ZTE Axon 7 begins testing Android 8.0 Oreo in the US, here’s our first glimpse at ‘Stock UI+’
When it comes to Android devices, there are a lot of custom skins out there. While some are worse than others, we never really had a problem with MiFavor UI running on the ZTE Axon 7. Although it wasn’t a “stock Android” UI, it certainly wasn’t as heavy as say Samsung’s custom version of Android. And that was a good thing.
It’s not often a new software updates bring about huge UI changes (and rarely for the better) but with the upcoming Android 8.0 Oreo update for the ZTE Axon 7, the Chinese manufacturer is looking to make that happen. To better suit western customers, they’re introducing something a little closer to that stock UI we love so much. It’s called Stock UI+ and after announcing it last month for the Axon 7, it looks like it’s finally undergoing its first round of testing here in the US.
It’s tough to tell from the photo of the software already running on a tester’s Axon 7, but we’d say it looks pretty darn “stock” from what we’re seeing. Of course, we’ll have to wait for more on the update to see just how close to stock they were able to take the UI and any other custom goodies they’ve folded into their version of Android 8.0 Oreo.
The Axon 7 initially launched with Android 6.0 Marshmallow in July of 2016 and although Android 7.0 wasn’t made available until October, the update to Nougat wouldn’t be seen until February of 2017. It was actually faster than other OEMs and quite a feat for a device not being sold in carrier stores. Android 8.0 Oreo and Stock UI+ for the ZTE Axon 7 is set to arrive sometime in April, but no hard date has been set and nothing specific to the US variant.
ZTE Community Forums | via XDA-Developers