Galaxy Note 8 & Galaxy S8 Don't Support Project Treble on Oreo

The Oreo beta updates for the S8 and Note 8 have been avilable for some time now. If you're interested in running Oreo on your Galaxy Note 8, you can check out our guide on how to do so. As we dig deeper into the updates, one question on the minds of Galaxy fans is whether or not the Oreo update will support Project Treble. Today, it appears we have an answer.

For those unaware, Project Treble is Google's latest attempt to push for faster and easier Android updates. At the basic level, Treble separates the vendor implementation from the Android OS framework using a new vendor partition. This means that future Android updates could require less time to push out. The vendor implementation can remain untouched while the Android OS portion is updated to the latest version. With fewer required parties to orchestrate updates, users would receive a quicker turnaround on the latest version.

How Android updates worked before Treble (left) and after Treble (right).

How Android updates worked before Treble (left) and after Treble (right).

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Google is requiring that all phones launching with Android 8.0+ support Treble going forward. Unfortunately, not all phones released in 2017 will have Project Treble support upon being updated to Android 8.0.

Luckily, it's actually quite simple to check if your phone supports Treble. Download the Termux app on Google Play, open the app and copy the command "getprop ro.treble.enabled" (minus the quotes). If the command line returns "true," your phone is Treble enabled.

We ran through these steps on the Note 8 and Galaxy S8, both running the Oreo beta. Sadly, we found that neither currently supports Treble. This is a bit disappointing for sure, as smaller manufacturers like Essential have already incorporated Treble support into their Oreo beta builds.

Note 8 (Oreo) Termux Output.

Essential Phone (Oreo) Termux Output

Note 8 (Oreo) Termux Output.

Essential Phone (Oreo) Termux Output

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It is certainly possible that Samsung will enable Treble support in the stable Oreo release, but this seems very unlikely. Most of the behind the scenes changes necessary to implement Treble would be more reasonable to push in beta form since they are not user-facing anyway.

Is the possible loss of Project Treble support a big downside for the 2017 Galaxy phones? Let us know how much Treble matters to you in the comments.

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Cover image and screenshots by Jeff Springer/Gadget Hacks