A pleasant development related to the Essential PH1 smartphone comes after the recent removal of future security updates and customer support from the device. Specifically, the smartphonewill soon receive a preview of the new Android 11.
Earlier this month, the company announced it was shutting down due to a lack of financial support. Essential was set to release its Project Gem smartphone, an attempt to create some unusual AI devices, for which it had even created a preview.
However, Android 11 is the last thing PH1 users would have thought they would officially receive on devices . As spotted by developer Braden Farmer (via XDA), Essential developers have created a new branch, called “r-preview,” on the GitHub repo.
The r-preview aims to get Android 11 GSI running on the PH1, after all the necessary setup is done. If it does, it will be the fifth major version of Android to run on an Essential smartphone, which is a significant achievement for any company.
For those who don't know, a GSI is an Android image that can be installed on any Android device that supports Project Treble, and PH1 is a top name on that list. Google recently launched Android 11 Developer Preview 1, showcasing the new features of the next major Android.
However, we shouldn't expect Essential to receive an official Android 11 update in the future. Users will be able to install the GSI on their PH1, mostly manually.
