Running beta versions of software, even entire operating systems, always comes with some risks that something will get severely messed up. It is rare that problems rise above the level of annoyance, but when it does happen it can be quite maddening. Owner's of HMD Global's Nokia 7 Plus smartphones who decided to take on the risk of running Android P are discovering this after the latest OTA update has thrown them into a downgrade loop.
The OTA update started rolling a 1.3GB update that was supposed to be nothing more than the latest June security update. As it turns out, the package actually results in downgrade of the Android operating system from Android P to Android 8 Oreo. The downgrade would be bad enough on its own, but owners are reporting some trickle down effects as well. For instance, any apps they have that have their data configured for use on a newer version of Android are crashing. Some of these can be quite severe and cause the entire device to crash.
In an unfortunate twist, users are also finding the rollback package provided on the Android P install page no longer works because the package is older than the current build.
One solution is for owners to perform a factory reset of their Nokia 7 Plus to set it back to Android 8.1 Oreo. Based on all the information available, it appears this was something that somehow managed to find its way through quality control and not something intentional. There is no word yet on when a new update package will be available for the Nokia 7 Plus that fixes this problem.
source: XDA
