Essential has made an announcement on Twitter that those users who are enrolled on Oreo Beta program for Essential Phone will now be able to update their device to the Android Oreo 8.1 Beta.
In this regard, those users who have Android 7.1 installed on their phones would also be able to participate in this program by simply sideloading this update. Currently, Essential is working on the publication of this update on its website, and hence you will only be able to get this through the OTA update.
We just started rolling out Oreo Beta 8.1 through OTA. This update includes February security patches, dynamic calendar and clock icons, a slow-scrolling jitter fix (beta), and more. 😍 #EssentialPhone
— Essential (@essential) February 14, 2018
A noteworthy aspect in this regard is that Essential will not be offering the Oreo 8.0 as public release. An announcement was made about two weeks ago about a few stability issues the company would not like the customers to experience it. Hence, it has shifted its emphasis on the updating the PH-1 to 8.1 Oreo.