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Chinese smartphone manufacturer, OnePlus, has officially started rolling out the first OxygenOS Open Beta update with Android 8.0 Oreo to the OnePlus 5, one of the company’s two 2017 flagship handsets. The Open Beta Program introduces a bevy of new features to the OnePlus 5 device including the Picture-in-Picture mode, which lets you play a video within a small window that can sit on any portion of the screen while you can perform other tasks.
On top of this major change, the OnePlus 5 is also getting other minor updates such as auto-fill, smart text selection, a new Quick Settings design for visual improvements, parallel apps, a new launcher, notification dots, fresh app folder design, ability to upload photos directly to “Shot” on OnePlus, as well as the October 2017 security patch. The arrival of the Android 8.0 Oreo beta for the OnePlus 5 was announced in mid-October by Carl Pei, one of the two co-founders of the Shenzhen, Guangdong-based original equipment manufacturer in response to a user query via Twitter about the availability of the OS shortly after OnePlus launched the same Open Beta Program for the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T.
It should be pointed out as usual that the software update is in a beta stage, meaning you might be able to encounter instances of unstable functionalities with some of the features of Android 8.0 Oreo as well as bugs and app crashes, unlike with the official software updates a company rolls out via OTA (over-the-air). OnePlus warns that potential risks and data loss might result from downloading and installing the beta build. So you might want to think again before proceeding with the process. Otherwise, you may join the OnePlus Open Beta Program and learn how to install the first Open Beta build with Android 8.0 Oreo for the OnePlus 5 by referring to the flashing instructions provided by the OEM (see source link below). That means you will no longer get the official stable updates from OnePlus on a regular basis once you switched to the beta program, unless you reinstall the full version of your previous OS and remove all the data and cache in your phone.