OnePlus 3 and the refreshed OnePlus 3T started receiving the latest Android 7.1 Nougat about a day ago, but this was only happening in China.
The Chinese version of Android 7.1 Nougat comes with HydrogenOS on top of it, but there is a global version that is based on the OxygenOS skin. Now, according to OnePlus, those in markets other than China can now get their hands on the new version of the Android OS.
Like the team in China, the global versions of both OnePlus 3 and 3T will be updated with the beta version of Android 7.1 Nougat, but this step should mean that the stable version isn’t so far away from rolling out. As you all may know, v7.1 Nougat adds a few improvements to the original v7.0 as well as introduction of a bunch of new features, among them support for Google’s Daydream VR.
Yes, you read it right! The new Android 7.1 Nougat update brings the much-elusive Google Daydream VR support to both OnePlus 3 and 3T. According to fresh details coming from Reddit, someone has already extracted the new ROM and from the findings, there is a Daydream component in both phone’s builds with the file name “android.hardware.vr.high_performance.xml”. Apparently, this is the component that brings support for Daydream VR on the two phones and it’s located in /system/etc/permissions.
Discover what's new in OxygenOS! The latest Open Beta build is now available on the forums. https://t.co/p7UKVEDzDG pic.twitter.com/lXuvm4ax8z
— OnePlus (@oneplus) March 1, 2017
This is an interesting development for OnePlus 3 and 3T owners, especially since it has always been claimed that one of the minimum requirements for Google Daydream VR is a QHD display resolution, yet none of these two phones has this resolution, instead, they both have Full HD resolution. On the contrary, since the smaller Google Pixel phone comes with inbuilt support for this VR platform yet it has a Full HD resolution, it was always going to pave way for other devices with the same resolution to join the party – and it has just happened!
Be warned that the current Android 7.1 Nougat update for both OnePlus 3 and 3T is still in beta and we can’t tell what will exactly be the case when the stable version comes out. But hopefully, this Daydream VR support will be retained and further improved during the entire beta testing program.