OnePlus 2 gets official Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow-based OxygenOS 3.0 Beta [How to Install]

After two weeks of soak tests, Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus has released the public beta version of OxygenOS 3.0 to the OnePlus 2.

"Some of you know, soak testing for OxygenOS 3.0 (based on M) started a few weeks ago, and now we're ready to share it with you. We still want to ask the community for help to make sure we work out any remaining kinks before we OTA the build officially," Helen, OnePlus blog administrator, said on the official community forum.

The company has asked fans for feedback on the firmware's performance, its effect on battery life, improvement on camera app's user interface, image quality and if the network support is stable in the new OS.

Some bugs were found during the soak test, but the issues are said to be benign and will not affect the overall performance of the device. Those OnePlus 2 owners, who don't mind minor glitches and want to explore the new features of the Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, can go ahead and install the OxygenOS 3.0.

Official change-log of OxygenOS 3.0:

• Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow upgrade
• New OnePlus Camera UI

• UI has been cleaned up: swiping up/down now switches between photo/video, whereas HD/HDR and flash settings are placed on the top right corner
• You can now change the aspect ratio and toggle grid view without going all the way to the settings

• New wallpaper picker
• Easily preview and set both home screen and lock screen wallpaper in one place.
• Shelf UX has been improved
• No more edit mode, press for a long time to rearrange and remove boards.
• General system performance improvements
• Benchmarked 47 percent faster than OxygenOS 2.2.1 on key test scenarios
• Fingerprint performance improvement
• Tested 45 percent faster than OxygenOS 2.2.1 on average
• Settings changes
• Old app permissions have been replaced by new (native Android) app permissions.
• Alert Slider has its own entry point with more customisation options
• Improve settings menu readability by changing the order a bit
• March security patches

Things to remember before installing the new OxygenOS 3.0:

• Fingerprints will not be preserved after the users flashes the new build, so users will need to re-register their fingerprints if they have fingerprint authentication set up
• Maxxaudio tuner and presets will be removed
• Rolling back to previous OxygenOS versions will not work without wiping data
• Some soak testers have experienced Wi-Fi speed issues, which the company has already commenced investigation on
•  Some of the old apps won't work without an upgrade to M compatible versions
• Shelf frequent apps board size might shrink if the user installs the new OS via dirty flashing. Remove and re-add the board and it will fix itself
• Language localisation is still being improved
• OxygenOS 3.0 supports only dirty flashing of this build using Oxygen recovery. Dirty flashing requires OxygenOS 2.2.0 or higher.
• Factory reset is needed if the device owners are using any other recovery or coming from any other ROM. OnePlus will not guarantee these cases to work properly.

[Disclaimer: This procedure is very technical and should be performed by a person with sound knowledge of rooting (or manual software installation) Android devices. If the step-by-step installation process is not followed properly, there are chances of the smartphone getting bricked or being irreparable. IBTimes India cannot be held responsible for any damage or claims from readers if the procedure does not yield the required results or if the smartphone is bricked. Hence, users are advised to proceed with caution.]

Tutorial on step-by-step procedure on how to install OxygenOS 3.0 on OnePlus 2:

Step 1: Download the software build for your device [downloadable files can be found at the bottom].

Step 2: Plug the phone into the computer and copy the downloaded .zip file to the phone's storage.

[Note: If you're using a Mac, you can install Android File Transfer [HERE] for this operation.]

Step 3: After the .zip file is copied to the phone, reboot the phone into recovery mode. To do this, turn off the handset and turn it back on, by long pressing the power and volume down buttons simultaneously.

Step 4: Choose "Install from local", find your .zip file and click on "Install" to confirm.

The OnePlus 2 will now be updated to the selected build and gets rebooted automatically to take you into OxygenOS. [More information, HERE]

Downloadable file:

OxygenOS 3.0: HERE