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Essential says Android Oreo 8.0 isn’t coming to phones, but 8.1 will eventually

Essential says Android Oreo 8.0 isn’t coming to phones, but 8.1 will eventually

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Vjeran Pavic

Essential told users yesterday that they won’t be receiving a stable release of Android Oreo 8.0, even though it’s been available through the company’s beta program for the past few months. Instead, Essential says it’ll bring Oreo to phones with a public release of 8.1 because of “several stability issues” in 8.0. The company says making this change pushes the public release back a couple weeks, although it still doesn’t specify an exact date for the rollout.

For now, users can test out 8.1 through the beta program. Any Essential owner can put Oreo on their device, so long as they’re comfortable with the occasional bug. Meanwhile, Pixel owners have been using 8.1 for months now. The update, which rolled out in December, includes updated emoji and an interesting feature that displays the speed of nearby open Wi-Fi networks to help users decide whether they’re worth using.