Category: OnePlus

In a surprising announcement, OnePlus has stated that Android P will be coming to the 2016 OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T phones.  The company has said that in order to do this, they will be abandoning efforts to get Android Oreo 8.1 to these phones and will focus on Android P instead.

After internal discussions and evaluation, we have decided to focus our development resources on the Android P project instead of upgrading the device to Android 8.1, so that we can offer more exciting features and improvements for our OnePlus 3 and 3T users.

The news is surprising in that most 2016 will likely not see the next generation of Android, slated for release as some point in August.

OnePlus has begun the rollout of OxygenOS 5.1.2 for the OnePlus 5 and 5T today, bringing a number of fixes and improvements to the devices.  The update is just over 1.6GB in size so it will be one that you will need to download via WiFi.  Also keep in mind that the update was released over the weekend and it is being phased out to users as OnePlus normally does.  If you don’t see the update on your 5 or 5T yet, it is just a matter of when it gets to your device.

The OxygenOS 5.1.2 update, from a feature perspective, brings a couple of new features according to the release notes.  First, in the Gallery app, you will now find a “Recently Deleted” collection of photos you have deleted from your phone.  This makes it easier to find them should you want to recover them (I still recommend using Google Photos).

OnePlus appears to be poised to start talks with US carriers about finding a home for its devices in the US market.  The company’s CEO, Pete Lau, said in a recent interview with CNET that exploring a US carrier deal is of interest if the timing and terms are right.

With purchasing plans and far reaching marketing arms, the US carrier market amongst the top four of AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint is a lucrative and attractive opportunity for phone manufactures.  Getting even one phone into a carrier’s store will almost certainly bump sales up for that phone.  But, as other manufactures have found, it is a tough sell to get in with a US carrier.

After releasing the Android Oreo based OxygenOS 5.0 build last week for the OnePlus 3 and 3T, OnePlus as rolled out a minor update to address some bugs that cropped up in that build along with a few new features.  The new build is 5.0.1 and, as is always the case with OnePlus, they are slow rolling the update out to users.

The bug fixes are a key part of this update to OxygenOS as well as some performance improvements.  This 5.0.1 build also has the December 2017 Android Security Update patch.  According to the change log, here is the full rundown of features & improvements:

• Added support for aptX HD
• Added Wi-Fi hotspot device manager
• Added “adaptive mode” screen calibration
• Updated Android security patch to December
• General bug fixes and stability improvements

If you are already running the 5.0 build, the OTA incremental update is just shy of 145MB in size.

OnePlus has begun the process of releasing core apps within OxygenOS, their version of Android, to the Google Play Store.  This allows for the apps to be developed independent of OS releases which, in turn, makes updates faster on the apps while concentrating the major system releases on new features and fixes.

This step is very similar to what Google themselves have been doing over the past 18 months and other manufactures such as Samsung and Huawei have been doing recently too.

OnePlus has begun the process of rolling out an update to OxygenOS for the OnePlus 3 and 3T.  The updated version is 4.1.7 and brings a handful of fixes, security improvements and optimizations to the Android-based platform.

The August 2017 Android Security Update is included in the 4.1.7 build, bringing it up from the May 2017 patch, the last time the OnePlus 3 and 3T so an OS update.  This makes the 3 and 3T one of just a handful of phones outside of Google’s own Nexus or Pixel devices that have the August update.

OnePlus has also optimized the battery and improved overall system fluidity which should make these devices a feel a bit snappier when you are using them.  What exactly was improved here was not outlined in the release notes but users are reporting that these are positive steps in usability.