Oreo 8.0 didn’t really come with a lot of exciting features. However, 8.1 is rolling out now with a feature that will let you check the speeds of public Wi-Fi hotspots before you connect to them.
Android Oreo was a solid upgrade from Nougat, but Google is still rolling out features for the popular mobile OS. One of the bigger features in the new 8.1 is the ability to tell users just how strong the local public Wi-Fi connections are.
Now, users will get a Wi-Fi symbol to show strength as well as a ranking of Slow, OK, Fast, or Very Fast. While that might now be incredibly descriptive, Google did offer a simple little primer to go with the announcement:
Connections that are password protected will only show a lock symbol, as you likely wouldn’t be able to connect to them anyway.
The Wi-Fi Assistant is a nice little bonus for Android 8.1, unless of course, you think proper cheeseburger and beer emojis or the activation of the Pixel Visual Core chip are more important.
