OnePlus is fixing the 3’s screen and RAM issues in a reviewer-first update

Fix for OnePlus 3's screen, RAM issues will be delayed

By Christian de Looper Updated July 5, 2016

OnePlus 3 — Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

The OnePlus 3 was released to much fanfare just recently, but shortly thereafter, reviewers began noticing a few issues with the phone — it had some problems with how it displays colors, and with how it manages RAM.

It seems as though the folks at OnePlus have taken note of the criticism, however, and will be fixing the issues in an upcoming update that will bump the version of Oxygen OS to version 3.1.4. But owners are going to have to wait: On Tuesday, the company’s developers announced that distribution of the rollout had been halted because some users experienced “issues while upgrading.”

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When it comes to the screen, the OnePlus 3’s display basically enhanced colors too much, according to early adopters of the phone, who reported that the issue causes images to look different than they should. The update, when it eventually reaches handsets, will allow you to turn on sRGB mode, which basically brings down the colors a little and gives them a much more realistic look.

The issue with how the OnePlus 3 manages RAM is that while it has a hefty 6GB of RAM, it’s quick to cut apps it deems as unused from memory, meaning that those apps take longer when reopened, which can be pretty inconvenient. The update will address this issue and keep apps in memory longer, cutting down on load times.

The display issue in particular has been the subject of some controversy. When AnandTech reviewed the phone, it deemed the display as extremely disappointing, leading to speculation on Reddit that OnePlus had cut corners in order to cut costs. This basically sent OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei into a rant, during which he argued that the decision to use that particular display was based on user experience.

For example, some suggest OnePlus should have opted for a 2K display, and while Pei implies that it could have done so because of only a small price difference between the two, the decision to go for a 1080p display was apparently based on enhancing the user experience. Perhaps the 2K display would have been too hard on the battery.

As for the color issue, Pei does admit that the display wasn’t tuned to use sRGB, but says that’s because it’s not something users would want anyway. Still, it’s nice to see that it will appear as an option, even if there are only a few people who want to use it.

Article originally published on 07-05-2016. Updated on 07-05-2016 by Kyle Wiggers: Added news of delayed rollout.

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Christian de Looper

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Christian’s interest in technology began as a child in Australia, when he stumbled upon a computer at a garage sale that he…

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