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[Update: Stable rolling out] EMUI 9 beta testing begins for the Honor 8 Pro
Huawei's sub-brand Honor is now looking for beta testers for Android Pie-based EMUI 9.0 on 2017's flagship device Honor 8 Pro.
Huawei, as well as its sub-brand Honor, used to not have a good track record when it came to releasing timely software updates for their older smartphones. However, things seem to be picking up pace with the Android Pie-based EMUI 9 releases, and now Honor is inviting users to preview the software on one of their older flagships. After the Honor View 10, Honor 9, and Honor 8X, it's update time for another, relatively older, device from the company.
Android Pie ported to the Honor View 10, Huawei Mate 10 Pro, and more
Android Pie (Android 9) has been ported unofficially to the Honor View 10, but it also works on the Huawei Mate 10 Pro and some other devices too.
Android Pie is the hottest topic in the Android community right now. After releasing on the Google Pixel and Pixel 2, Essential PH-1, independent developers on our forums have been hard at work porting the latest Android release from AOSP to their devices. We've already seen the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4, Mi 3, Mi 4, Redmi 4X, ZenFone Max Pro M1, and the OnePlus 2/3/3T/X receive unofficial ports of Android 9 Pie, and now the Honor View 10 and Huawei Mate 10 Pro are joining the short list of devices with ported Android 9 releases.
Team OpenKirin opens website to support all EMUI 8 Huawei/Honor devices
Team OpenKirin aims to make the pure AOSP experience available for all supported Huawei and Honor devices running EMUI 8.
Huawei and their subsidiary Honor ship their smartphones and tablets with their EMUI software. It's a heavily modified version of the stock Android framework that offers a lot of features not found in AOSP. Some people prefer all of the added features while the stock Android purists would much rather have stock Android running on top of Huawei/Honor hardware. If that describes you, then you may want to check out the work done by the OpenKirin team. They recently released unofficial LineageOS, CarbonROM, and Resurrection Remix builds for all EMUI 8 devices.
How to flash a Generic System Image (GSI) on Project Treble supported devices
So your device supports Project Treble, what does that mean for you? It means you can flash a Generic System Image such as LineageOS or Resurrection Remix! Enjoy AOSP-based custom ROMs! Here's a guide on how to install these ROMs.
If you've only heard of Project Treble in passing but haven't looked into it all that much, then you may have heard that it's supposed to help major Android updates roll out more quickly. At XDA, there's another benefit that we've spoken about at length: the ability to boot an AOSP Generic System Image (GSI) on any supported device. This means that devices that were once running heavily customized Android versions like Samsung Experience on the Samsung Galaxy S9 or EMUI 8 on the Huawei Mate 10 Pro can alternatively run software closer to that of the Google Pixel 2.
Here's a list of Android devices updated with Project Treble support
Project Treble is a major re-architecture of the way Android works. The result is that Android software updates should come faster on devices that support it. Also, it opens up a whole new avenue of custom ROMs. Check out if your device supports it!
Whereas Apple is able to keep most of their devices, even many older ones, up to date with the latest software (which sometimes involve rather controversial features), Android device makers have varying degrees of success keeping their devices up to date. Some device makers like Essential and Google are pretty good at providing security patches, while others can delay updates by months at a time. That's without considering major software updates such as from Android Nougat to Android Oreo, a software release which is installed on only slightly more than 1% of all Android devices. To combat slow Android updates, Google introduced Project Treble.
Honor 8 Pro and Honor 9 receive AOSP Android Oreo ROMs thanks to Project Treble
The Honor 8 Pro and the Honor 9 have both received an AOSP Android Oreo ROM thanks to Project Treble support. Almost everything, including the stock Huawei camera app, works!
Google announced Project Treble last year in an effort to revamp the way device makers update their smartphones. Phones launched with Android Oreo are required to be compatible, but it's optional for OEMs to include Treble support with Oreo updates for older smartphones. One potential benefit of Treble support is that major software updates can arrive faster for devices that support it, as device makers can pursue updating the Android framework without waiting on a vendor to update their code. Thanks to Project Treble's requirements, though, every device that supports it must be able to boot a generic build of AOSP, which makes bringing AOSP to certain devices like the Honor 8 Pro or Honor 9 a lot easier.
A Revolution in Custom ROMs: How Project Treble makes Porting Android Oreo a 1 Day Job
An exploration into how Project Treble revolutionizes custom ROMs. It took less than 1 day to port Android Oreo to the Huawei Mate 9.
The XDA forums have been the central gathering of custom ROM development for years. It's thanks to the hard work of developers on our forums that many older Android smartphones are kept alive by custom ROMS sometimes years after devices were abandoned by the device maker. Though most manufacturers release bootloader unlocking methods these days, frequent delays in kernel source releases has stifled custom ROM development on many smartphones. That may soon change, however, thanks to something called "Project Treble" which was announced near the release of Android Oreo. Thanks to Project Treble, the time it takes to port an AOSP ROM onto a device should no longer take weeks or months—instead it should take merely days.
Unofficial LineageOS for the Honor 8 Pro
As development starts to pick up for the Honor 8 pro, ROMs are being shared in the XDA forums. This is a look at the unofficial LineageOS ROM.
The development community is starting to pump out some ROMs for the Honor 8 Pro. This unofficial OpenKirin LineageOS ROM is a great way to replace the EMUI stock system. This custom ROM is pretty bare bones and it doesn't come with many mods baked in. Everything is very stable and performance is great.