Despite having only one phone in their portfolio, Essential successfully established a cult following. The initial controversies such as mediocre camera, non-justified price tags etc. did contribute some fuels, but it is their unputdownable record of delivering prompt software updates that made them the fan-favorite.
Previously, the OEM released all six beta builds of Android Q (the Android 10 moniker was not finalized then) parallel to the Google Pixel lineup. In fact, those who are running the Beta 6 firmware on their Essential Phone are now getting the final stable version with September patchset as a minuscule (~17 MB) incremental OTA update.
Apart from typical FOTA, Essential also uploaded the official fastboot and recovery flashable update packages in their download portal. Power users can utilize them to skip the waiting queue and update to Android 10 without wasting their time.
Well, apparently the OEM made a small mistake and shipped a faulty piece of firmware. Those who downloaded the initial fastboot package of Android 10 update (SHA-256:96c9fa9ffc68895dec51b5a4c02c42418bf8e6886ffefb2ec3c870c19b619719) were unable to put a PIN/password in the lock screen.
Installed it via fastboot. No wiping user data. Sooo I’m having a weird bug where the system won’t let me set up my secure lock screen and fingerprints. Anyone got the same issue? If not I might consider factory reset or wiping and reinstalling the system…
(Source)
People who updated their phone via direct OTA are not affected by this weird bug. Noting that, some users re-flashed the full update zip via recovery which eventually resolved the issue.
Happened to me – sorry I didn’t see this 4 hours ago to give you a solution faster. Download the OTA and sideload it over your current install with the fastboot. This resolved it for me. I had already contacted support about this bug, but before I discovered this solution.
(Source)
Fortunately Essential guys are prompt enough to diagnose the symptom and track it down to the botched up fastboot package. They have publicly acknowledged the mishap as well as re-uploaded a fresh copy of the archive (SHA-256: 8670a7d279b81ba50ab2831d1adb6b4d3d7217800bc035dda153b79324397f0e).
Hey everybody, you’re pretty spot on. There was an issue with our first set of uploaded fastboot files for Android 10. Sorry about that. If you’re seeing any issues (i.e. lockscreen) please manually flash the latest update again.
(Source)
It is worth mentioning that the company has no plan to support the victims of the infamous hard brick bug. Guess the Android community always cherish the memories of Essential Phone (aka PH-1) as a evocative but contentious device.
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Kingshuk De
896 Posts
I came from a mixed background of Statistics and Computer Science. My research domains included embedded computer systems, mobile computing and delay tolerant networks in post-disaster scenarios. Apart from tinkering with gadgets or building hackintosh, I like to hop on various subreddits and forums like MyDigitalLife and XDA.
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