Essential has just released the Oreo Beta Program for their PH-1 flagship phone. Many users have been anticipating this update ever since the early Nougat builds of the PH-1 software have suffered from a number of performance problems as well as lag. The good thing is that users can now get their hands on the Oreo update as of yesterday with only a couple of easy steps.

The announcement for the Oreo Beta program was released on the website of Essential earlier yesterday. And for you to get a hold of the beta program, your email address is required. But before you proceed with the steps to install Oreo Beta update, you have to take note of the Release Notes in the Beta Program page.

Android Auto users might notice some compatibility issues with certain vehicles and head units according to Essential. Aside from that, the Bluetooth battery drain is increased on the beta software. Improvements in smoothness, camera quality and usability will hopefully make up for the minor hiccups in the Oreo Beta program. So if you don’t mind these minor bumps, then you can proceed in installing the Oreo Beta update on your Essential device.

You will need the following requirements to install the beta program:

• Essential PH-1 running the latest firmware
• Developer options and USB Debugging enabled
• Windows, Mac, or Linux PC
• USB data cable

After preparing the requirements above, follow these steps:

Step 1: You have to sign up for Oreo Beta

Go to this site and key in your email address to sign up for the Essential Oreo Beta Program, then select whether you want to receive future developer updates from the Essential team and make sure that you check your Essential PH-1 for any pending OTAs before you start the Oreo Beta installation.

Step 2: You have to download the Update ZIP file

The page you just visited will redirect you to a download page where you have to download the beta update ZIP file to your preferred location in your PC but it would be better if you save it to Desktop so that you can easily access it. Once you’re done, connect your Essential phone to your PC using the USB data cable.

Step 3: Install the ADB on your PC

And now it’s time you install the ADB and Fastboot on your PC. It would be better if you install the latest official version from Google as there are a couple of new commands in Oreo that other tools such as ADB and Fastboot might not possess yet.

Step 4: You have to open the Command window in the Right Directory

This is the step most users find hard with ADB and Fastboot as it is kind of a struggle for the command window to open the right directory. The easiest way to do this is to look for the “platform-tools” folder in your ADB and Fastboot installation directory. If you’re a Windows users, you can find this at C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools. And as for Mac and Linux users, the location of the platform-tools folder will vary so you have to utilize your PC’s search function to locate the folder.

After you found the folder, you have to copy the folder’s location from the address bar located at the top of the file browser (i.e. Windows Explorer). Next, open the Command Prompt or terminal window and on Windows, tap the Win key on your keyboard and type in cmd and tap Enter. As for Mac and Linux, open “Terminal” from the Applications folder. After opening the Command window, before you can send the Fastboot command to unlock your bootloader, you have to change the directories to the platform-tools folder – to do that, type in cd without any quotes followed by a space and then paste the location of the platform-tools folder.

Step 5: You have to boot your Essential phone to Recovery Mode

Using the USB data able that came with your phone, connect it to your PC. Keep in mind that you have to make sure that USB Debugging is enabled in this step. And then type in adb reboot recovery into the command window – once you do, your phone will reboot and you’ll see a screen with a bugdroid and a red exclamation mark. After that, hold the power button and press the volume up button once – this will take you to the recovery options menu. One this menu appears, select “Apply Update from ADB”.

Step 6: Sideload the Oreo Beta Update

Finally, you’re ready to use a couple of ADB commands. Type in adb devices into the command prompt first and then tap Enter. Check if the word “sideload” appears on next to the name of your phone. If it doesn’t, you may have to revisit the ADB setup instructions but if it does, type adb sideload and add a single space but don’t tap Enter just yet and drag and drop the OTA file from your PC’s file browser into the command window and then the whole file location will be populated. Once the command looks like “adb sideload C:\Desktop\ota.zip”, tap Enter.

From here, the beta update will take a few minutes to load to your Essential phone. After the process finishes, your Essential phone should reboot with the new Oreo Beta update program. And that’s about it, you can now get to experience the awesomeness that is Android Oreo Beta Update on your Essential phone.