Following the Android 9 Pie-based OxygenOS 9.0.0 update which arrived to the OnePlus 5 and 5T the other day, the company has released a new update, marked OxygenOS 9.0.1, which improves upon the previous update. OxygenOS 9.0.0 brought tons of novelty to the OnePlus 5 and 5T, as it released a brand new version of Android OS to the two devices, and OxygenOS 9.0.1 is here to basically improve the experience through and through. First and foremost, this update improves the stability of for Wi-Fi connectivity, as it seems like some users had issues with that on OxygenOS 9.0.0. On top of that, OnePlus has fixed an issue with the missing 4G VoLTE toggle, and has also fixed random reboots while Screen Casting was in action. Some optimizations are also being released with this update, including optimizations to the Reading mode on the two devices, while the company also optimized the sRGB display mode on both smartphones. That is pretty much everything that the company mentioned in its official changelog, and it’s worth noting that this update has started rolling out, but we’re looking at a gradual update here, which means that not everyone will get the update straight away, some of you may have at wait a couple of days, maybe even up to a week or so. The update is rolling out over-the-air (OTA), though, so when ready, your phone will notify you.
Android 9 Pie-Based OxygenOS
Needless to say, Android 9 Pie brought quite a few changes to the table, and OnePlus included many of those changes in its OxygenOS skin. The company did adapt some aspects of the Android 9 Pie to better fit with OxygenOS, and most of them for the better, like the fact that you can have six quick toggles when you swipe down and the notification shade appears, compared to four on stock Android 9 Pie. The OnePlus 5T also received OnePlus navigation gestures, while both devices received an option to activate Google’s new navigation setup. The overview menu has been changed, it now resembles stock Android 9 Pie overview, as you can swipe through cards horizontally, not vertically, which takes away from the functionality of the phone’s multitasking, unfortunately. OnePlus will hopefully realize the mistake of adopting Google’s solution and revert this at some point in the future, even though it may not bother that many people. A number of battery-related optimizations are also included in Android 9 Pie, and that’s only scratching the surface, Android 9 Pie brings a lot of changes, including some to the core front-end design of Android, which is something you’ll notice in the notification shade, settings, and so on.
Android 9 Pie: OnePlus 5 vs OnePlus 5T
Android 9 Pie-based OxygenOS is pretty much the same for both the OnePlus 5 and 5T, which is not surprising considering that both of these are OnePlus’ flagships for 2017. There is one difference, though, the OnePlus 5 users did not get OnePlus’ navigation gestures, so if you’re a fan of those, you’re out of luck. On the OnePlus 5, you have to options as far as navigation is concerned, you can either use on-screen buttons, which was the case on Oreo as well, or you can switch to Google’s very own navigation system which includes that white-colored pill on the bottom of the display. Google’s new navigation system has been criticized quite a bit, mainly because it’s inconsistent, and many people think it doesn’t bring anything to the table, quite the contrary, and I have to agree with that, it simply doesn’t make sense, it cannot really be called a navigation gestures system, as it doesn’t use gestures all that much, and it’s not your regular tap-to-activate system either. It just feels like Google should have used gestures through-and-through, and remove that pill on the bottom of the display altogether, same goes for the back button that appears when needed, as they’re both unnecessarily taking away from the screen real estate on both devices. Android 9 Pie seems to be quite stable on both devices, thus far, and if you don’t like Google’s new navigation system, you can always use on-screen buttons instead, or in the OnePlus 5T’s case, OnePlus’ very own navigation gestures, which are available on both the OnePlus 6 and 6T as well. As already mentioned, they’re unfortunately not available on the OnePlus 5, and it seems like that option won’t be coming to the phone either.