Skip to main content

Samsung Experience 9.0 beta brings Android 8.0 Oreo to Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus

Samsung is launching an update to its flagship phones. The company has announced the Samsung Experience 9.0 beta, a big part of the Samsung beta program that allows those that are members of it to experience some of the new features in the Samsung Galaxy ecosystem.

Along with Samsung Experience 9.0 comes Android 8.0 Oreo — as Experience 9.0 is built on the Oreo user interface and design. In other words, this marks the beginning of the road to rolling out Android 8.0 Oreo to Samsung’s customers. To start, the Experience 9.0 beta will be available to users of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus in South Korea, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Of course, more users will get the beta as time goes on.

Recommended Videos

It’s important to note that this is a beta — in other words, you’ll only get it if you’re a part of the beta program, and it may still have some bugs. Still, at the very least this shows that Samsung is well on its way to updating its phones to the newest version of Android.

Samsung Experience is essentially the user interface that Samsung builds over the top of Android. The software was previously known as Samsung TouchWiz, but was rebranded towards the end of 2016. Why? It’s anyone’s guess, but TouchWiz did have some issues with branding considering it was known as having a ton of bloatware and annoying Samsung apps. Experience seems to mark an effort by Samsung to cut down on the bloatware, or at the very least allow customers to hide it. That’s a good thing — the majority of people tend to stick with Google’s stock apps rather than adopt the different apps of different manufacturers, save for key apps like the camera app or email app.

We’ll have to wait and see how long it takes Samsung to tweak the beta and launch Experience 9.0 to all customers beyond  just those who are part of the beta program. Hopefully it won’t be more than a month or so, and hopefully the company will soon launch new software on other phones such as the Galaxy Note 8, which we think probably should have been included in this first rollout. Still, it remains to be seen how many differences there really are between Experience 8.5 and Experience 9.0.

Christian de Looper
Christian de Looper is a long-time freelance writer who has covered every facet of the consumer tech and electric vehicle…
5 phones you should buy instead of the Samsung Galaxy S24
Samsung Galaxy S24 in Marble Gray standing on park bench.

In the market for a new phone? You might be considering the latest offering from Samsung, which includes the Galaxy S24. It’s the entry level model for the S24 lineup, but still packs great performance and power with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip and 8GB RAM, a beautiful LTPO AMOLED display with up to 120Hz refresh rate and 2,600 nits peak brightness. And even though it’s a base model, you get a triple lens camera system.

But the Galaxy S24 isn’t the only option you have out there. Here are five great alternatives to consider if you’re thinking about the S24.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus
Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus Joe Maring / Digital Trends

Read more
5 phones you should buy instead of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
A person holding the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.

It's hard not to lust after the biggest and most powerful smartphone on the market, and at the moment, that's the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. Samsung's new flagship is here, and it's simply one of the best smartphones you can buy today. The Galaxy S24 Ultra isn't just another smartphone; it's extremely powerful and has some of the most advanced AI features we've ever seen on a phone, along with an excellent camera and battery life. Simply put, it's great.

But you know what? You don't have to buy it. As good as it is, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is only one of a number of smartphones you can buy, and many of them are as good as the S24 Ultra — and may even exceed it in a few key ways.

Read more
Samsung may have made a horrible decision with the Galaxy S24
The Samsung Galaxy S24 standing upright next to the Galaxy S24 Plus.

The big Android dogs from Samsung  —the Galaxy S24 series — are out to challenge the smartphone supremacy crown in 2024. There are minor design improvements, a faster chip, a slightly tweaked camera, a big jump in thermal management capacity, and loads of AI hype around them.

Some of those AI features come courtesy of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy silicon, while others are built in-house or with some help from Google. But behind the scenes, Samsung has again employed a controversial two-chip sales formula.

Read more