ASUS ZenFone 4 Selfie Android Pie (9.0) update available in beta

Android, as most of you may know, is a free open source OS for mobiles. Its source code – which is made available by Google through Android Open Source Project (AOSP) – is further used by OEMs to come up with customized UIs for their phones. Stock Android is the closest form of AOSP.

While Google is currently beta testing Android Q, there still are many phones by different OEMs that await the arrival of last year’s Android 9.0 Pie update. Forget the stable build, even Pie beta hasn’t yet been pushed to many of them. But things are gearing up at least for some.

Take for example the Taiwanese OEM ASUS. About a week back, the company released AOSP Pie beta for ZenFone 4 Max – a 2017 device that originally shipped with Nougat and was upgraded to Android 8.1 Oreo just last year. And now, after ZenFone 4 Max, Pie beta is making way to ZenFone 4 Selfie.

Part of ZenFone Selfie lineup, ZenFone 4 Selfie is a camera-lover’s ideal mid-ranger device that dates back to 2017. Powered by Snapdragon 430 SoC, the phone shipped with the then available Android 7.0 Nougat and Asus’s own skin ZenUI 5. Back in October last year, it was bumped to Oreo.

And now Asus is pushing Android 9 (Pie) AOSP Beta version for ZenFone 4 Selfie (ZD553KL).

The information came from a ZenTalk forums moderator a few hours back. The release note states this beta update – bearing build number 16.0200.1903.16 – being based on AOSP, will offer stock Android experience without any customizations form Asus. Meaning, no ZenUI.

And as is usually the case with beta updates, users who wish to give this AOSP build a try are suggested to take a back up of their data before installing the system image. Else, the update will wipe off all personal stuff from the phone. And not to miss this AOSP beta will not get the routine updates.

For those who wish to take a look, here’s what the update release note states:

1. Android 9 (Pie) AOSP Beta version is now available for download. Please note that this version is “pure” Android system, and will not have ZenUI.
2. Please be aware that installing this system image on a device removes all personal data from the device, so please remember to back up your data first.

3. This is the Android 9 (Pie) AOSP Beta version, so the user experience will be different from Android 8 (Oreo). If you are used to and prefer using ZenUI, we recommend that you continue with the Android 8 (Oreo) version.
4. Android 9 (Pie) AOSP Beta version will not be supported with routine updates.

Here’s the complete announcement:

Those of you who plan to install Android Pie AOSP beta update on their ZenFone 4 Selfie units, once you are done, do share with us your experience by dropping a comment below.

P.S. For more Asus-related bugs/issues, news and stories, interested readers may head here.

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