OnePlus has announced that it has started testing the Android 12-based Oxygen OS 12 update for the OnePlus 9RT smartphone in India. The phone was first launched in China late last year before making an India debut in January this year.
The OnePlus 9RT shipped with Android 11 out of the box and while the users expected the company to provide the new OS update on time, OnePlus has only responded when Google is about to debut Android 13.
According to the announcement in the OnePlus community forum, users running Android 11 A.08 build on their phone will be able to download the Android 12 beta – which otherwise also comes with the latest June 2022 security patch as well.
OnePlus 9RT Android 12 Beta features
It goes without saying that the new layout will be inspired by Android 12’s Material design and will be an overhaul in terms of design.
Among the most important features are three adjustable layers of Dark Mode which lets the user personalise the dark mode setting as per their convenience. The new UI will also bring a Quick Launch feature that will detect frequently visited apps and will pre-load them for quick access.
OnePlus says that it has also optimised the auto-brightness algorithm so that the screen brightness can adapt to the ambient lights and offer a comfortable reading experience. A new chart to present the battery usage in a graphical manner has been added.
A lot of changes have been made to Shelf – which include new style options for Cards, a new Earphone Control Card, access to OnePlus Scout on Shelf, and the addition of a new OnePlus Watch Card. The two-finger pinch gesture has been added to the gallery app and a new Work-Life Balance feature has been added. This new mode allows users to easily switch between Work and Life modes and it even supports automatic switching of modes depending on the location, time or Wi-Fi network you access.
The Android 12-Beta for OnePlus 9 RT also brings updates to the AOD, adds a new gaming mode, optimised camera performance and more.
Better late than never
Since this is still a beta version, this update is bound to have bugs. Users who prefer stable performance over new features should ideally wait till the time the company rolls out the final version.
In any case, the fact that it took OnePlus so long to even roll out a Beta version of Android 12 for the OnePlus 9RT is disappointing. The company was once known for lightning-fast software updates.
The company also counted, that faster and stable software updates were one of the benefits of its merger with Oppo – however, that’s not been the case.
In fact, cheaper phones under the Nord Lineup that were launched after the OnePlus 9RT shipped with Android 12 out of the box. Also, the company even introduced the next-gen OnePlus 10R with better-charging specs and new operating systems has only rubbed salt into the wounds of users who invested in the OnePlus 9RT.
