Razer Phone gets Android 8.1 Oreo preview build (Update: Stable OTA build rolling out now)

Update (04/16): Android 8.1 Oreo is now rolling out to Razer Phone users as a global OTA update. The update, which bumps Razer’s flagship from Nougat all the way up to the very latest version of Android, comes with all of the standard Oreo features like Picture-in-Picture mode, notification dots, and much more.

Several new device-specific features have also been added, including a new “Vivid” color mode which forces the DCI-P3 RGB color gamut, a double-tap to sleep gesture on the lock screen, and an update to the Dolby Atmos app with more options to customize the audio experience. Razer also says the update brings with it a “cleaner visual design” and “under-the-hood improvements for a better overall experience”.

The update will be rolling out in stages over the next few weeks, so be sure to keep an eye on your notifications bar for any sign of the OTA.

Previous coverage (03/29): The Razer Phone is a cool device, but it earned a lot of negative press when Razer revealed the phone would ship with Android 7.0 Nougat, even with Android 8.0 Oreo already available at the time. To make matters worse, the Razer Phone is still running Nougat even now.

However, Razer is catching up slowly but surely, as it just released a preview build for the Razer Phone, based on Android 8.1 Oreo.

Being that this is a preview build, you shouldn’t expect it to be a stable release. In fact, even to try out the build, you have to flash a system image over your current setup, which means wiping all of your data. Before that, you have to unlock the bootloader, which can’t be done without wiping the data at the same time. So, needless to say, don’t try out this new build without making a backup first.

Razer’s warranty doesn’t cover unlocked phones, so by the very act of testing out the company’s own preview build, you are breaking your warranty.

Razer is also careful to explain that it will not issue OTA updates for this build. That means that even after you wipe your data and flash it, you will have to flash your device again to the stable build once it’s released.

Finally, this preview build has no carrier-specific support for it, which means things like Wi-Fi calling, VoLTE support, or even basic data connections may or may not work.

So really, this update is for testing purposes only. Make no mistake.

If none of this has scared you away, you can go to the Razer developer page and download the 1.6GB file and have fun testing out Oreo on your Razer Phone.

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