Because Nokia 8 is not an Android One phone, it didn’t receive Digital Wellbeing and Quick Actions; Adaptive battery coming soon

HMD finally released the Android 9 Pie update for Nokia 8 this week. The update was initially promised for November 2018, but few days into December HMD released Android 9 via Nokia Beta Labs for Nokia 8 users interested in testing the OS before official release. As users noticed, Android Pie beta was a bit different for Nokia 8 than what we saw on some other Nokia devices. A few things were missing – Digital Wellbeing, Quick Actions and Adaptive battery.

As it turns out, after the update officially started rolling out in the last two days, we were reminded that Nokia 8 isn’t an Android One device, and features like Digital Wellbeing and Quick Actions are exclusive to Android One devices. A lot of users were confused seeing the mentioned features missing, and I frankly forgot about Android One and differences between the software on 1st generation phones and 2nd generation phones.

In a statement to NokiaPowerUser, HMD stated that Wellbeing and Quick Actions are exclusive Android One features, thus not available on non-Android One Nokia 8, but HMD is discussing with Google if there is a way to implement these features in future. About the missing Adaptive battery feature, HMD said that they need more time to make it work on a satisfying level on the Nokia 8 and that Adaptive Battery will be available via an update soon.

Sharing this before the update started, and maybe via official channels, could’ve prevented a lot of confusion.

 

Hi! We care a lot for Sirocco. One of the device I frequently use and I’ve been testing the Pie build. Sirocco will follow after Nokia 8, next in line.

— Juho Sarvikas (@sarvikas) December 20, 2018

Regarding Nokia 8 Sirocco, HMD’s most expensive device and an Android One phone, Chief Product Officer Juho Sarvikas said via Twitter that Nokia 8 Sirocco is next in the line for Pie update.