It has been a little over a month since the OnePlus 3 reportedly received Android Oreo through a closed beta program, but now the update is ready to be tested for the OnePlus 3 and 3T for those in the Open Beta program.
As a general overview, Android Oreo introduces visually-different Quick Settings and Settings areas, Picture in Picture mode, and auto-fill, along with many more features and enhancements. Make sure to check out our Android Oreo review to see what is new with the update, and while things might not look very different when compared to Nougat, there are more than enough tweaks and changes that help move the needle.
Going back to the OnePlus 3 and 3T’s Open Beta program, Android Oreo is available for both devices as a 1.4 GB download at the links below. You will need to flash the update, though the instructions to do so are very straightforward.
Because this is the Open Beta program, there are several known issues that will presumably be ironed out by the time the final version lands. For example, unlocking the phones with your fingerprint might be slower than usual, the shortcut to access Google Photos is unavailable, NFC and Bluetooth are somewhat unstable, and the performance and compatibility of third-party apps are not up to snuff.
As exciting as the news might be, it arrives with a somewhat somber context. Keep in mind that, according to OnePlus, Android Oreo will be the last major Android update for the OnePlus 3 and 3T. Likely because of that, the Open Beta program for the two phones will end after Android Oreo exits beta and makes its way to more users.
Security patches will be released “for the foreseeable future,” but with today’s news, we’re that much closer to the end of the road for the OnePlus 3 and 3T.
The OnePlus 5 may have come out, but that doesn’t mean the company has forgotten about the 3 and 3T. Earlier today, the two phones were updated to Oxygen OS 4.5.0, introducing a pile of new features like “lift up display,” Gaming Do Not Disturb, low priority notifications, and OnePlus‘ Slate font. Most of the changes in this release were already available on the OnePlus 5, but it’s great to see them trickle down onto older hardware.
The OTA update is hitting devices now, and it’s 197MB in size. If you root or have a need to download the full image, it’s closer to 1.5GB. As always, if you don’t see the update on your device just yet (it isan incremental roll-out), you can use a VPN set to Germany to trigger the download early, at which point you can then disable the VPN and download at full speed.
Most of the headlining changes in v4.5.0 were already present on the newer OnePlus 5. So if they sound familiar, that would be why. Thankfully the… questionable boot animation from the recent betas
did not make its way into this build.
All of these new changes in Oxygen OS also live in different places, but we’ve updated our own device and documented where all the most interesting bits live, in case you don’t have time to go digging around in Settings yourself.
Lift up display
“Lift up display” is poorly named, but descriptive. Just like the lift to wake on Pixel devices and the OnePlus 5, it allows your OnePlus3/3T to turn on the display and show a bit of black and white notification content when you grab it. All it requires is that the Ambient display just above it in Settings -> Display be enabled. And, of course, for you to lift your phone up while the screen is off.
Gaming Do Not Disturb
Gaming Do Not Disturb will come in handy for a lot of people, probably even outside of games. The feature allows you to block notifications and lock capacitive buttons while specific applications are open so that you don’t accidentally exit them when you don’t mean to. So if you get into a particularly intense gaming session, you won’t have to worry about accidentally exiting the app as you flail in frustration.
You can access Gaming Do Not Disturb in Settings-> Advanced -> Gaming Do Not Disturb, and from there it can be enabled or disabled for individual applications. You can customize the setting to block notifications (outside calls and alarms) and disable hardware buttons as you prefer. To exit Gaming Do Not Disturb mode, you’ll need to open the ongoing notification it creates and tap that to disable.
Low-priority notifications & others
Low-priority notifications are what you’d expect. They don’t trigger sounds, don’t peek, and don’t set the LED to cycle. They also won’t appear on the lock screen or overall status bar. So it’s a perfect setting for apps you might want to manually check notifications from, without being bothered by as they come in. The low priority notification option appears with all the other per-app notification options under each app in Settings -> Notifications.
The phone app UI has also been changed a bit, with a slightly tweaked tab layout. There are also a handful of other minor changes, like a “Shot on OnePlus” watermark for photos, a redesigned photo editor in the Gallery app, a new Dash Charge animation, scheduled night mode, and a “secure box” for the File Manager.
OnePlus‘ Slate font was originally introduced in an update to the OnePlus 5 at the beginning of this month. It might not be to everyone’s style, but it’s an inoffensive font compared to some that manufacturers include in ROMs.
The partial changelog published by OnePlus includes:
System
Added lift up display
Added Gaming Do Not Disturb
Added low priority notification
Added network speed in status bar
Added scheduled night mode
Added OnePlus Slate font
Redesigned Dash Charge animation
System stability and battery improvements
Launcher
Added Shot on OnePlus wallpaper
Phone
Redesigned calling UI
Camera / Gallery
Added Shot on OnePlus watermark
Redesigned photo editor in Gallery
File Manager
Added secure box
It would appear that the BlueBorne vulnerability has even been patched. At first, we thought the device was still vulnerable since Oxygen OS 4.5.0 is still running the August security patches. But according to the BlueBorne Vulnerability Scanner by Armis, it has been patched for the vulnerability. I’m not entirely sure what detection method the application uses to determine that. But if it’s correct, that means OnePlus 3 and 3T users are just a bit more secure now.
Although the logs don’t mention it, and the security patch level would imply otherwise, the BlueBorne Vulnerability Scanner by Armis claims that the device has, in fact, been patched. We’ve updated the article to reflect that information.
Downloads have been posted, so if you haven’t gotten the OTA, or you prefer to flash manually, you can.
All of that drama aside, both the OnePlus 3 and 3T received a new beta update to OxygenOS yesterday. The update is a big one and does things like tweak the design of the lift up display UI, adjusts the default color screen calibration, speeds up loading of images in the Gallery app, adds a new alarm calendar feature to the clock, and more. I don’t know that there is anything major, but it should fix bugs and stabilize a whole bunch of stuff.
The full changelog can be found below.
Camera：
Added Shot on OnePlus watermark
You can toggle the Shot on OnePlus watermark and add your name to all pictures taken in the main camera settings
System：
Redesigned lift up display UI
Now supports displaying battery percentage
Now supports hiding of notification content from apps locked by App locker
There is now a toggle that allows you to block notifications from apps that are in the App lock list
Improved stability of Parallel apps
Adjusted color display of default screen calibration
It now tends more towards sRGB calibration
Added E-warranty card
You can now find a version of your warranty card in “About phone > E-Warranty card”
Updated Android security patch level to August
Phone：
Added quick index bar in contacts UI
The contacts page/app now have an alphabetical bar on the right side for easy moving to certain groups of names
Improved experience of switching incoming calls
Improvements to suggested merges functionality
Gallery：
Loading speed of images improved
Weather：
Improved location accuracy
Improved the experience of searching cities
Clock:
New feature “Alarm calendar”
Can be used to set an irregular alarm schedule, once you set the time, you can activate this feature by hitting the 3 dot menu button to the right of “repeat”
Known issues:
Immediately following the update, you might not be able to turn on the flashlight. Please reboot the device and normal functionality will be restored.
If interested in running the beta, you’ll want to head over to the OnePlus downloads site to get started.
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