What you need to know
- The OnePlus Android 12 Developer Preview has received its first major update.
- Developer Preview 2 brings improvements to the screen, UI, performance monitoring, and a few Camera improvements.
- There are still nine known issues, three of which involve cameras and screenshots.
- Developer Preview 2 is available for OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro users in North America, Europe, and India willing to flash the update OTA locally — which will wipe your local data.
We've been eagerly awaiting Android 12's graduation from beta to stable, but we'll still be waiting a while afterward for manufacturer betas to graduate and push out to the public. Take OnePlus's OxygenOS 12, which has been on its first, exclusive Closed Beta for five weeks now; it's only receiving its first update today.
Developer Preview 2 brings a small smattering of new optimizations — and new widgets that should fit in more with OnePlus and Oppo's take on Material You — but it's still a long way from graduating to Open Beta before the stable release. Users can appreciate the optimizations to game mode and performance adjustments, but there are still issues with the cameras, screenshots, some third-party apps, and icon wonk in the status bar and while charging.
If you want to download the Developer Preview on your OnePlus 9 or 9 Pro, OnePlus has instructions for flashing the new ROM on the Developer Preview 2 thread on OnePlus' forums. You need to live in North America, Europe, or India in order to take part, and American users need to be on an unlocked model, not Verizon or T-Mobile's models.
Be warned that as you are flashing your phone with a new OS, you will lose all local data, so make sure to back it all up first.
OnePlus 9
OnePlus strived to give us the "flagship killer" experience again with the OnePlus 9. It delivers on it in almost every way, from the sweet display to the improved camera setup and solid build quality.
