U.S. ZTE Axon 7 Android Oreo Beta Program Now Available

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The ZTE Axon 7 was a sleeper hit back in 2016, and after ZTE’s reputation started to grow many people kept their eye out for the Axon 8 in 2017. That device never materialized, but the company has said its successor, the ZTE Axon 9, will be coming out this year. Although the new Axon 9 is on its way, ZTE has continued to support the Axon 7 with multiple updates throughout 2017 and 2018 including patches for Blueborne and KRACK, adding a quick launcher to the recents screen, and even receiving Daydream support with its Nougat update. Today, the company has announced the United States model of the ZTE Axon 7 can participate in their Android Oreo open beta program.

ZTE’s upcoming Oreo update will be a bit different than the software ZTE fans are used to. Some of their most popular in-house features will still be in place, but we’ve known for awhile that the company is ditching the previous look of their stock MiFavor UX in favor of a near stock Android experience. Companies like Xiaomi have seen just how many people love the stock Android experience, so it’s nice to see ZTE embrace the change.

ZTE Axon 7 owners can register to be one of the first people to try out this new beta update by visiting ZTE’s dedicated landing page for it here. Not only will you get to try out the company’s early Android Oreo beta release, but you can also be involved in the feedback process through their Z-Community forums. It seems the company is taking community feedback very seriously as it was the community who requested them to transition to a near-stock version of Android with this new update.

This new Android Oreo update will come with all of the new features that we’ve come to love including improved battery life due to stricter background app limitations, picture-in-picture mode, notification channels and snoozing, faster boot up times, and the highly requested Autofill API for password management.