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Essential Phone picks up official Android Oreo 8.1 update, available now for all users

Android Oreo has seen minimal expansion since its debut last year, and the newer Android 8.1 has made an even smaller dent in the market. Today, though, Essential is making good on a promise and rolling out an official Android 8.1 update to the PH-1.

The Essential Phone has seen quite a few updates since its debut, but major updates have been minimal, to say the least. After a few months running an Android Oreo beta program, however, Essential is finally rolling out a build to all its users.

This update, as you’d expect, brings the Essential Phone from Android 7.1 Nougat up to Android 8.1, and it has the March security patch in tow.

Essential hasn’t added any bloat or changes to the surface of Android Oreo, instead giving us the same great features we’ve come to expect from Oreo, like picture-in-picture and more.

Essential also claims that Android 8.1 solves the scrolling issues that have popped up on the device, as well as several other bugs users have reported.

The OTA is rolling out right now globally, and it weighs in at just over 1GB in size. If you’re an Essential Phone user, head into your settings and check for updates to get the download going.


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