Some Samsung Galaxy Note 8 units receive Android 8.0 Oreo official update

It appears that Samsung is seeding an official version of Android 8.0 Oreo to some Galaxy Note 8 units. At the time of writing, the company hasn't announced anything regarding the rollout, but multiple Reddit users have confirmed that the update has landed on their phones.

By the looks of it, this could be a soak test, meaning that Samsung might be releasing the update on a very small number of devices to see how it holds up before a broader rollout. 

Still, this is a rather surprising turn of events, as the company has an Oreo beta testing program, but it's for the Galaxy S8/S8+ and not for the 6.3-inch phablet. The aforementioned Oreo Beta program is ending on January 15, which is a strong indication that we're not too far off from seeing an official Oreo build land on Samsung's high-end 2017 phones. 

The build number of the new update is R16NW.N950FXXU2CRA1.DM. There aren't any screenshots of the changelog, but one Reddit user was kind enough to post some of the changes they observed. You can check them out below, but keep in mind that the list isn't official:

• Update to the keyboard
• Picture in picture support (so far I have noticed it in YouTube and google maps)
• App specific long press menus from launcher (can no longer put apps to sleep from that menu or open app settings)
• Secure folder can be set to stay unlocked until the screen goes to sleep
• Autofill API support (with bio-metrics) for all apps, and browser
• Colored media notifications
• Notification categories
• Customization options for notification badges
• Keyboard uses gify for gif search support (doesn't work in gboard with stock messaging still)
• More edge lighting options
• Ability to ONLY view Samsung cloud items
• Ability to backup Samsung secure folder in Samsung cloud
• Bluetooth, high-quality audio codecs
• Manage passwords of Samsung and third party apps with Samsung pass
• Android Security patch for January