Now that the hype around Android P has died out, for the most part, it's time to address the elephant in the room, again. The state of Android updates is atrocious, to put it mildly. A good chunk of devices are still stuck on Nougat or Marshmallow. Budget devices get a pass because their host company might not have the resources to push out major software updates, but there's no excuse for industry giants such as Samsung, who are yet to roll out Oreo for their 2018 flagship; the Galaxy Note 8.

Thankfully, OnePlus has been ahead of the curve and remained committed to providing slightly delayed, if not timely updates to all their devices. All of their eligible devices are running Oreo 8.0, and there's an open beta program for 8.1 already underway for the OnePlus 5T. Here's the changelog:

Release notes

Updated system to Android™ 8.1 Oreo™

Phone

New auto pick up gestureAnswer an incoming call by raising the phone

System

General bug fixes and improvementsAdded more clock styles for ambient displayOptimized full-screen gesture supportUpdated Android security patch to 2018-02

Gaming mode

Added new optimizations in gaming mode for immersive gaming experience including power saving and pausing adaptive brightness

OnePlus Switch

Added support to migrate application data, allowing you to switch between devices seamlessly

People already running a beta build of Oreo will get the update OTA soon. If you're running a stable Oreo build version and want to try out 8.1, follow the instructions. Do note that once you switch to a beta build, you will not receive stable build updates anymore. To get back to a stable build, a complete factory reset of the device is necessary and you'll have to repeat the process with a stable ROM.

Download the software build for your device from here. The update is 1.63GB in size.Plug your phone into your computer and copy the downloaded .zip to your phone’s storage. If you’re using a Mac, you need to install Android File Transfer or another FTP client for this operation.After the .zip file is copied to your phone, reboot your phone into recovery mode by shutting down your device and turn it back on while holding the power and volume down buttons simultaneously.Choose "Install from internal storage/Install from local", find your .zip file and click on "Install" to confirm. The update will take a few minutes to install, after which you should be taken to the home screen and you're all set to go.

Now that we have a beta program underway, it shouldn't be too long before an official OTA hits the shelves. A beta program to bring Oreo 8.1 to the Oneplus 3/3T is already in the works and should be live soon. We'll keep an eye out for it and let you know when it is out.

News Source: oneplus