[EMUI 9.1 arrives] Huawei clears air on Honor 8X EIS & 4K video support, EMUI 9.1 update and battery drain

PSA: We do understand the recent Huawei ban episode must have raised firmware update-related concerns for you as a Huawei/Honor phone user. While the final picture is still unclear, at least for another 3 months, Google will be working with Huawei. That means, the scheduled updates in the coming 90 days (starting May 20th) should be releasing as planned. But what after that, well, that depends on Huawei’s fate in the US.

Headquartered in Shenzhen, Huawei is a popular Chinese telecom and electronics manufacturer, and Honor is their smartphone e-brand that was established in 2013. Honor is Huawei’s unsung hero and a major part of their humongous lineage of smartphones.

Honor, the internet brand that basically targets youngsters, expanded their X series lineup of smartphones by releasing Honor 8X back in September last year.

8X is Honor’s first ViLTE (an extension of VoLTE that stands for Video over LTE) compatible device in India that comes baked with a Hisilicon Kirin 710 chipset. This mid-range device was initially shipped with Android Oreo 8.1 (upgradable to Android Pie) and Huawei’s customized skin EMUI 8.2.

The much awaited Android Pie with EMUI 9.0 was pushed to Honor 8X in the second half of March. The update (weighing ~3.00GB) bumped the build from version JSN-L22 8.2.0.105 to JSN-L22 9.0.1.156.

Soon after the update hit Honor 8X, device owners started inquiring across social media platforms whether or not Pie will be facilitating features like 4K video recording, EIS update and fast charging etc.

https://twitter.com/GTimothi/status/1110942835048513536

In order to shed some clarity, Honor recently came up with an FAQ post at their official help forum for Honor 8X Android Pie update to answer multiple user queries at one place. Based on that, we’ve prepared a gist of what changes Honor 8X users may get to see in the Pie updates to come.

EMUI 9.1?

As already mentioned above, Android Pie brought along EMUI 9. The forum moderator who posted/answered Honor 8X Android Pie update FAQs gave a green signal for EMUI 9.1. Here’s what they said while informing users that Android Pie on Honor 8X will be getting EMUI 9.1.

The answer is YES. Software team is closely working on the improvement of the device performance. Kindly allow sometime to the developer team to optimize the software according to device specifications.

When? Well, they didn’t specify any time line for that.

EIS and 4K support

Some of you must be curious why were EIS and 4K support not provided in the already out Pie update? That’s because developers are still working on it. Going by what the moderator said, both the features will be made available when ready and users will be notified when that happens.

Battery optimization update incoming

Those of you who have been struggling with overheated battery following the Pie update, worry not. This could be due to the high power consumption by activities that take place in the background after a system/OS update.

What’s good is that you’ll soon get to see a battery optimization update rolling to stabilize the battery overheating problem.

Additionally, there have been a lot of reports about battery drain after installing the update.

https://twitter.com/smartfoneguru/status/1115117349198159872
https://twitter.com/c1abecd7d6554dc/status/1113055574311104512

People complaining about battery drain have also been asked to wait until the battery optimization update – that is currently in under testing – gets rolling.

Along with battery optimization, the charging speed will also be optimized. Other than that, a camera optimization update is also on the charts.

What about fast charging?

Lower your hopes if you’ve been thinking when are you going to enjoy fast charging support on your 8X unit. Reason being, Honor has no plans to incorporate fast charging, at least in Android Pie.

But don’t get disheartened as Android Q might bring in some change (fingers crossed).

Password Vault, App Hide & Private Space

Incoming is another green signal, the upcoming iterations of Honor 8X Android 9.0 will bring Password Vault. But when? That’s not known yet. In the mean time, users are suggested to make use of Google Password Vault.

Here’s what the forums moderator said regarding Password Vault and how Honor 8X users can enable its available alternative:

Yes you will receive Password Vault and currently “Google Password Vault” is available. To enable it just go to Settings > Google > Smartlock For Passwords.

Coming to the App Hide feature which is currently not available in EMUI 9.0, there appears no hope. The moderator bluntly asked Honor 8X users to install Trusted app from the Play Store.

On the other hand, regarding Private Space, users will have to wait until it gets optimized. Here’s what the moderator said:

The software by the developers is always optimised in such a way that your device performance should not be compromised, so kindly give them sometime and if it will be well optimised you all will get that feature.

Lastly, while reverting back to one of the queries, the moderator also mentioned that users may get to see the automatically changing wallpapers feature (that’s currently unavailable) in future.

That’s quite a lot coming. Isn’t it? Hoping Honor bring all the promised features updates or improvements soon.

A forums moderator recently informed one of the affected users that camera and battery optimization update is being tested and will be out soon. Here’s what they said:

the camera and battery optimization update is under test phase and it’ll soon be available

Android Q has been conformed for Honor 8X. Complete story here.

EMUI 9.1 is now rolling out on Honor 8X. Complete story here.

P.S. In case you’ve been facing any network issues after the Pie update, here’s what the moderator suggests you to do: Go to the Settings > System > Reset > Reset network settings. But do not “Reset all settings.”

NOTE: Those of you interested in reading more about Huawei/Honor, head here.

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