Getting early access to Android 8.0 Oreo in OnePlus Phones (with Open Beta Program)

Android O – Oreo or Android 8.
Long awaited Android OS for OnePlus users. Ever since OnePlus announced that they would offer an upgrade channel to the users of OnePlus 3 and 3T, the company must have been busy releasing Android O upgrades; so are the users. However, OnePlus has finally released early access in beta channel for the users of OP 3 and 3T.
If you are a user of OnePlus 3T, get OxygenOS Open beta 16 from here, flash with it and get update to Android Oreo. Initially you won’t feel drastic changes with Android O, if you are a long time user of Nought. However, there is something tangle when running into it.

New with OnePlus 3T Android O (8.0)

While OnePlus is known for their vanila flavor of the Android OS, there is less to the company’s Oxygen OS features and more to Android Oreo itself. Here are some system upgrades and new features of OP 3T Android O:

• PIP – Picture in Picture feature
• Smart text selection in Android O
• Quick Settings got a new design
• New notification dots
• Shot on OnePlus cloud gallery of like users
• Font selection between Roboto and OnePlus Slate (?)
• Improved recent app management
• OnePlus Battery management: saver and optimization

One should understand that since this is an Open Beta Program, there are obviously several known issues; however as per OnePlus’s announcement Open Beta will gradually get upgrades and hence the users will always be first to try out Android’s features.
While many users and even OnePlus announced that issues with slower fingerprint unlocking of the phone; in my case A3003 unlocks without any issues and probably the same speed as was before the Oreo upgrade.

How to upgrade Android O (8) in OnePlus 3/3T?

Upgrading to latest OS be it Android or Oxygen OS with OnePlus phones have always been easy; just follow a couple steps and there you go with an updated phone.

• Download the ROM from official OnePlus repo
• Copy this compressed file to the storage of your OnePlus phone (in my case O2N_OBT_15811_OXYGEN_SIGN_wipe.zip – do not extract it yourself)
• Turn off your device; press Volume down + Power button together and proceed to install from storage.
• Tap to select the compressed file (O2N_OBT….) and let the device work on itself.
• Once upgrade is complete, reboot the device.

Go to system upgrade check, where Android O (8) will be found awaiting update; update and reboot as usually – the system once rebooted will throw you the persistance look of Android Oreo in your OnePlus 3/3T phone.
So far I’m not having any issues with Open Beta updated Android O (8) in my OnePlus 3T A3003 phone. No known issues so far, and looks like I’m going to stay with the Beta program as long as they provide updates. Read this thread OxygenOS Open Beta 25 for the OnePlus 3 and 16 for the OnePlus 3T (Android O) for support from OnePlus regarding the Open Beta upgrade to Android O for your OnePlus phone.