Essential rolls out Oreo Beta 8.1

Essential has just announced on Twitter that those on the Oreo Beta on the Essential Phone can update to Android Oreo 8.1 Beta. Those of you with Android 7.1 will also be able to participate by sideloading the update. Essential is working on posting the update to its website, so the only way to get Oreo 8.1 Beta at the moment is via an OTA update.

We just started rolling out Oreo Beta 8.1 through OTA. This update includes February security patches, dynamic calendar and clock icons, a slow-scrolling jitter fix (beta), and more. 😍 #EssentialPhone

— Essential (@essential) February 14, 2018

The update brings the Android February security patch, along with new dynamic calendar and clock App icons. There’s also an beta fix for a slow-scrolling issue. PhoneArena reports additional changes include: smart text selection, instant apps, picture in picture, and quicker boot up and sign-in.

It’s worth noting that Essential won’t offer a public release of Oreo 8.0. It announced a couple of weeks ago that Oreo 8.0 has some stability issues that the company would rather not have customers experience, so it shifted its focus on updating the PH-1 to Android Oreo 8.1.

Essential will be announcing new color for the PH-1. We hope that announcement comes with more news about the Oreo update and possible an update about Essential’s Home hub.

Via