The OnePlus 5 is a decent looking phone with some great specs at a decent price making it an attractive price for those who don’t mind importing themselves or buying from grey-market importers. It has, though had some teething issues is its very short lifespan but recently a new, and potentially deadly, issue or bug has surfaced — as well as a fix for said bug set to be released soon.
Some OnePlus 5 users have reported that their phone shuts down and reboots when they have called their emergency services. So far there have been reports of it happening in the USA (911) and the UK (999) with one user attempting to call in a nearby fire but obviously being unable to as his phone kept rebooting each time he tried. A video of it occurring can be seen below. The phone reboots before the call is connected to the emergency services.
While there are multiple reports of it occurring there are also many users who do not have the issue so it is not affecting all devices which makes it harder to track the bug down. It appears to relate to the sharing of location information to the emergency services but at this stage OnePlus are still investigating.
We understand many users on Reddit are waiting for the feedback from OnePlus. Here’s the latest update that we can share with you: We have contacted the customer and are currently looking into the issue. We ask anyone experiencing a similar situation to contact us at [email protected]. Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks, David
This presents an interesting conundrum for those contemplating importing this phone. Do you continue to import this on the hope that this won’t happen to you? What if you do import one and it doesn’t work when you try to call for that ambulance while a family member is having serious health issues?
We reported last year that the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) announced that mobile calls to Triple Zero will from then onward provide emergency call-takers with improved location information. This means that if the bug is caused by this sharing of location data with emergency services then yes the bug may well affect any phones here in Australia.
In the US it has been reported that you can schedule a call with your local emergency services to test out this function but after reaching out to Victorian Emergency Services there doesn’t seem to be a provision for this in Australia.
Just one day after this was reported OnePlus have been true to their words and have already reached out to the originally person who reported the bug. They have sent him an update file that has fixed the issue. They have today released a statement:
We have been in touch with the customer and have tested a software update that has resolved the issue. We will be rolling out the software update shortly.
That update has now been released by OnePlus with the update – OxygenOS 4.5.6 hot fix OTA for OnePlus 5 – now appearing as an update to install for users. The update contains a single fix: ·Fixed reboot caused by dialing 911 on certain OnePlus 5 units. OnePlus says they are rolling the update out incrementally, so it may take a couple of days to reach you.
This is a very serious bug that could have many repercussions for OnePlus, and none of them good. OnePlus should be congratulated on how quickly they have come up with a fix for this bug but at the same time back handed for not picking it up in the first place.
For Aussies it once again shows the risks involved with importing phones. We’ve all done it but when you do not only are you dicing with warranty issues but as seen here possible network issues. You can be sure that local phones are tested so that they pass this seemingly easy task every time.
Do you have a OnePlus 5? Are you worried that your phone may have this issue? Does the OnePlus 5 having this issue make you wary of importing phones?
