yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Rox598:
Nope no mods whatsoever just download a movie and watching it.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] hovnovice:
I have same issue with NMI88C can t sideload OB2
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] rignfool:
Dollars to doughnuts

I'll bet the cache partition you're looking for has almost nothing written to it...

I'll bet it's only used for system updates...

What you are really looking for is located in

Settings

Storage

Click on Cache

It should offer to clear it all out...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] JoRocker:
Well... You'd be wrong on both accounts. Clearing cache in recovery on other devices does clear cache. If you have a difficult time believing that, you're welcome to search Google....

Also, I'm very well aware I can go to storage and delete cache one by one... You're better off using ADB before wasting time doing that. No, there's not an option to clear all. Probably should have looked at that before even commenting....
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] rignfool:
Sorry... My phone runs fine no matter what I throw at it... And I know better than to delete cache files...

This option is available on other devices in storage...

And I'd love to know just how much data is written to cache in your particular instance... On the last 3 devices I've had... Save one that had a hack to put dalvik-cache on the cache partition... I usually have about 1 MB used on it...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
I think that the phone is a brilliant first attempt at what a smart phone should be. That said, I just ordered a OnePlus 5T and will be putting my Essential up for sale at the end of the week.

I love the design, the size, the materials, etc... Love it.

But the lagginess and stutters, the low signal strength, the occasional issues with BT and Android Auto and the slow camera performance... Like I said, a great first attempt, better than most first attempts over the years, but in the end it is great from a hardware perspective, but feels half baked in the software dept.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] glasscitysd:
I agree wish I could afford a one plus 5T right now cause this phone was a let down but I'm stuck with it.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] NaterTots:
I came to the PH-1 from the Op5. I've owned the Op 1,2,3 & 5.

I think the essential has better internals than any Op phone. I have better Bluetooth strength, WiFi among other things.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] dandan2980:
I'm sure you will be over in the op5t forums complaining about that phone too. You will never find a 100% flawless device period. The display on this phone is amazing. And for $500 it is worth every dime. My phone runs smooth as ever with occasionally having it's stutters here and there but nothing that any other phone isnt also going to have occasionally it happens.

Get an iPhone they are known for there optimization on the software side.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
Listen kid, leave the fanboy crap at the door. The Essential has quite a few well-documented flaws and issues. Discussing them, isn't whining or complaining. I say positive things where it is warranted, and acknowledge the flaws, of which there are several. Stop being a tool because someone dared discuss issues with "your team"... It's not a personal attack on you, so rest easy, m'kay?

Nobody expects flawless. Any one flaw can usually be overlooked. But buggy BT, often requiring me to reboot my phone whole driving down the road in order to make a call... Then there is the signal dropping in and out in areas that should have strong signal and did with other phones I have owned... Then there is the slow camera response and shutter speed, often resulting in missed shots or blurry pics... then there is Android Auto disconnecting and reconnecting periodically, and finally there are spontaneous reboots that started in the last week.

I am not rooted. I am not running any mods, the phone is and always has been bone stock, with the Beta Oreo releases. It's a bit buggy. And so I am getting something else, from a company that I have had good luck with.

I gave them credit for a "brilliant first attempt" and pointed out that I loved the materials, build and hardware... But the software seems a bit lacking and the camera isn't up to par.

Is that complaining? Is that wrong, or somehow out of line?

I don't think so...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Charkatak:
Good points. For me for example when phone was on 7.1.1, there was only one issue which was "reception issues". Just not as stable as other devices and signal strength seem to be weaker than other phones that I had. But I had no BT issues and when used with any headset(that I have), speaker or car it never disconnected. Now that my phone is on Oreo beta 2, it still has the above reception glitches/issues + now some BT issues :( Headsets are more stable then car connection. I had it where while on a call in the car, the phone disconnected from car's stereo and that is where I had switch BT to phone, then back to car. Which is not ideal thing to do. Once Oreo is publicly released, then will see if at least BT will be back to normal as it was with 7.1.1, if not, I will need to look at another option.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] dandan2980:
I'm not a kid or a fanboy just see that you complain alot that's all. Good luck with your new device.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
Careful, you don't want to get accused of complaining! haha

I hear ya. The list of issues isn't too long, but they do happen to be things that many of us consider "critical", or at least very important. Calls. BT. Camera. Important stuff!
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Zargone:
No updates on AMA for a while. Wonder what's up...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Charkatak:
Essential said that they will do AMA once a month and the next one is on Wednesday the 17th.

https://www.reddit.com/r/essential/comments/7p9yrj/ama_scheduling_updates/
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] dhorgas:
Still no update to the beta. Starting to think Samsung may get Oreo out faster. That would be pretty sad.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Charkatak:
Lets wait until this Wednesday, maybe the company will announce something.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] zwuncki:
I don't wanna complain about Essential updates as I don't think there is any Android manufactor besides Google delivering faster security updates. So as an iOS User I welcome that "security first" attitude which is why I still stick to the Essential Phone besides the amazing design of the phone. But why did they tell people 1-2 months ago that Oreo will come at the end of the year when they haven't even delivered it by middle of January. I wouldn't complain if it would have been out at the beginning of January or if the wouldn't have said anything besides the Beta status. But I'm pretty sure they said before that Oreo would come before 2018. And that was weeks ago. Besides their good communication they shouldn't announce big things if they can't hold it. Just tell it will come when it's ready.

This is the one thing I would complain about...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
That's a great point. It's about managing expectations. These beta releases take what they take. It's not "late" unless they gave us a target date, something to hold them to. We wouldn't give it much thought if they had not said "end of the year"... haha
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Rox598:
it is one thing that companies shouldn't do is give any sort of timeframe. on the other hand if they don't you know what people on the internet are like they get annoyed not knowing when abouts they'll get something it's a no win scenario really.

To me I wouldn't be surprised if Oreo development was halted slightly just to get the January patch out as quick as they did and then went back to Oreo. But I guess we'll find out tomorrow during the AMA.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] aknotts415:
Hey did you decide to get rid of your razer phone and jump to the essential phone?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] dhorgas:
You don't have to "not communicate". Provide realistic timeframes however. If you think that it will take you 6 months to get Oreo out, then jack up the time frame by 30% and say it will take 8 months. If it arrives sooner, great, if not, you buy yourself time to finish it.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Rox598:
I did indeed! it's gone already.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] aknotts415:
How do you like the Essential so far? I'm thinking of going either the mate 10 pro or Razer phone route. I want something with a bit more oomff. The essential is lacking a popping feature to me.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
That's kinda how I feel. I mean, I *could* live with the few issues and glitches and just assume that at some point, they will fix them. The camera concerns me because it's been an issue for 6 months and while improved, it still isn't up to the competition. They dropped the ball somewhere along the line on that, clearly...

But really it is just that despite the outside materials, there is just nothing compelling about the phone. Yes, materials are great, but they sit inside a case so you don't really get to enjoy them unless you remove it from the case to fondle it. haha

The rest of the phone is, "meh"....
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] aknotts415:
I agree. Nothing but the screen and fast updates even when it seems the phone has bugs and isn't the smoothest keeps me away.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Rox598:
So far in my mind it's the Nexus device Google was never able to make. feels solid, screen is great in fact sometimes it's hard to tell it's not OLED. all in all the device is as premium as you can get and it just feels expensive.

A few issues though cause nothing is perfect but it could be cause i'm on the Oreo beta. issues like some movies in Google play movies not playing smoothly. some microfreezes it'll just stop then catch up and the signal isn't great either (but no issues not connecting) oh and for some reason it couldn't detect my Wi-Fi when setting the phone up I had to do it manually. again these could all be Oreo beta issues though. one hardware niggle is charging for some reason my screen keeps turning on :S but that might be because i'm using a different charger gonna test that tonight.

I can't comment on the Mate 10 but I can give you my own pros/cons on the Razer Phone

The 120hz is real and when you see it holy damn it's smooth

The speakers are really great but apparently they lowered the max volume on the last update but I never got that because the carrier models updates were delayed by the carriers even though the CEO said otherwise.

it took me 20+ attempts to buy the damn thing with spam calls from the carrier all the time because of it when it was an issue their end.

bad things

The charger needed replacing after being a very very bad buzzing noise.

The NFC chip in mine was busted plus they put it slap bang in the middle of the phone so using it anyway would be so awkward.

Camera is shockingly **** and I mean this it's worse than the essential

Speaker grill was coming off the bottom.

If the essential isn't on your radar between those two phones i'd go with Razer the updates are a bit unknown but one of the devs is well known on here and is very public with the community. but if there's anything good I can say about them is the Customer service they provided for me was amazing.

I hope that helped I think I waffled like mad though.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] JoRocker:
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm starting to agree with you. In the past I argued with you about this company, and advocated about their communication and frequent updates. At this point I'm beginning to regret that. This is their only product line, and I'm having bugs that I haven't had issues with since Android phones were still in the early stages. When this is your only product line, you should be one of the first to push stable updates consistently. I'm starting to feel there are hardware defects that they are trying to fix or improve through software updates, and it's just not doable or manageable, even for the most seasoned software engineers...

I'll wait for the next update, but I may be jumping ship to OnePlus as well... I told myself never again OnePlus after they made me pay shipping, and tried to get out of replacing a defective phone they sold me. It's start to seem worth the gamble now. It seems when you do get a functional device from them it's amazing, and I'm sure that lemons are the minority now since the OnePlus2 days...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] aknotts415:
Good to know :) the camera seems to be better in the update. The speaker volume was also fixed in the update you never received because it hasn't reached carrier sold phones yet. So razers customer service was good? I've never dealt with them so I was worried. Did they give you trouble? or charge you for return shipping at any times? how speedy were they?

Thanks again!
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
Another issue I have had with the essential is the keyboard in facebook. When typing a post, it often disappears and freezes, and I have to slide up the back button and press that and then go to my post again and continue typing...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Rox598:
it's a shame I never saw the update come through but the amount of hardware issues I had and the trouble I went through just to buy the thing made me very salty about it and i'll fully admit that fact, it was a personal to hell with this moment, but I will say it still felt bad selling the Razer phone but i'd already bought the essential and couldn't return it, but I do suffer from CBD (Compulsive Buying Disorder) so in all honesty I don't think i'm the best person to ask things lol

oh and yes Razer support was awesome, even though I bought the phone from Three they gave me a pre-paid shipping label and gave me a completely refurbished phone. took 2 weeks in all to sort.

if you're gonna jump ship to OP (which I was also gonna do the 5T is great) but that company just can't be trusted and the community forums are just a cesspool of idiots
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] aknotts415:
OH I'd never buy oneplus. I've read so many bad support stories. The credit card problem isn't new. I was reading about those problems back when the Oneplus 3 was launching people were getting small charges before.

Good to hear Razer support is good. That's the reason I wont buy LG and I've stayed away from Huawei in the USA mostly. I might give razer another shot. The Nextflix HDR and Dolby 5.1 announcement tells me they plan to support the device longterm in my eyes. Otherwise why add features if you aren't going to update it. Plus they offer T-Mobile wifi calling, which a lot of unlocked phones do not like the Huawei phones, not sure about oneplus or essential.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Rox598:
Loads of people have issues with Razer support but the person who was dealing with me was awesome he even rang me to tell me what was happening etc I think they take system support very seriously. Yeah I saw that announcement and it's great the Razer phone is getting features a lot and tbh now I think on it I regret my selling a little but it's not like the essential isn't doing what I need it to do anyway and i'm under strict instructions from the other half that if I buy another phone a part of my anatomy won't be attached for long lol Not that I mind atm I was always a Nexus boy and this thing just screams nexus to me.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] JoRocker:
The bad stories are definitely vindicated. I can speak first hand, but if I can sell this phone for $400 (I paid $125) and buy the OnePlus for $500 it's worth the gamble for me at this point. I'm strongly considering moving to Taiwan this February for work, and I know the 5T will work there as well.

---------- Post added at 06:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:04 PM ----------

To be fair, ours isn't much better. Everyone has an opinion and HAS to be right. That's the trending idealism for Western countries now though. Nobody can be wrong and learn, but everyone's opinion is correct and there's no other way around it. This place has become a cesspool of negativity. I remember several years ago this was the place for learning and encouragement. That's hardly the case anymore.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
That's been the nature of forums for 20+ years.

Most people don't use them. They just enjoy the product and go on their merry way. The people who have issues, google the fixes and stumble on the forums and so most of the people coming to them are modders or people troubleshooting... Nature of the beast.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Rox598:
$125 is a steal! i ended up spending $480 after import fee's and shipping from AmazonUS.

I will admit XDA has gone downhill but I think it's beacause it's suffering from the same thing that the internet as a whole in terms of technology anyway and that is no one wants to learn anything anymore by themselves and wants someone else to do it for them.

EDIT: Decided to flash Nougat on my Essential and the signal for both wifi and network is actually better than Oreo (I flashed Oreo out of the box)
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] TheCheeks:
Is it just me or are the notifications not linked to the media volume or ringer volume? I'll listen to a podcast and get a notification that's easily three ****ing times louder, nearly max volume. Doesn't matter what type of notification, all insanely loud.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] dhorgas:
I have this problem on Oreo as well. I do not know whether this is an Oreo change or what, but on all my previous Android phones I could adjust "system" volume separately which influenced the volume of some of these types of notifications. On Oreo it seems only Ringer is available and I have noticed that sometimes notifications do not tone down enough when I bring the ringer volume down. I am just learning to live with it now. It's not great by any means and I hope new Oreo version improves this.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Rox598:
question for those on Nougat does your lockscreen "charging" status go mad? mine is going from charging to rapid over and over. it wasn't happening on the Oreo beta but I just rolled back to Nougat and now it is :S
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Charkatak:
Oreo Beta 3 is out. ~106 MB. Downloading now.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Rox598:
Any changelog apart from Jan security?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Charkatak:
Screenshot attached
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] daeshawn:
Same here
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Charkatak:
Update took 17 min to download and install.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Rox598:
I know the seamless updates makes it better but I just downloaded the zip and installed it quicker than that.

I'm not fond of the background updating thing, I can see it being a good thing if you're not someone who's always on the lookout for updates but when you are it's just a drain on time.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] BartLuke94:
Do i need an unlocked bootloader to flash the beta?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Rox598:
nope just use ADB sideload
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Charkatak:
Right, but if I am not around my PC and there is an update waiting - don't want the update to wait for too long :)
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Rox598:
went back to the Oreo beta after being on Nougat for a while. Network signal is piss again, no idea why :S
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] sonic0504:
I have to uninstall Rey Kernel and Magisk to OTA right?

Edit: Nevermind, I'm just going to fully unroot to be safe.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] combat goofwing:
Any guide on how to do this ,I'm on 7.1 and would like to try the beta but always held off cause I thought you had to unlock bootloader ,which messes with android pay and other banking apps
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] NaterTots:
Just go to Essentials website and under Developer, you'll have to give an email address to get the link, you can get the Beta's and there are instructions on how to ADB sideload them.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] reverenddak:
FYI, I was not able to install Beta 3 via OTA, but I was able to sideload it using the official how-to.

Magisk (15.3) was removed and thus no longer rooted.

Previously I was able to install Beta2 via OTA, but I was not rooted (with Magisk) at the time. So Magisk seems to be the problem if you're having OTA update problems, I'm guessing it checks the boot image (since Magisk modifies the boot.img).

Before I re-root, does anyone know if the boot image from Beta 2 is safe to install after using TWRP? How does one go about extracting the boot img from the Beta 3 OTA?

Nevermind, bmg1001 has already updated the Root Guide with the B3 Boot Image!
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] NaterTots:
The B3 boot.img is listed in the rooting thread
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] reverenddak:
yup. said so at the end. but I see, depending how you are reading this, it might got buried.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] mobileman88:
I am getting a whole lot of error flashing partition in Fastboot mode. I am bootloader unlocked and also critical unlocked. not sure what might be the problem here.

$ fastboot flash system_a system

target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes

Invalid sparse file format at header magic

erasing 'system_a'...

OKAY [ 0.218s]

sending sparse 'system_a' 1/4 (523619 KB)...

OKAY [ 12.425s]

writing 'system_a' 1/4...

FAILED (remote: Flash Write Failure)

finished. total time: 16.733s

---------- Post added at 10:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:12 AM ----------

Do note the above errors is showing in many of the partitions when I ran the flash-all.bat for return to stock

Same goes for both B2 and B3.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] 12paq:
Those errors are usually from a bad file. Redownload the update and try again.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] initguru:
Hi guys,

I'm wondering if the scroll stuttering issue is fixed in beta 3.

Anyone knows that?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] reverenddak:
I don't think everyone has that issue. Or I just can't tell. But I'm not having any noticeable issues either.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] dhorgas:
Touch is more responsive and scrolling is definitely smoother. No more stutters using the stock launcher either.

Also, fixes Sprint text message issue as per AMA on Reddit, for those that might care.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] mobileman88:
unfortunately it wasn't so. phone started rebooting all by itself... kept looping into bootloader and serial number changed to hexadecimal.. then about 15 minutes later... Bam! the phone goes to a blank screen never to wake up again for the past few hours. no key press seems to wake it up.. it gets warm when plugged into the charger.... seems like it just died
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] GavinMazey:
Verizon visual voicemail is now working for me on Oreo beta 3.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] bpcooper14:
I seem to have better reception now than I did prior to Beta 3. Previously I couldn't receive or place any phone calls in my office at work. Today I have been able to do both. I don't know if it's just the alignment of the stars or this is actual improvement behind the scenes. Either way, kudos!
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Jahdiel2011:
I am on OB2 no root and I am getting this error when trying to install the OTA for OB3

Any ideas?