OnePlus 8T Oxygen OS Update Brings Camera, Network Improvements — and Amazon Shopping App

OnePlus 8T has got a new update that brings some system, camera, and network improvements. The update comes with version 11.0.1.2 for Oxygen OS 11. What's interesting to see is that the update brings a new Amazon shopping app for a “better shopping experience.” This comes after OnePlus pulled-back from pre-installed Facebook on the OnePlus Nord, facing customer pushback. OnePlus has not shared any information on the update on its forums, thus it is unclear it will have a staged roll out or not.

OnePlus 8T Oxygen OS update

The update with version 11.0.1.2 for the OnePlus 8T brings system improvement including the aforementioned Amazon shopping app for a "better shopping experience". The unlocking experience while using the Always-on Display has been optimised and so has the overall power consumption for the phone. In terms of camera improvements, the Nightscape Mode for videos has been optimised, the white balance accuracy under different settings has been improved, and the overall app stability has been optimised as well.

In the network section, the update states that the stability of communication functions has been improved.

The update is 389MB in size and OnePlus 8T users should see the update in the System Updates section in the Settings menu. As OnePlus has not shared an official post for the update, it is unclear if it is a staged rollout or not. We received the update on our device and some users on Twitter have also shared that they received it.

Additionally, for the Amazon app integration, we found that if the OnePlus 8T does not have the app already installed, this new update installs it. The app is still removable and is not baked into the smartphone like other system apps. We reached out to OnePlus to learn why the company decided to make the app part of a firmware update, and received the following statement:

"As part of our long standing partnership with Amazon, the Amazon Shopping App has been pre-loaded on OnePlus devices since the launch of the OnePlus 3 in India. For the OnePlus 8T 5G, we were unable to install the stable Android 11 version of the application at the time of the launch. Due to this reason we had to update the Amazon application in the latest OTA update for devices in India only. We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused."

Is OnePlus 8T the best 'value flagship' of 2020? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.