yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] chereko:
To me it's not exciting news, because as someone else mentioned it means any possible fixes for the touchscreen problems are going to be further delayed. I will be happy to be proven wrong, but the skeptic in me thinks that this is just a delaying tactic because Essential still does not have fixes for the touchscreen ready yet. They know by shifting the release target to 8.1 they are giving themselves a lot more time to get things sorted out, as now I'm sure there are going to be multiple 8.1 beta releases. Their problem was that there were already three 8.0 betas released, and I think everyone was expecting that the 8.0 final would be coming next. But if Essential releases a final Oreo build with the touchscreen issues still present, it's really going to be bad for the company. By switching to 8.1 they have given themselves a few more chances to fix the touchscreen before a non-beta release comes.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] dandan2980:
Whats wrong with the touch screen? I took off the screen protector I was using it has been night and day. Feels more responsive with one not installed
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] rignfool:
PUT THE MAGNIFYING GLASS DOWN...

If you don't pay attention to this "touch jitter," it's just not there...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] xRenol:
I think is not about magnifying the issue.

The touchscreen issue is quite obvious when one try to tap the screen with the phone on a flat surface.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] i killed tupac:
yeah I agree, and I don't even like this phone. But the jitter thing was a bit overblown.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] chereko:
Um yeah, my comment has nothing to do about scrolling. It has to do with the fact that, several times a day, my phone's touchscreen becomes wildly unresponsive and does not register most touches. I then have to lock the phone and unlock it again to be able to type properly. This is a well-documented issue with this phone unless you've been living under a rock (or don't look at reddit, which has much more active of a community than XDA for this device).
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] avd:
There will be monthly security released for 8.0 and 8.1 betas until an official goes out.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
I am not sure what the jitter thing is, but I am hoping that we get official Oreo soon and fix the bugs that are there...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] stryver:
Only issue that bothers me is the crazy ghost touches registering every blue moon. A reboot fixes it, but it happens here and there still.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] wolfu11:
When i get those all i do is wipe the screen off and it goes away.....
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] DiamondDave98:
Yes, this ^

I've been having this issue since day one. I've tried factory resets to no avail. It happens with stock launcher 3 and nova prime. I'm not rooted and now running ob3. The problem has persisted and I'm quite disappointed. I'm ready to pack it in and go to another device. I hate giving up on something but I believe that this phone was a mistake for me to purchase. It's a real shame because there is a lot of potential here and who doesn't love the simplicity and weightlessness of stock Android. Just my 2¢
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] ~~Tito~~:
I can vouch for the touch screen issues on stock... ALTHOUGH

I am now on AOSiP, and I have yet to see those problems..
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Ascertion:
Sounds like I need to flash this now lol.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] ~~Tito~~:
Yeah its amazingly good. A few bugs, but it really beats the stock offerings from Essential.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
Is this touch response the problem where you are in an app like facebook and typing out a post, and the keyboard just goes away, and you have to hit the back space a couple times and then go back into the post you want to reply to in order to get the keyboard to come back up and let you continue typing? I get that at least once a a day...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] gflexstump:
Still on 7.1.1 works better than the S7 or G6 I came from so there are no complaints here. When official 8.1 is out I will be switching. Until then in most cases the grass is not always greener. At least Essential pushes updates on a timely basis that is more than most of the other brands do.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
I will say that the OP5T is the better phone. In every way but 1... It doesn't do VoLTE on AT&T without root and a custom ROM. That was the deal breaker for me.... Larger, nicer AMOLED screen, insane battery life, and a lot less bugs.

Maybe official 8.1 will make the Essential the phone we all hoped it could be.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] hao214:
It doesn't do off screen voice wake-up. Ph1 does. Plus ph1 looks way better than 5T
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
I don’t care how it looks, I care how it works. The op5t has a nicer amoled screen, it’s thinner and weighs half as much and a lot less buggy.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] tech_head:
But it doesn't work on Verizon, so for me it isn't even a remote option.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
Well yeah, obviously that's a deal killer if your carrier is CDMA.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] ~~Tito~~:
That was a huge issue for me when I was running beta 3 and 7.1.1. I don't get it as much on ASOiP, but its still there.

Has to be something with the touch driver software. On stock my phone would completely lock up, become unresponsive for about 1-2 min then it would functioned fine.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] bramgoodwin:
If you have Beta 3, will OTA 8.1 be next?

Thinking of buying Essential from friend that has Beta 3 running. Wondering if on Beta track will next update probably be a beta of 8.1?

Friend claimed Beta 3 was very stable, improvement all around?

We are in SF both running Tmobile. Concerned with forum reports on signal strength, but his seems to be fine.

Any info appreciated.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
It's a crap shoot. Signal strength is sub-par on this phone compared to other phones... Some Android Auto and BT bugs still lingering... occasional spontaneous reboots... Camera is almost mediocre now, so that's an improvement...

I am looking for a replacement. I am tired of cheaping out on phones that look great on paper, but then you get them and you see where they cut corners, or they lack things or just don't work properly...

I am the anti-brand-fanboy... I have no real loyalty to any phone brand, I have had them all. This phone has amazing hardware and build quality, but the software is half-baked at best...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] bramgoodwin:
I understand. Hey, I'm using a Le Eco, that lasted 4 months in US as company. But, like you willing to take risks to get more for my money. BTW, got it for $250, with 821, 4GB RAM, 64GB, running Nova on Marshmallow . Works great, but software updates stopped one year ago. would like to get with a phone that has Oreo and regular security updates. Come from Apple Eco system, just won't pay iPhone prices and can customize in Android. So, looking for something around $350.

Anyways, thanks. Love the info on XDA.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
I loved my OP3. The Pixel2 XL I thought was gonna be my dream phone, but the lackluster display on a thousand dollar phone turned me off and I sent it back.

I am a bit bored with Android lately and a few things are annoying me. I am trying to talk myself out of just saying fuggit me picking up a new iPhone X. I don’t care about crazy customizations any more, that was fun for a year or two in 2013. Now I just need the stupid thing to WORK. LOL
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] rignfool:
If you don't mind slumming...

Go to Reddit and read about how the touch driver runs at 60 Hz? instead of the standard 120 Hz?

No... Not the screen refresh... The touch driver...

I bet if we offer up some Star Wars stuff as a sacrifice... We can get [MENTION=5169465]DespairFactor[/MENTION] to try to turn it up in the kernel?

Or maybe [MENTION=4684315]flar2[/MENTION]... No sacrifice needed
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] JoRocker:
[MENTION=4363462]SquireSCA[/MENTION]

That is what I did lol. For the first time ever I just thought "Im getting too old for these games". I used to love to customize and tinker, but now I just want my phone to friggin work! I sold my essential and went to iPhone X... My first iPhone! Have to say it feels damn good. Just wish that apps and accessories weren't so damn expensive, but you get what you pay for...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
Yeah, I think that at this point, whether it is a $500 phone or a $1000 phone, I am tired of having to settle for compromises that frankly shouldn't be there.

Pixel2XL, crappy screen. OP5T no VoLTE. Essential has quite a few bugs. Samsung has the annoying curved screens that you can't protect with a thin case and end up breaking he second you drop it...

There's always something that I feel like I am giving up and I don't like it.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] thegregulator:
No phone is perfect. You'll always have to give up something. Samsung has the best screens. Pixel has the best camera. LG has the best headphone audio. Just have to find what you're comfortable settling on and go with it. I'm using the essential now but it's going back to Telus. Too many weird software issues that frankly shouldn't happen on a 2017 phone. Going to stick with the Note 8 for a bit.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
Yeah, I agree that no phone is perfect and each has their strong suits... I don't want perfection... I want timely updates. VoLTE. Solid screen. No Android Auto glitches. No spontaneous reboots. You know, the usual...

I may take another look at the Note 8 or GS8+... I do like their screen quality, but I really hate the whole curved edge crap. It makes it hard to protect properly unless you get a really bulky case, which defeats the purpose of a slim and elegant case... I don't really need the S-pen and they seem like they almost have too many "gimmicks", but I will check them out...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] thegregulator:
I like the Note 8. Just flashed the newest 8.0 beta and it has the Feb security patch. You can check out Samsung's Alcantara case. It's pretty slick. Not a ton of protection though..
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] samklee:
I hear you. Fantastic hardware is great and all but at the end of the day give me bulletproof software. Picked up a used pixel xl. Rock solid stability and the camera still rocks, better than my lg v30 or my wife's iphone 6 plus by a mile.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] JoRocker:
I thought about the Note 8 or S8+, but then I started reading reviews of people who have owned it for a few weeks/months and Toichwiz really does slow down a lot after some time. I assume because you download apps and have them running in the background, plus that heavy skin...

If Note8 or S8+ had no Touchwiz I would be sold!
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
Probably gonna go to an iPhone X. Unless something else strikes my fancy...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Sampson0420:
better then the v30 by a mile??? that is impressive... and accurate... I'll buy your v30 :)
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
I wonder when this will hit? We have been in beta status for months.

What concerns me is that we have the "godfather" of Android at the helm... On a phone that is very "basic", meaning no carrier bloat, no real UI overlay like Sense or crap like that...

This phone is headed up by a guy who knows Android better than anyone else, who was able to raise a billion dollars in capital, and for a phone that is as close to vanilla as anything other than a Pixel could be... they just don't seem to be able to do things quickly... We have been in beta of Oreo for three months, and right when we expected it to be official, they tell us they are going back to the drawing board and starting on 8.1
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] VennligFiende:
It may be due to being a small company and not having the people and resources to expedite releases. I don't think 3 months is excessive to ensure qualify. It may be more an issue of poorly managing expectations form the user community and their marketing and product ownership teams...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
Maybe... But they have one version of one product, as far as phones are concerned. They should not need a massive team to support a single device. It's not like Samsung or even Apple, where you have tons of devices to support and develop for.

They have one phone, that's been out for half a year. And half of that time has been spent on a fairly buggy beta cycle.

Part of managing expectations is on their part as well, in the setting of those expectations. They set the bar high on the marketing side, and they haven't really lived up to it in most ways...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] VennligFiende:
You would be surprised how many people get involved in a release... It seems clear to me that they mismanaged expectations from the beginning.

They very likely learned some valuable lessons about development and releases.

It is their first product and that adds a ton of complexity and learning despite being just one phone.

Whether they will get their learning to proper use in the future, I don't know. Some companies do and some don't.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
Time will tell I guess. I would imagine that for many of the folks on the Essential team, that this isn't their first rodeo. They have done this at other companies and so a lot of this stuff, they should have known.

To me, it comes across like they let marketing hype up the product too much, and as a result, they had to release it before it was truly ready. That's why there are so many bugs, it why they do damage control and AMA on Reddit and then more often than not, miss the deadlines that they put out there... It's why the accessories have not really materialized yet...

This phone probably should have waited for a spring release, but the investors wanted a quicker return, they knew in the spring they would have to compete with the new Samsungs that have newer and better specs...

To me it seems like a lot of great ideas, but they simply rushed it out the door before it was really ready...

And that's the danger here... The current phone needs to work properly. But I am sure that with Samsung getting ready to release the S9 family and others getting ready for their next product refresh, that Essential is working on their next phone when they need to get this one right.

But their dilemma is that they have taken so long to do so, that they are gonna be torn internally within the company... Keep working to get a phone about to become obsolete, working right... or cut their losses and put resources on the PH-2?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] VennligFiende:
You nailed it.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
My guess is that over the long haul, they don’t make it. Only 88k phones shipped in 6 months. Shipped, not sold.

Let’s just say they managed to sell 80k of them. They lost money and their reputation right now, isn’t good. Investors are wondering if starting a new cell phone company in this crowded and mature market was a smart move...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] blakeatl:
My question to that would be.....how many of those phones get updated with the latest software?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
Well it’s not like this one is leading the charge...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] woundtrauma:
Well, at least I didn't ended up having Samsung or some God-awful Asia phone. Maybe flawed but personal. Besides you don't build brands in a product or another. Huawei and ZTE had ****ty reputation once, now they're being sold decently.

---------- Post added at 11:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:10 AM ----------

Jeez man, and you're talking about how crappy Essential is. iPhone X is an overpriced joke which makes Jobs roll in his grave. Two models later their user base has shrinked by fourth. No genuine innovations, no elegant Job based design, just one thousand dollar emoji machine. Which drains your soul after you've setup your face unlock. Thank you for choosing Apple products! That's how I feel about it, anyway.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
I understand your point, but here is my thinking...

I don't root, or ROM or tweak any more. It's like overclocking with PC's... I did it back in the old days when you overclocked using jumpers on the motherboard. My first overclock was on a Cyrix brand CPU, that's how long ago it was... LOL

I did it because at the time, it made a difference. Going from 133Mhz to 160Mhz made a tangible difference in performance. But after several years, I hit the law of diminishing returns and the effort and money really didn't make sense any more. Everything is so fast that I just buy the better parts and throw it together and call it a day.

Compare that to cell phones... When I left the iPhone 3G it was because of the tiny screen, dropped calls and the utter lack of options. Hell, at that time, you couldn't send a picture via text, or copy and paste between apps!

Android opened up a world of options and customizations. And in those early days, the phones were really hit or miss. You often HAD to install a ROM and Root in order to get the damned phone to work properly. But like the PC and overclocking, over time the performance and options matured and the need for the customization got less and less for me. I haven't rooted or ROM'd in years. I don't care what color the battery indicator is. Some people get SOOOOO into making the phone exactly a certain way... it's almost like an OCD thing...

I am at a point where I just need the thing to WORK. I do like to lay out my icons and widgets the way I want, but I do use an iPad Pro daily and you get used to the simple screen layouts.

The price... meh. I can afford to buy whatever I want so that's not really an issue.

I need a great camera. I need it fast. I want a great screen. Great reception. I don't want BT glitches, Android Audio(or Apple CarPlay) issues... I just want to use the phone and have it work.

If they can fix this Essential, great. Other than all the bugs, the only actual feature it lacks is WiFi calling on AT&T. But it does get VoLTE, unlike the OP5T...

Anyway, hoping the 8.1 beta drops and really hoping it's a winner. If not, I have options.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] spotmark:
You almost had it.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] kaiser_tytnii:
When all the inpatient souls waiting for the 8.1 BETA...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] dhorgas:
I know it's somewhat dragging out an off-topic discussion but I just wanted to give recognition on this excellent post. I am in the exact same boat. I used to overclock systems because it made a difference, then later on for competitive reasons, but much like your days of tweaking, my days of tweaking are over. I simply don't have the time or patience for it any more, and the returns are nonexistent. Translating this to phones, this is why I use both an iPhone and an Android these days. Android allows me to occasionally catch a break from iOS rigid structure, but ultimately when I just need things to work, I am back on the iPhone (full disclosure - iOS these days is a lot more buggy than before so "just work" is not always so straightforward). Currently I own both an iPhone X and an Essential PH-1. I think that the Essential is aesthetically a much nicer looking device with premium materials that really stand out even above the iPhone X, but unlike the iPhone, the Essential has quirks that make it not so reliable for day to day. The other day I had to make an important purchase online, but I had to make decisions first on what exactly to buy. I literally had to switch to my iPhone X to avoid potentially purchasing the wrong thing because of the occasional ghost-touch glitch on the Essential. Seems funny, but it's a real issue.

In all, I am keeping both phones. I think both are great. Essential is the first Android device in a long time that I enjoy coming back to time and time again, which is great. I just need 8.1 to be out and hopefully address some of these remaining quirks.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
Yeah, workmanship and materials absolutely rivals the iPhone X, and that is no small feat.

But little things annoy me, and the touch issues are one. Many times I am in the FB app or something, and I catch a typo in my post. About 50% of the time I cannot click on the word I need to correct. If I do, I can rarely pinpoint the part of the word that I need to add or delete a letter. And 50% of the time I cannot even click on the word... I have to click on a word 3 words down, and then backspace and delete all the way up to the word I need to correct, and then retype everything I just deleted to get there.

Little stuff like that is REALLY annoying in 2018. I feel like that is something they should have worked out by now... haha
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] tech_head:
That experience is not a whole lot different on an iPhone.

Remember Android had copy/paste when the iPhone had none.

Me, I'm like one of the previous posters.

I can afford to buy whatever phone is out there. That doesn't make it a wise choice.

I initially bought the PH-1 on pre-order day. I sent it back because of performance issues in the first software builds.

I bought an LG G6 to replace it. Fast forward and I'm back to the PH-1.

I use it as a daily driver with B3 and I don't have any usability or battery drain issues.

I still unlock the boot loader on my phone as soon as I get it.

I install Magisk to hide the fact that the BL is unlocked.

I feel very strongly that it's my phone and I won't by a phone that I don't have ultimate control.

I won't buy an iPhone for exactly that reason.

Anyway, I don't need the best camera in the world on my phone.

I just need a usable camera. I own a couple of D-SLRs and a mirrorless APS-C. So as long as I can get a decent picture, I'm good.

As fard as everything else, it need to work.

I'm probably more tolerant than most people because I understand that what's in our pockets outperforms a 20 year old supercomputer.

I reset my phone probably every other day because I know it's a computer and a crap program can cause issues.

All you need is aa application with a bad memory leak or a runaway process and the phone becomes unstable.

I've even had to reset iPhones for that reason.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] spotmark:
Looks like it's coming. I'm being told it actually refers to a new color.

https://twitter.com/essential/status/963522365182234624
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] SquireSCA:
LOL. Taking a page out of the OnePlus playbook, eh? haha

People waiting for a new model or update, and they hold a big press release and you are like here it comes! And then the press release is just to announce that they are making a limited edition of the old phone in red or something. hehe