Android 8.1 Oreo rolling out to Essential Phone

Android 8.1 Oreo has officially started rolling out for Essential Phone, less than a month after the company released a beta version of the software.

"Essential is making good on a promise and rolling out an official Android 8.1 update to the PH-1. It has seen quite a few updates since its debut but major updates have been minimal, to say the least," 9to5Google reported late on Tuesday.

The software update brings smartphone from Android 7.1 Nougat Operating System (OS) to Android 8.1 along with the March security patch.

"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," the report added.

The company has reportedly said that Android 8.1 update solves the scrolling issues that have popped up on the device as well as several other bugs users have reported.

A new variant of Essential Phone with built-in Alexa (Amazon's virtual personal assistant), offering an alternative to Google Assistant was launched in February.

The phone features an edge-to-edge display and a modular system that lets users attach accessories such as a 360-degree camera and a 5.7-inch LTPS display with 19:10 aspect ratio instead of the regular 16:9.

It features dual primary cameras with two 13MP sensors. One is a standard RGB sensor while the other is monochrome.

--IANS

ksc/nks/dg