The Essential Phone is far from a perfect device, but one thing that it's excelled at since its release is fast software updates. Aside from a delay with Android 8.0 Oreo's public release, the team at Essential has kicked out updates for the PH-1 faster than just about anyone else.
Google officially released the February 2018 security patch for Pixel and Nexus devices on February 5, and just one day later, Essential announced on Twitter that it was pushing out a software update to the Essential Phone that contained this new patch.
We're rolling out a software update (NMK24B) that includes February 2018 Security Patches from Google.We're rolling out a software update (NMK24B) that includes February 2018 Security Patches from Google.— Essential (@essential) February 6, 2018February 6, 2018
Security patches aren't the most exciting thing in the world, but there's no denying their importance. While we've been critical of Essential in the past regarding its clunky camera app, annoying touch latency, etc., this is one area where it's always been strong.
In the meantime, I'm over here with my Pixel 2 that's apparently "up to date" with the January 5 patch ¯_(ツ)_/¯.
