The Essential Phone is still alive. We can’t really say it’s still an essential part of the market because the startup failed to sell and reach its target. Only 80,000 units were sold in 2017. There is still hope though for the Essential Phone PH-1 as a new Ocean Depths color was recently introduced. There’s also the Essential Camera update that brings Auto-HDR and improved scene rendering plus the February 2018 security patch. Instead of Android 8.0, Essential is releasing Android 8.1 beta.
We told you about this idea a couple of weeks ago and now the first Android 8.1 beta build starts rolling out for the Essential Phone. If you own such, wait for an important OTA notification. Essential is skipping Android 8.0 to Android 8.1 so it’s sweeter. Expect a number of new features, system changes, and several bug fixes from the company with the cookie update.
The system update will deliver new features like faster startup and app sign-in, Google Play Protect security scans, smart text selection, instant apps, and picture-in-picture. Essential Products beta features are also included: Slow Scrolling Jitter Fix (beta), Dynamic Calendar and Clock icons, and Google Security Patches 2018-02. Update size is 493MP so make sure you have enough storage available.
These are mainly Android 8.0 features but we can bet Essential did some important tweaks here and there.
Check out Essential’s Beta Build page HERE
VIA: Android Police
