First-gen OnePlus Nord beats its sequel to the stable Android 12 punch
Inaugurated almost two years ago, the OnePlus Nord family has quickly grown to include several of the best budget phones available in 2022 in many major markets around the world.
That's primarily thanks to a great balance of raw power and affordability, with models such as the N10 5G, N200 5G, and the recently released N20 5G positively shining in the hardware specifications department... while largely failing to impress from a software and software support standpoint.
Interestingly, that doesn't appear to be the case as far as the OG OnePlus Nord is concerned, with last year's Android 11 update being followed by an official Android 12 promotion as we speak. Although not exactly blazing fast by, say, Samsung's standards, this over-the-air delivery is likely to be treated as a very nice surprise by quite a few owners of the 6.44-inch device that laid the groundwork for the Nord-branded flood of the past 18 months or so.
Among other reasons, that's because the slightly newer (and admittedly lower-end) Nord N100 and N10 5G are not meant to receive Android 12 goodies at all. Then there's the aptly named Nord 2, which is the direct sequel of the first-gen 5G-enabled Nord and is yet to be upgraded to a stable form of the latest version of Google's industry-leading mobile OS.
The original OnePlus Nord is even beating the hot new Nord N20 5G to the Android 12-based OxygenOS 12 punch, which is pretty much unprecedented... and almost impossible to explain or justify to early adopters of the latter handset.
As usual, OnePlus is only prepared to commit to an "incremental" OTA delivery, with a "small percentage of users" apparently reached over the weekend and a "broader rollout" scheduled to take place "in a few days" if everything goes according to the initial plan.
For the time being, it seems that the stable update is exclusively underway in India, but many other countries are likely to follow suit before long. The same obviously goes for the aforementioned Nord 2 5G, whose open Android 12 beta program started a couple of weeks ago. Similar public tests were kicked off for the OG Nord at the beginning of April, so it really shouldn't take long for the second-gen model to complete its development of the revised OS.
Said revisions, tweaks, and improvements seem to weigh in at a whopping total of 4GB (!!!) for Nord users who've chosen to sit out the open beta program, with April 2022 security patches included in the over-the-air package in addition to all of the following, according to XDA-Developers:
System
- [Added] Smart Battery Engine, a feature that prolongs your battery life based on smart algorithms and biomimetic self-restoration technology;
- [Optimized] Desktop icons with improved textures, by using a design inspired by brand-new materials and uniting lights and layers.
Dark mode
- [Supported] Three adjustable levels, bringing a more personalized and comfortable user experience.
Shelf
- [Added] New additional style options for Cards, making data contents more visual and easier to read;
- [Added] Access to OnePlus Scout in Shelf, allowing you to search multiple contents on your phone, including Apps, Settings, Media Data, etc.
Work Life Balance
- [Added] Work Life Balance feature, allowing you to effortlessly switch between Work and Life mode via quick settings;
- [Supported] Automatic Work/Life mode switching, based on specific locations, Wi-Fi network, and time, also bringing customized App notification profiles according to the personalization.
Gallery
- [Supported] Switching between different layouts with a two-finger pinch gesture, intelligently recognizing the best-quality pictures, and cropping the thumbnail based on the content, making the gallery layout more pleasing.
Canvas AOD
- [Added] New diverse styles of lines and colors, for a more personalized lock screen experience with inspiring visuals;
- [Added] Multiple brushes and strokes and support for color adjustment;
- [Optimized] Software algorithm and improved face recognition to better identify the features and skin color of different figures.
Games
- [Added] HyperBoost end-to-end frame rate stabilizer;
- [Added] Voice effect preview to allow you to record your voice effect or check your voice effect in real-time.
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