Beginning with Android 8.0 Oreo, Google implemented a major fundamental change to how Android interacts with your hardware.
Project Treble aims to make OTA updates come quicker and more often, as well as make it far less difficult for manufacturers to implement.
Devices which come shipped with Android 8.0 and up will be required to be compatible with Treble in order to be properly certified.
How it works
Project Treble works by separating the low-level hardware-specific software from the Android OS framework via a new vendor interface. This essentially allows manufacturers to push a more or less generic update without massive amounts of re-coding.
This fixes a major issue with China brands and major brands alike — generally, we see just a couple of updates and that’s it. Assuming manufacturers properly get on board and implement this updated structure, we should see a longer OS device shelf life due to security updates and bug fixes.
Custom ROMs
There are also some interesting possibilities regarding custom ROMs. While it currently takes weeks, months, or years to get custom ROMs working well, with Android 9 it should be a matter of hours or a few days.
That is, just as with OTA from manufacturers, developers will be able to create custom ROMs without having to worry about hardware functionality debugging.
Developer OldDroid has called this a major breakthrough for custom ROM developers after he booted Oreo on the Mate 9. Other developers have also shown off a single system image booting on different devices with different SoC.
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