OnePlus 6 has been receiving stable updates since it was launched. In China, the device runs on HydrogenOS and the company recently seeded the first HydrogenOS Beta update for the device, which is built upon the final Android Pie beta. The company has now announced that it is seeking beta testers for its Closed Beta program. This suggests that the smartphone could soon receive the first Android Pie public beta update. The update might even be rolled out by this week as OnePlus usually pushes out the equivalent OxygenOS beta build to its HydrogenOS beta update in other regions in a weeks time. Additionally, once the Android 9 Pie beta updates are officially announced for the OnePlus 6, the same can be expected to be seeded for the OnePlus 5T and the OnePlus 5.
Anyone interested in joining the closed beta group for the OnePlus 6 can do so here. However, it should be noted that only 100 applicants will be chosen and they need to have a OnePlus 6 smartphone (duh), be an active member of the OnePlus Community and be readily available on Slack for providing feedback to the OnePlus team. Additionally, members of closed beta updates get early builds that are usually riddled with bugs so, it’s advised that one be absolutely sure before joining the closed beta group, especially if their daily driver is the OnePlus 6.
The company, via its forum post, states, “Closed Beta program is an opportunity for us to listen to your feedback and refine or revise our product strategy based on that. It also helps us to find major bugs at an early stage and release more stable Open Beta and MP (official) builds. The Closed Beta Group is the closest group to OnePlus staff. This group is made up of an elite crew of OnePlus community members. This group needs absolute secrecy, as testers will often get builds and features weeks or even months before they are released to the public. Given the secrecy aspect, you are required to sign an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) with OnePlus to be part of this program.”
OnePlus recently started seeding the OxygenOS 5.1.11 update for the OnePlus 6, which brings system and camera optimisations to the device. The patch also addresses the screen flickering issue that was reported to be appearing when the device was used in daylight. The problem is said to occur when adaptive brightness was turned on. The new update should fix this issue. Additionally, the update also brings improvements to the HDR mode, however, the company has not mentioned how exactly it has improved or what changes have been made to the HDR mode. We will test out the new changes when the OnePlus 6 unit in our lab receives the update.
The OnePlus 6 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC. It sports a 6.28-inch FHD+ Full Optic AMOLED display with a 19:9 aspect ratio that comes with a notch on top. The rear panel of the smartphone is made of glass and it houses a vertically stacked dual rear camera setup. There is a 16MP + 20MP sensor on the main camera, while on the front sits a 16MP sensor. The device comes in a 6GB/64GB model and an 8GB RAM version with 128GB and 256GB internal storage options. You can read our review of the OnePlus 6 here.