Quite a lot of good things have happened for the Essential Phone since it received a much-needed price cut. We just published a rooting guide for the phone a few days ago. Users have been reportedly disappointed by the numerous performance issues and lags on the original Nougat firmware. If that sounds like you, you’ll be glad to know that you can now install the Oreo beta update on your Essential PH-1. Andy Rubin’s Essential Products has released Android 8.0 Oreo beta program for their very first Essential PH-1 smartphone. You’ll need to enroll in the beta program in order to be able to install the update.
Fortunately, there is not a lot you’ll need to enroll in the program but your email address. But before you go ahead and install the beta software on your phone, it’s our moral and possibly legal obligation to let you know a few things. But we’d rather let Essential do that for us.
Warning
From Essential beta builds release notes:
“The Oreo Beta is pre-release software that may contain software bugs. We welcome and encourage you to let us know about issues you experience via our online form; however, our support team will not be equipped to troubleshoot any software issues that you may encounter on the Oreo Beta. If you decide that you don’t want to continue on the Oreo Beta, you can download and revert back to the latest production software build from the Current Builds section of this site. As noted below, downloading the Oreo Beta from us will not affect your Essential Limited Warranty rights, but may affect the terms of any third party warranty you may have.”
Also, before updating, backup any personal data on your device—so you can recover it if you encounter an issue.
Issues
Obviously, there are bound to be certain issues with something that’s still in beta. If improvements in smoothness, usability, and camera quality don’t cut it for you, you may go ahead with the installation.
- Android Auto users may face issues with some vehicles and head units.
- Increased Bluetooth battery drain.
Requirements
- Essential PH-1 running on the latest stock firmware.
- A Windows, Mac or Linux computer with ADB and Fastboot installed on it.
- A working USB cable.
- Enable USB Debugging on your phone.
Enroll in the beta and download the update
Go to the Essential beta builds page and scroll down towards the bottom of the page. Enter your email address in the text field, and click Agree. Checking the box next to Yes, that is opting for receiving developer updates is an optional choice.
On the next page, you’ll be able to download the update file for Essential Phone Oreo Beta 1 (OPM1.170911.130) named PH1-OTA-OPM1.170911.130.zip.
Sideload the update
- Launch adb on your PC. Mac and Linux users can simply launch terminal to do this. Windows users will need to navigate to the adb installation folder and open command prompt in the folder. To open a command prompt in a folder, open the folder, type cmd in the address bar and hit enter.
- Connect your phone to the PC with a USB cable and make sure the connection is proper. Allow USB Debugging if asked.
- Boot your phone into recovery mode by pushing the following adb command.
adb reboot recovery
- When the phone boots into recovery mode, you will see a screen with a bugdroid and a red exclamation mark. Hold the Power button, then press the Volume Up button one time. When the menu appears, select Apply update from ADB.
- Now enter the command below and it will return the name of your device. Make sure the word sideload appears next to it.
adb devices
- Use the following command to sideload the update zip.
adb sideload <path to>PH1-OTA-OPM1.170911.130.zipReplace the text in green, i.e. <path to>, with the path to the update file. For instance, if you placed the file on your desktop on a Windows PC, the command you enter should be:
adb sideload C:\Users\username\Desktop\PH1-OTA-OPM1.170911.130.zip
- The update will take a while to get installed and once it does, select Reboot system now to reboot your phone.
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