First announced in December, a new feature that ranks WiFi speed and strength connections is now ready to roll out to Android Oreo 8.1 users. — AFP Relaxnews
A new Android Oreo 8.1 update comes with a handy little feature that ranks the speed of public WiFi connections, but there's a catch: it'll only be available to a limited amount of devices, for now.
First announced in December, a new feature that ranks WiFi speed and strength connections is now ready to roll out to Android Oreo 8.1 users, according to a tweet sent from Android on Jan 22. Unfortunately for most users, this version is still unavailable on many devices. However, Google's own phones, the Pixel and Pixel 2, Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X, will be the first to enjoy this feature that comes with the latest update.
Although most smartphone users rely on their 4G when out and about, there are times when it's better to connect to a public WiFi, especially while traveling. A support page on Google demonstrates how the "Compare strength and speed" works and what each ranking will mean for the user.
The classic WiFi icon itself shows the strength, that is nothing new. But for the speed there are four different labels: slow, OK, fast, very fast.
Not quite as precise as a speed test rating, however it's enough to help decipher between networks. There is no point wasting time trying to stream on a slow network but making calls and texting shouldn't be a problem. Google Support explains that the “OK” network works well for reading web pages, using social media and streaming music. “Fast” will handle streaming videos and well, it doesn't get any better than “Very Fast” where you can do all of the above and watch HD movies. And should anyone want to not know the speed of different WiFi connections, there is a way to disable it. — AFP Relaxnews
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