Tag: Android Oreo 8.1

Google has confirmed that a bug impacting the original Google Pixel XL in Android Oreo 8.1 will be fixed in the coming weeks.  The bug can cause the phone to overcurrent, meaning it takes on too much power during recharging, and in theory could pose a fire hazard.

Google’s John McNulty, Head of Safety and Compliance Engineering for Google Consumer Hardware, took to the product forums for Pixel users and assured the bug would be fixed but thanks to multiple layers of protection, a fire risk remained very low.

After several weeks of beta testing, the Android Oreo 8.1 update for the Essential Phone has been released.  The update, some 1.7GB in size, is available to everyone so you should be able to check for the update and download it.

The update comes after the announcement early this year that the company would be abandoning the 8.0 build of Oreo due to stability issues and would focus on 8.1.  That process, fortunately, did not take long.  In fact, the first beta of Oreo 8.1 for the Essential PH-1 was released just last month.

In a backwards kind of way, LG has announced that the LG V30 and the LG G6 will both be getting updated to Android Oreo 8.1 and soon.  Why?  Because the company announced that both devices will be a part of the Android Enterprise Recommended program once that update rolls out to them.

The press release from LG made it clear that acceptance of these V30 and the G6 was contingent on the Oreo 8.1 update rolling out to the devices.  While not in the press release, undoubtedly Google put timeframes on the contingency meaning that LG is going to have to get the updates out sooner rather than later.

For those enrolled in the beta testing program for the Essential Phone, it is time to check for a system update.  The first beta of the company’s Android Oreo 8.1 build has been released and testers will be receiving the update via an OTA download.  As you may recall, Essential pulled the Oreo 8.0 build last month, citing issue with stability in the build, and decided to scrap it to move straight to 8.1.

The build has the February Android Security Update patch included and also has a fix for a common problem for users of the Essential Phone:  Slow scroll jitter.  Users have complained that the phone has a lot of jitter when slowly scrolling up or down a patch.  This beta has a fix for it and appears to be working well.  All in, the OTA update is just over 500MB in size so WiFi downloading is a must.

In a somewhat surprising announcement on Twitter yesterday, Essential, makers of the Essential Phone, said that they were abandoning their current Android Oreo 8.0 build to start an 8.1 build for customers.  The 8.0 build has been in beta for a few weeks now and the company stated that stability issues where the driver behind the decision.

An update on the public release of Oreo: pic.twitter.com/fPJRtX7kvY

— Essential (@essential) January 30, 2018

The decision means that any Oreo build for the Essential Phone is going to be delayed, in the company’s terms, “a couple of weeks”.

With the beta program now completed, members of the Android Beta Program are now starting to receive the production build of Oreo 8.1.  Google released this final build yesterday and those with with Pixel devices and Nexus devices that were in the program should start seeing the OTA update to the production build over the next few days.

The update is very small, just over 40MB, reflecting the fact that the second and final beta of Oreo 8.1 was all-but complete.  That small of an update means very few bugs were found to be fixed.

If you are new to the Android Beta Program, there is nothing special you need to do.  The OTA will download to your phone just like any other update from Google.  It is just a matter of when it gets to your account.