OnePlus 8 And 8T OxygenOS 11 Beta Updates Bring Fixes And Bitmojis

OnePlus has always been quick to announce its Android updates and how regular and fast they push them out. Of course, it was also one of the first to jump on the Android 12 Beta train, announcing its availability for the OnePlus 9. In the meantime, however, it isn't abandoning owners of its 2020 flagships and has just rolled out the latest beta for the OnePlus 8, OnePlus 8 Pro, and the OnePlus 8T, which brings not just fixes but an odd new feature as well.

It's not like the updates don't bring important fixes. The changelogs for both devices look almost identical in the bugs they fix but they're also identical in one new feature highlight the latest beta brings.

That feature is Bitmoji support in its Always-on Display or Ambient Mode, meaning you can select to display your cartoony character on your lock screen at all times. For a company that was refused for years to bring AOD because of its impact on battery life, this rather inessential feature that nobody asked for definitely comes as a surprise.

The update does fix many issues that owners of the three phones have been reporting since the last beta. And there were quite a lot of issues, ranging from bugged displays that duplicated the SIM icon to disappointing audio quality when connecting to OnePlus' own smartwatch and earbuds. There is also an improvement when previewing the camera under 4K 60fps mode, which should be no problem for the phones' displays.

While the update is definitely welcome, it might not be the update that OnePlus 8, 8 Pro, and 8T owners wanted to see. Those phones haven't yet received a stable update, even a maintenance one, so it might be odd to see it push these still in a beta form.