As OnePlus promised just days ago, yet more updates for its latest pair of phones are now rolling out. Unlike the last couple of pre-release updates, which had near-identical changelogs, this one delivers a handful of much-appreciated fixes, including some un-named “display effect” optimizations and camera improvements. For the 8 Pro, it also brings better touch rejection along the edges of the touchscreen. But most importantly, in our testing, the 8 Pro’s update delivers a fix for the so-called “green-tint” complaints.
Build numbers for this latest update vary: It’s 10.5.5 for the OnePlus 8 Pro, but still 10.5.4 for the OnePlus 8. OnePlus hasn’t announced the update at its forums as it usually does, but we’ve already spotted it rolling out to our own devices:
Changelog for this update. Left: OnePlus 8 Pro. Right: OnePlus 8.
Among the euphemistic changes are “optimized the display effects,” and while that’s offensively vague, I can confirm in my own testing that grays at very low brightness levels no longer tint green so drastically (i.e., this is at least a partial fix for the “green-tint” complaints). That also helps to reduce the visibility of any panel unevenness with things like night/dark theme backgrounds at night. Crushed/clipped blacks also seem to be less of a problem at different brightness levels, but I think OnePlus can still make it better.
The OnePlus 8’s changelog also claims to have the same display effect changes, but I didn’t notice any “green-tint” problem with mine.
Outside display-specific fixes, the update also adds some improvements for edge touch sensitivity, which was a bit of a problem on the 8 Pro given its curved edges, sheer size, and apparent lack of edge touch rejection previously. I can report that the phone now rejects touch input as you’d hope and expect it to. Even with my thumb resting on the side of the screen and the pad of my thumb spilling over onto the front, the phone correctly rejects that as a source of input, and the keyboard doesn’t close anymore when something accidentally touches the curved edges.
The soap opera effect-like “motion graphics smoothing” on the 8 Pro is now allegedly even smoother — though I personally can’t stand motion interpolation and am happy to report it’s still turned off by default.
Camera fixes for low-light white balance and focus on both phones are also present, plus other improvements in “smoothness and stability.” Other fixes and enhancements for mobile data, Wi-Fi, and general system stability are also included.
The updates are rolling out as we speak for the handful of folks that already have the phone, so it should be a day-one download for those that buy either once general sales open on April 29th.
