HMD Skyline receiving a much needed Android Build update

Update: The latest Android Build fixed most of the issues (continues on the bottom of the page).

The HMD Skyline has received its first Android Build V1.380 update. While the update initially appeared on some Skyline devices (thanks, Virgil), it has now finally arrived on ours. The update is quite large at 3.22 GB and includes improved system stability, UI enhancements, and the July Google security patch.

 

I haven’t installed the update yet, as I’m writing this while it’s still downloading. I’ve been eagerly waiting to see if HMD has addressed some of the issues I noticed on the review unit. It is normal for devices to have some issues but I didn’t want to put them in a review and gave HMD a chance to fix them. But, it is fair for you to be informed so here is the list of things I noticed.

I took the Skyline on a three-day trip and was disappointed with its performance. The camera is glitchy, and the battery struggles to last until 4 PM, or maybe 5 PM when using 5G. Switching to 4G extended the battery life to a full day. The screen has issues with dimming, and the extra brightness often fails to activate, leaving me unable to see anything. The phone heats up quickly when taking photos and stutters, likely due to the processor. The software isn’t well-optimized, which is concerning given the price—I’ll cover this in my review. But I must say that sometimes the camera operates rather well, but mostly in certain conditions, when the light is superb.

Additionally, the proximity sensor isn’t properly tuned, causing the screen to turn on during calls. Several times, I accidentally enabled airplane mode because a dropdown menu popped up, and Bluetooth sometimes turned off due to the quick toggles being at the top of the dropdown menu.

Now, this is the sum up of some of the bad photos, but not all of them are bad. HMD does have a capable camera but just in perfect conditions. A gallery of problems:

Here’s an example of the camera’s poor performance: it struggles to focus, especially in low light, and the algorithm has issues with white balance and focusing when using 2X or 3X zoom. The electronic image stabilization (EIS) doesn’t work well with the telephoto camera. The camera app itself is problematic, with focusing issues, night shots that look smudged and overly soft on the main camera, and zooming that isn’t smooth or polished on the telephoto camera. The algorithms have trouble with shot segmentation, contrast, and sharpening, leading to subpar results. The camera is supposed to be the second most important feature of this phone, after the design, so it should perform flawlessly—but it doesn’t.

Now, I must say that the installation went rather quickly (probably due to the SD7sGen2) and I’m now waiting for the device to restart. I’m hopeful that this update will fix most, if not all, of these issues. I’ll report back with the results.

 

Thanks to all who tipped!

 

Update

I’ve been using the Skyline with the latest Android build, and I can say that most of the issues I previously encountered have been fixed. The screen dimming now works slightly better than before. While the proximity sensor is still not perfectly tuned, at least I’m no longer accidentally hanging up in the middle of a call.

The camera app had the most problems, but these have now been addressed. Zooming works flawlessly, and you can now record with all three cameras in 4K with EIS enabled. The selfie camera also now supports 4K recording.

The camera still struggles with focusing in low light, and low-light photos done with the main camera still feel soft.

The battery seems to drain less quickly with 5G turned on, although I’ll be able to assess this better after a full day of use. Previously, the phone would automatically turn off 5G because it was draining the battery too fast.

All in all, HMD managed to fix the issues that reduced the functionality of the device. Although I still find the starting price a bit too expensive, you can now find the device at a discounted price, which is good, and it comes in Topaz Blue.