Following an earlier release of an Open Beta build of Android 12 for the original Nord, today OnePlus has finally managed to get round to issuing a similar release for the much newer Nord 2, which launched last July running Android 11 and is still stuck on that version of the OS even today.
That's a big shame, but OnePlus is seemingly working on rectifying it. One small step at a time. The first such step is today's release of OxygenOS 12 Open Beta 1 for the Nord 2. As usual with such builds, don't go down this path if you're not comfortable with bugs and random issues showing up. The Open Beta 1 will make some features of the Nord 1 Pac-Man edition disappear, so maybe skip this entirely if you have one of those.
 |
| photo credit: ytechb.com |
Aside from everything that Google packed into the Android 12 release last year, this update also brings you "AI System Booster 2.1", which makes "your system run smoothly even when the load is high", Smart Battery Engine (a feature that prolongs battery life based on "smart algorithms and biomimetic self-restoration technology"), improved textures on app icons, optimized Extra HD (a feature that can "significantly enhance image and video resolutions"), three adjustable Dark mode levels, a bunch of new styles and features for the Shelf, Work-Life Balance, Gallery, Canvas AOD, and the added HyperBoost end-to-end frame rate stabilizer for games.
If you're interested in the full, lengthy changelog, you can find it at the Source linked below, which is also where detailed installation instructions await the brave among you. As for known issues, so far there are only two: Face Unlock might be unusable in the dark after turning on Brighten screen in dim light through Settings, and Fortnite will crash.
It's important to remember that going from a mainstream build to an Open Beta can be done without any erasing of data, but if you are on the Open Beta branch and then want to go back to the main one, you will have to erase all the contents of the phone. Final note: as of now, the only download available of OxygenOS 12 Open Beta 1 is for the Indian version of the Nord 2.