OnePlus 7T Series Gets Its Android 11 Update

I hate to hammer on a company when it’s clear they have run into issues, but OnePlus has really screwed up its Android 11 rollout to previous-gen devices. After pushing Android 11 and OxygenOS 11 out to the OnePlus 8 and 8T phones immediately after Google released it, the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7T series have seen delay after delay.

Today, the OnePlus 7T series is finally seeing the stable update begin its initial rollout. We are in March, by the way.

In early January, OnePlus tried to explain the situation and why there were delays. They said they ran into a data decryption issue for both the OnePlus 7 and 7T phones that forced them to bring in Qualcomm to try and rectify the situation. That pushed their release timeline back, including the beta program. We have since seen several beta updates leading up to today’s news.

The OnePlus 7T and 7T Pro will now be treated to OxygenOS 11, a massive overhaul to OnePlus’ custom software skin on top of Android. You can watch a full overview of it in this video we made, but just prepare yourselves for big change. If you don’t have time to watch that, the official changelog for you below will help out:

• System
  • Update to OxygenOS 11 version
  • Fresh new UI visual design brings you a more comfortable experience with various optimizations of details
  • Optimize the stability of some third-party applications and improve the experience
  • Updated Android Security Patch to 2021.02
  • Updated GMS package to 2021.01
  • Since this is the upgrade of Android 11 version with many new features, the upgrade time may be longer. Please wait for the completion of the upgrade
• Camera
  • Updated the camera UI and optimized some of the function paths to offer more convenient operation
  • Newly added HEVC codec to reduce video storage size seamlessly, capture and shoot more without compromising on quality
  • Newly added access to a third-party app to share the picture by pressing and holding it in preview
  • Newly added the quick access to recording mode by pressing and holding the shutter button and by sliding the button, you can easily zoom in or zoom out
  • Newly added the playback display in Time-lapse mode to show the actual filming time
• Ambient Display
  • Newly added Insight clock style, a joint creation with Parsons School of Design. It will change according to the phone usage data (To set: Settings > Customization > Clock on ambient display)
  • Newly added Canvas feature that can automatically draw a wireframe picture based on a lock screen photo on your phone（Path: Settings – Customization – Wallpaper – Canvas – Choose photo preview and it can be generated automatically）
• Dark Mode
  • Added the shortcut key for Dark Mode, pull down the quick setting to enable
  • Supporting automatically turn on feature & customize time range (path: Settings – Display – Dark Mode – Turn on automatically – Automatically enable from sunset to sunrise/Custom time range)
• Game Space
  • Newly added gaming tools box for convenient switches of Fnatic mode. You can now choose three ways of notifications: text-only, heads up and block, just for your immersive gaming experience
  • Newly added quick reply feature in a small window for Instagram, WhatsApp and Telegram (Enable it by swiping down from upper right/left corners of the screen in gaming mode)
  • Newly added mis-touch prevention feature. Enable it, swipe down from the top of the screen, click and the notification bar will pop out
• Shelf
  • Newly shelf interface design, the interface is clearer
  • Added weather widget, animation effect smarter
• Gallery
  • Supporting Story function, automatically form weekly videos with photos and video in storage
  • Optimize the loading speed of the gallery, and the image preview is faster

UPDATE: Apparently, always-on display (AOD) is not yet available and they are still testing it. That gives me a bad feeling as it should have been included. Ugh.

OnePlus stages the rollouts of its updates, so don’t be shocked if it is several days before you can grab this. They started just today to a small batch and will see how it goes. Assuming all is well, they should open it up to more in a few days.

// OnePlus