia 2, will be on the latest version of Android by the second quarter of 2019.
Source: Juho Sarvikas (Twitter)