You can download the Android P system image for Essential PH-1 and flash it to your device manually. Keep in mind that, since this is the beta builds (pre-release software) you will come across unknown bugs. In addition, this build is not intended for general consumer use.

Before get starts installing Android P Beta on Essential Phone, let us see the new features of this build. The second developer preview of Android P comes with several new features and changes.

Adaptive Battery for extended battery life AI-powered App Actions and Slices Smart reply in notifications New system navigation and home swipe gestures Background restrictions for apps Enhanced audio with Dynamics Processing Biometric prompt

Check the Android Developers blog for detailed information about each feature listed above.

How to Install Android P Beta on Essential PH-1

You can opt-in for Android P beta by going to Essential developer page, then download and flash the build. Alternatively, download Android P beta factory image [here] and flash manually as described below.

  1. Unzip the downloaded factory image and save all the content where ADB is installed.
  2. Enable USB debugging on Essential PH-1
  3. Power off the phone and press Power + Volume Up buttons together to boot into Bootloader mode.
  4. Connect the Phone to PC using the USB cable.
  5. Go to ADB installation folder and double-click on ‘flashall.bat’ file to install Android P Beta. Wait for the process to complete. The phone will reboot automatically after the installation process completes. Note that, to revert from Android P to your old operating system you will need to flash a factory image. Installing and uninstalling Android P beta requires factory rest your phone. That means all your data gets wiped. (Source – 1, 2)