Phone maker OnePlus on Monday announced the release of new open beta versions of the Hydrogen OS (H2OS) for the Chinese variants of the OnePlus 3 and the OnePlus 3T. The Shenzhen, Guangdong-based consumer electronics manufacturer revealed that the H2OS Beta 13 for the OnePlus 3 and the Beta 7 for the OnePlus 3T are based on Android 7.1.1 Nougat, just like the versions that preceded them, which came as a surprise to some customers that were expecting the firm’s developers to already make the jump to Android 7.1.2. A transition to a new build of Google’s ubiquitous operating system will thus happen at a later date, while the new software packages that OnePlus published yesterday are just incremental upgrades over the firmware that its last two phones were already running.
The newly released Hydrogen OS builds for the OnePlus 3 and the OnePlus 3T are mostly focused on fixing certain firmware bugs, optimizing the performance of both devices and making their core features more stable, as revealed by the Chinese company’s developers. The software packages are just under 60MB in size and can be downloaded and installed using the standard update procedure. Those who are looking to do so and are already running the previous version of some H2OS beta for their OnePlus 3 or OnePlus 3T simply have to open the Settings app, navigate to System Updates, and tap the option of manually scanning for new over-the-air (OTA) software on the following screen. While both updates have been intended for Chinese variants of the last two OnePlus-made phones, they can also be sideloaded onto international models.
The new software introduces some improvements to the default Alarm Clock app, eliminates certain issues related to partial app flashes, fixes the bug causing duplicate Contacts following system upgrades, and debuts some tweaks to the black-and-white theme of both devices, the new changelogs reveal. The Chinese company will likely release new iterations of the OxygenOS in the coming days and is currently in the process of wrapping up work on the OnePlus 5, its upcoming Android flagship that’s scheduled to debut at some point next month and is expected to be a significant upgrade over the OnePlus 3T.