The Essential Phone's received a heap of updates since its release, and following up on its word, Essential is now releasing the Android 8.1 Oreo update in the form of a beta. Previous beta testers for 8.0 Oreo will get an over-the-air update to 8.1, and if you're not currently enrolled, Essential will add a link to sideload the new software on its website.
So, what's new with 8.1 on the Essential Phone? While the addition of dynamic icons for the calendar and clock apps is a nice touch, the star of the show here is a fix for "slow-scrolling jitter."
Essential Phone owners have been complaining about jittery/laggy scrolling on the phone for months now, and while a fix sooner than now would have been appreciated, it's nice that Essential is at least finally addressing this. The company notes that this fix is still in a beta state, so expect it to improve over the next couple updates.
Essential also says that the 8.1 update comes with Google's latest February security patch, making it one of the first companies other than Google itself to push this to its hardware.
If you own an Essential Phone and have Android 8.1, have you noticed an improvement in scrolling performance?
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