[Updated] Dead? Not really! Essential Phone to get Android 11 Developer Preview support

This story is being continuously updated…. New updates are being added at the bottom…..

Original story (from Feb 24) follows:

Essential Phone made waves online as it came out from the Android Inc. co-founder himself. Apart from the initial hiccups (especially in the camera departments), the device made its way to the good-books by securing timely updates. To recall, Android 10 arrived the phone on the launch day.

About 10 days ago, the company published a statement, about them shutting down all the services. Meaning, they no longer provide updates for their only smartphone and there won’t be another Essential gadget we can look forward to.

What if, as a customer, you want to keep using the phone? What if you desire to have Android 11 on it? Essential Phone isn’t completely dead yet! With official updates out of the picture, the company engineers started a new branch called “r-preview” on their GitHub repo.

Unlike the Chinese OEMs, the device in discussion is so close to stock Android that they could release day one security updates and even major OS overhauls. Thanks to the engineers who made it compatible with Project Treble.

The GitHub commit aims at bringing the device close to having full harmony with Android 11 Developer Preview. While we are unsure of Essential Phone to receive a stable OS update, the new venture gives a chance to load Android 11 Generic System Image (GSI).

“The vendor.img just needs a final internal review and validation on the latest GSI for Android 11 to allow the community to use it”, said Jean-Baptiste Théou, System Software Lead at Essential. Once it comes out, developers can pick it up to build custom ROMs.

Yeah, the users should get their hands dirty with a few geeky steps to flash the custom ROM into the device. With that being said, the brand’s effort to give their maximum to the community should be appreciated.

Update 1 (Feb 28)

The updated vendor image for Essential Phone is now available. So, for maximum compatibility, you need to flash this before Android 11 DP.

Update 3 (March 05)

Essential Phone running Android R/ Android 11 has now been spotted at Geekbench. Complete coverege here.

Note:- Interested in Essential stories? Why don’t you hangout here?

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