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”.
Essential did not go into detail on exactly what the issues were which lead to the decision. It is an interesting decision because many other manufactures have released Android Oreo 8.0 builds with seemingly few issues. Equally, there are not massive changes from 8.0 to 8.1 although there are API changes which could be the root of the issue.
Ultimately it is a disappointing decision on the surface but a brave one by Essential at the same time. The company clearly wants to provide a solid Oreo experience, not simply get it out there. Given the rocky start that the Essential Phone at its launch, this is understandable. The company does not want to repeat that again.
The Tweet by Essential indicates that an Oreo 8.1 build is on its way but it is not clear exactly when that will happen.
