News: The Best New Features in the Essential Phone Oreo Update
Essential recently launched their Android Oreo Beta Program, open to all owners of their PH-1 flagship. We detailed a quick and easy method for installing the beta on your device. With every beta program, there are bound to be plenty of new features and a few bugs, as we found out with the Galaxy S8 Oreo Beta. Let's take a look at what's new with Android 8.0 on the Essential Phone.
Notification Channels & Notification DotsTwo big user-facing features in Oreo concern how you control and interact with notifications. Notification channels allow users to take granular control of their notifications and specify what type of alerts they receive for each category. We covered this topic in-depth in our Galaxy S8 Oreo Beta notification coverage, if you're interested in more detail.Notification Dots, on the other hand, are a simple visual alert that a notification is waiting in a certain app. One strange thing we've noticed on the Essential Phone, the dots do not adapt their color to the particular app icon. All of the notification dots on our PH-1 are green, in stark contrast to the multi-colored dots on the Pixel devices.
Night LightWhen Essential launched the PH-1 earlier this year, they omitted a pretty basic flagship feature: Night Mode. The most puzzling thing about this omission, Night Light is featured as part of "stock" Android on the Pixel devices.With the Oreo Beta, Essential added the option to minimize blue light when using your phone's screen at night. Users can set a custom schedule for Night Light and even change the intensity within Settings –> Display –> Night Light. It's nice to see Essential add this feature that benefits all users.
Colored Media NotificationsAdding a little more color to your notification shade is never a bad thing. In Android 8.0, Google brought colored media notifications into the fold. With these, apps like Spotify, Play Music, and Pocket Casts match their notification color to album art. While this doesn't add much functionality, it does provide additional aesthetic value to the UI.
Improved Fingerprint Gesture SupportNear the end of October, Essential rolled out a update that brought swipe gestures to the fingerprint sensor. This features works basically the same as the Pixel devices, so a swipe down reveals the notification shade. The main downside of Essential's implementation is how buggy it was at launch. In the Oreo Beta build, the swipe gesture on the fingerprint sensor is much improved. We haven't had any issues with the gesture in the Beta, hopefully this stability will continue.
Picture-in-PictureWatching YouTube while scrolling Twitter is pretty awesome. With picture-in-picture in Android 8.0, you can accomplish exactly that. When watching a Youtube video, simply hit the home button to minimize your video and continue working in other apps. The same goes for a handful of other apps that have been updated to support the new feature, including VLC Player. Overall, Essential didn't add a ton of new user-facing features in their Oreo Beta build. In fact, many of the features we detailed are stock Oreo inclusions that have been tweaked slightly.This is much more of a stability update by Essential, and there it really shines. The overall UI scrolling and navigation smoothness have improved greatly. Combining these stability updates with the improved camera, the Essential Phone is now a great deal at the $449 price point. We will update this post if we find other new features, so let us know in the comments if you've noticed anything new!Don't Miss: Install the Oreo Beta Update on Your Essential PhoneFollow Gadget Hacks on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, and Instagram Follow WonderHowTo on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+
Cover image and screenshots by Jeff Springer/Gadget Hacks
Essential Phone Receives Android 8.0 Oreo Beta 2 OTA Update. The team at Essential has been very engaged with the community since the launched of its first smartphone, the Essential Phone.Along
Essential Phone Oreo Beta 3 now available for download
After several beta releases and the decision to skip Android 8.0 for 8.1, the Essential Phone is now receiving its official Oreo update.
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Not Essential has added a total new of them. Essential basically gives stability updates and there they really work. It has greatly improved the overall navigation and UI scrolling. The Essential phone is now a great combination of both stability and improved camera. This article has a lot in it about the Essential Phone's new features.
Essential Phone Receives Android 8.0 Oreo Beta 2 OTA Update
With the speed of this update, Essential is the third phone to run Android 8.1 Oreo officially, behind Pixel devices and the Nokia 8. Even the recently launched Samsung Galaxy S9 isn't running Android 8.1 Oreo. What do you think of the new update? Are you excited about the new features? Let us know in the comments below.
Essential Releases Oreo Beta 2 Update - Gadget Hacks
Essential — the smartphone company started by Android co-founder Andy Rubin — is set to release its bezel-less smartphone before the end of June. The highly-anticipated phone is set to be stocked full of features, including an edge-to-edge display, magnetically-connecting 360-degree camera, rear fingerprint reader, and much, much more.
The Essential Phone might not have been our favorite, but the company has been undeniably quick with updates. Essential first rolled out the Android Oreo 8.0 beta program for the PH-1 back in
Essential Phone now getting Android 8.1 Oreo update
Essential which is a rather new name in the mobile manufacturing industry has rolled out Android 8.1 Oreo beta update. The company made an announcement last month that it will skip the Android 8.0
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The news comes with the latest Reddit AMA from members of the Essential team. Essential also confirmed that support for Project Treble will be added to the final Android 8.1 Oreo update.
Update Guide on New Features for Essential Phone Oreo Beta
Don't Miss: The Best New Features in the Essential Phone Oreo Update We're very impressed with the Essential Phone at this point in the software support cycle. The company has pushed timely security updates and they seem to be on track for a quick release on the stable Oreo build.
Essential Phone Android 8.1 Oreo Beta update is now available
21 New Features in Android 8.1 for the Essential Phone
Essential has, however, released a third Oreo beta for the Essential Phone. It includes new security patches and minor fixes. The new version (build OPM1.170911.254) is a 1GB download if you grab
Essential Phone Oreo Beta 2 now rolling out with more 8.0
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