OnePlus have been a company in the last couple of years who have been quick with updates, as well as providing a beta program for customers should they wish to test out new software before it is officially released. Today OnePlus have released their first beta software version based on Android 9.0 Pie.
While there has been developer preview forms of the Android 9.0 software for the OnePlus 6 it has not made it into a more stable beta form until now. Overnight OnePlus released the beta to the OnePlus 6 with a list of updates as well as known issues. The changelog includes:
- Update system to Android 9.0 Pie
- Brand new UI for Android P
- New Android P gesture navigation
- Other new features and system improvements
- Integrated OnePlus customiaation features
- Supported accent colour customisation
- New Do Not Disturb mode with adjustable settings
- New Gaming Mode 3.0
Of course, with every new release come new bugs. As many may know if they have already tried Android Pie on any device, some apps may not work correctly until the developer updates those apps. Also, as has been seen in many other Android Pie betas for various devices, Google Pay and the SafetyNet check seem to be broken. On the Play Store some may also get a warning “Device is not certified by Google” message.
Obviously these issues may be deal breakers for many users but you would hope that they are working with Google on a fix for these issues. It is unknown at this stage whether installing Magisk may circumvent these issues by hiding the unlocked bootloader etc. I shall be checking it out tonight and if you are interested ask in the comments below.
If you want to have a crack at it yourself head over to the OnePlus forums and follow the instructions.
It is great to see another manufacturer getting set to release Android 9.0 Pie to their devices so soon after Google have released it themselves. Hopefully it won’t be long before a final release is good to go, still much earlier than in previous years. Perhaps Project Treble is starting to have a positive effect.
