Essential PH-1 smartphone will skip Android 8.0 update and directly provide Android 8.1

Andy Rubin’s PH-1 **Essential Phone** wasn’t that big of a hit as he might have hoped for. Now reports have emerged that the phone is having difficulty in getting a stable Android 8.0 Oreo update released, so much so that the device may skip Android 8.0 entirely, in favour of Android 8.1. The irony of an Android version not working on a phone developed by the creator of the Android OS Andy Rubin is quite amusing. [caption id=“attachment_4058787” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The Essential PH-1 was announced back in May.[/caption] According to the official Essential Twitter handle, the company is not satisfied with the results even after three beta versions and has thus decided not to go with Android 8.0 and jump directly to Android 8.1. This will cause the update to be pushed back by a couple of weeks before being made available to the public, said the company.

Android 8.0 has generally been very buggy release in many more smartphones. OnePlus **retracted the update** from the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 3, 3T after several bugs were reported by users on the OnePlus forums. Xiaomi has also seen a **troubled launch** of Android Oreo on its Android One smartphone Mi A1 after several reports of issues. Essential’s PH-1 was launched in August and comes with a bezel-less screen and titanium body. The smartphone features a Snapdragon 835 SoC and comes with 4 GB RAM. It is powered by a 3,040 mAh battery and features a dual 13 MP RGB + Monochrome rear cameras. After receiving a price-cut back in October the phone now has a price tag of $499. The phone is not for sale in India.