Moto G6 and Moto G6 Plus are the mid-range devices released by Motorola in May 2018 with pre-installed Android 8.0 Oreo operating system. The G6 lineup is the sucessor of G5 lineup and come with many exciting features like Max vision display and stock android.
The next big update for these mid-rangers to enhance user experience is Android 9 Pie. According Motorola’s Policy, G lineup is limited one major Android update. So Android Pie is the first and final major update for Moto G6 and G6 Plus devices.
Google released the Android Pie initially as a Developer Preview on March 9th, 2018. After that the Search Giant launched the first beta of Pie with many exciting features at Google I/O 2018 in May. Later, 3 previews came with more refinements, one June and two in July. Finally the official version of Android 9 with the codename of Pie came on August 6th, a bit earlier than expected release date.
When will Moto G6, G6 Plus get Android Pie ?
Already Google Pixel, Pixel 2 and Essential Phone devices start receiving the update. The Lenovo owned company announced that Moto G6 and G6 Plus devices are going to receive the Android Pie update, but the time frame hasn’t mentioned. The rollout of updates used to be good previously, but after the Lenovo acquired Motorola, the speed of update decreases drastically. The Moto G5 lineup starts receiving the Oreo update in May 2018, yet the rollout didn’t finish.
However, because of the Project Treble in Android Oreo, Moto G6 lineup devices may receive the update soon. Motorola recently announced officially that Moto G6 Plus, G6 and G6 Play devices will receive the Android Pie update in this fall. According to some tech analysts, Android 9 Pie rollout of Motorola may begin with G6 series instead of flagships as G6 series comes with Treble out of the box.
Perhaps, the Pie rollout will hit G6 and G6 Plus devices in October or November, 2018 as soaktest. The full rollout of Pie might begin in late-2018 or Early 2019 for these mid-rangers. The rollout dates may vary due to unforeseen technical issues and according to carriers. The confirmed rollout dates will be posted here as soon as Motorola announced them.
What new fetures coming with Android 9 Pie ?
The ninth iteration of Android came with many remarkable new features and also totally revamps user experience with the integration of AI associated user interface with Material Design 2.0. As G6 and G6 Plus devices run on stock android, most of the features of stock update of Pie will make their way to G6 series users.
The AI associated features like Adaptive Battery and Adaptive Brightness changes the device according to user’s needs. The Adaptive Battery feature learns which apps the user is going to use in coming hours and which apps are not going to be used and optimizes inactive apps to reduce CPU wake-up cycles upto 30% which converts into Battery saving.
Next, the Gesture Interface lets Moto G6 and G6 Plus users to do multi task between apps with only gestures. So no App Previews button in the Navigation bar of Pie and users have to swipe up on the new Pill shaped Home button to view recent apps. To switch between apps, users just swipe left or right on the home button. The app previews appear in Horizontal style like in iOS. The chevron shaped back button also disappears most of the time and appears only when inside the apps when needed.
The Android developers added Screenshot button to the Powermenu. So users can take screenshots much more easily in Android Pie. One of the remarkable features of Pie is Screenshot Markup Editor. Users can edit the screenshots taken with the native Markup editor. Using Pen, Highlighter options, users can add details and highlight objects in screenshots in seven colours. There are also Undo and Redo options in the markup editor. Google may update Markup editor with more features in upcoming updates.
Adaptive Brightness
Google changed the Auto-Brightness feature to Adative Brightness back in Android Lollipop and now the Search giant adds AI-integration to Adaptive Brightness. The feature remembers the brightness level when the user in specific app and the adjustments made. Next time, when the user enters that app the Adaptive Brightness feature automatically changes the brightness to the level set by user before. So Moto G6 users don’t have to change brightness while using apps, the Adaptive Brightness powered by Machine learning takes care of it. More refinements to the Adaptive Brightness feature may come with the upcoming Android Q update.
Simultaneous Bluetooth Connections upto 5 devices
Till Android 8.1 Oreo, the Android users are able to connect their device with only 2 Bluetooth devices, one for calls and the other one for Media. However, in Android 9 Pie, Google increased the limit to 5 devices through an option in the developer options. So user can pair with 5 Bluetooth devices simultaneously and select which device for calls and which for Media playback.
Any how, the Playback is restricted to only one device, so there isn’t much use with this feature for most of the Moto G6 and G6 Plus users. The Search Giant may refine the feature further in upcoming Android 9.1 or Android Q updates.
Shush Mode
The Search Giant aimed to reduce smartphone addiction and promote healthy usage with Android Pie features, Shush Mode and Digital wellbeing. The Shush gesture helps to reduce the time spent on checking notifications and mutes notification sounds and calls.
To activate Shush, user has to put the phone face down and then Shush will activate Do Not Disturb automatically and so there won’t be any notifications beeps and pings. User can select contacts which can get through Shush mode in case of any emargencies.
Update on 4/1/2019 :
At last, it seems that Motorola finalized the development of Android Pie for Moto G6 series. The support page of Android 9 Pie for Moto G6 Plus appears in the official website of Motorola India. Usually support pages of updates appear, shortly before the rollout, so the G6 Plus users in India should receive the update very soon.
According to the changelog, posted by Motorola, the update also includes December month’s security patch and all stock Pie features. The performance of apps and android system also improved in this update, as per the change log. Moto G6 and G6 Play stand next to G6 Plus to receive the update. Share your opinion on Moto Pie update in the comments below.
We will update this post soon with more details about the Android 9 Pie update for Moto G6 and G6 Plus devices.
