This story was originally published 2020/12/29
10:44am PSTon Dec 29, 2020 and last updated 2020/12/30
7:49am PSTon Dec 30, 2020.
The OnePlus 8T launched running Android 11 out of the box, and to date, it’s the only OnePlus phone rocking the latest Android build. While its predecessors anxiously await their turn, the 8T continues to march forward with a series of incremental updates released in its relatively short lifespan. Now the latest OxygenOS release is headed out, complete with a long list of network and system fixes.
For starters, OnePlus has improved full-screen gestures and made the fingerprint reader a tiny bit faster at unlocking the phone. Besides the newly added option to adjust the keyboard height, the 8T also picks up a minor fix for the preinstalled Gallery app and improves nightscape photography. Engineers also seems to have fixed the issue with Wi-Fi connections dropping, while also improving general network stability.
As for an India-exclusive feature, the OnePlus Store will now act as a one-stop-shop for accessing your Red Cable club membership and purchasing OnePlus products. While this addition sounds kind of spammy (and even reminds us of Samsung’s on-device advertisements promoting its own products), OnePlus says that you’ll have the option to uninstall it entirely.
Like always, OxygenOS 11.0.6.7 will be released only to a handful of users initially, and broader availability can take up to a few days. OnePlus notes that those in Europe will have to wait a bit longer, as the rollout only covers North America and India right now.
Buggy update
Soon after OnePlus released the latest OxygenOS version for the 8T, the original forum post got flooded with user reports of broken audio and video playback capabilities. The issues seem to be plaguing the entire device — for example, any media file played or streamed using apps such as YouTube or WhatsApp suffers from severe stutters. Some users even faced general slowness and random freezes. Thankfully, many remained immune to all of these issues.
Thanks to a big user community worldwide, several quick workarounds were identified in no time, some of which sound a bit peculiar but have evidently fixed these bugs for many. The first one involves recording a short video (say, about 10 seconds long) from the default camera app and watching it in Gallery. Even then, a reboot could revert the fix, in which case, this second solution could come to your rescue. Turning off Google Assistant’s voice match settings has proved successful for many, and it isn’t affected by device power cycles either. Some were even able to solve the problem by turning on the battery saver mode and/or juicing up the phone.
OnePlus seems to be aware of these issues and has reportedly released a hotfix for all the bugs in OxygenOS version 11.0.6.8. But you shouldn’t install the update just yet as several 8T owners who didn’t face any problem with v11.0.6.7 now have them. If you haven’t installed either of these updates yet, then it may be better to steer away from them altogether until OnePlus comes out with a proper fix and a statement on this whole situation. And those who are already on the newer build can try out the aforementioned workarounds to at least make your phone vaguely usable in the meantime.
