The first stable Paranoid Android Topaz build for the OnePlus 9 series is here

Plus, new builds for several Xiaomi and Poco phones

By  Rajesh Pandey Jul 16, 2023

The Paranoid Android team began working on the Android 13 version of their ROM shortly after the release of the OS in August 2022. Within a few months, they dropped the first beta build for several phones, including the OnePlus 9 series. This gave users a decent OxygenOS 13 alternative to try on their phones. But since the ROM was in beta, it was filled with bugs and issues. Now, nine months after the first Paranoid Android beta was released, the ROM has gone stable for OnePlus' 2021 flagship phones.

OnePlus pulls OxygenOS 13 update that was bricking OnePlus 9 series phones

The Chinese New Year delayed the company's initial response

By  Chandraveer Mathur Jan 31, 2023

In 2022, Samsung may have taken the cake for delivering Android updates at an impressive pace after rolling out One UI 5 so quickly. Meanwhile, even Google struggled to deliver the January Play system update to the Pixel 6 and 7. Unfortunately, attempts by OnePlus to get its older flagships up to date with modern software have gone awry. The company had to halt the release of its latest OxygenOS 13 firmware upgrade for the OnePlus 9 series because some devices refused to boot after applying the OTA.

This half-off deal for the OnePlus 9 is perfect for Android enthusiasts

Performant, ready for a ROM, and just $300

By  Jules Wang Dec 31, 2022

We have a complicated relationship with the OnePlus 9. The phone came to life in 2021 with roaring performance at an attainable price, but was cut down at every turn from the cameras that weren't as good as the OnePlus 9 Pro's all the way through to the OxygenOS 12 update which injected Oppo's ColorOS sensibilities into a user base that found it difficult to embrace. There are maybe a couple of reasons you'd want to pick one up these days — maybe it's for your collection, maybe it'll be a cheap spare, maybe it's ripe for ROM hacking — but you'd obviously want to get it for the right price. That right price may finally be here, right now.

The OnePlus 9 series gets its Android 13 update, just weeks after the open beta began

OxygenOS 13 is ready for the company's 2021 flagships

By  Arol Wright Nov 10, 2022

The OnePlus 9 series isn't the company's latest smartphones, but they're still very compelling devices today. With a Snapdragon 888 and up to 12GB of RAM, users have very little reason to switch to something newer. Some impressive discounts from its original price also allows it to rival some of the more budget-friendly phones on the market. Although the phone originally launched with Android 11, users are being treated to Android 13 with OxygenOS 13, and it's rolling out right now.

Pixel 6 series receives some shiny Topaz from Paranoid Android

OnePlus 9 series also getting an OxygenOS 13 alternative

By  Jules Wang Oct 17, 2022

Paranoid Android is kicking into high gear its Android 13 push with heaps of devices getting into pre-release builds of what it calls Topaz. The dev team fired the starting pistol over the weekend with an alpha for the Nothing Phone 1. But since then, it's been betas all the way for several OnePlus and Pixel phones.

Amazon Android Days features big discounts on the entire OnePlus lineup

If you're dead set on a OnePlus phone, now's the time to buy

By  Abdullah El-Rouby Aug 30, 2022

As part of Amazon’s Android Days event, a 48-hour flash sale dedicated to Android phones and accessories, most of the OnePlus phone lineup is currently discounted. OnePlus phones, especially the budget models, are usually well worth the normal asking price, and with extra discounts like this one, they become impossible-to-ignore deals that are just looking to make all your tech geek friends jealous.

You can now install LineageOS 19 on your OnePlus 9 and ditch OxygenOS for good

LineageOS 19 builds also arrive for Poco X3 Pro and Xiaomi Mi A1

By  Rajesh Pandey Jun 8, 2022

Following the release of Android 12-based LineageOS 19 in late April, the team behind the ROM has constantly been working on adding support for more devices. The initial build was only available for a handful of devices, including the Google Pixel lineup, Asus ZenFone 5z/8, Moto G7 series, and select other devices from Samsung, OnePlus, and Lenovo. Since then, the ROM has added support for a bunch of devices to its build roster, like the Galaxy S10 series, Essential PH-1, and the Xiaomi Mi 10T series. Less than a month later, the team is further expanding the official LineageOS 19 device compatibility list with four more popular devices.

April 2022 patch lands for the OnePlus 9 series, with no fixes for lingering OxygenOS 12 bugs

The OxygenOS 12 C.47 update for the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro does not contain any bug fixes

By  Rajesh Pandey Apr 18, 2022

OnePlus promises a respectable three years of OS updates and four years of security patches for its flagship devices. However, the security patches are only rolled out once every two months, which is behind the likes of Samsung and Google. OnePlus also takes its own sweet time rolling out new OS updates for its devices, and most of the time, the initial builds are full of bugs. The OnePlus 9 series got the March security patch last month, so the next update should have landed in May. In a surprising move, though, OnePlus has released a minor OxygenOS 12 update for its 2021 flagship lineup with the April security patch.

OnePlus 9 series March update promises a much-improved photography experience

Now rolling out in Europe and North America

By  Zohaib Ahmed Mar 19, 2022

OnePlus rubbed some in its enthusiastic user base the wrong way with its 2021 ColorOS merger announcement. A buggy initial rollout only further soured matters afterward, but efforts have been put into fixing reported issues ever since. In the name of taking care of one of those issues, the company released a bug-fixing update last week for the OnePlus 9 series. While the initial rollout skipped the US due to “country-related limitations,” another release is correcting that.

The first Paranoid Android Sapphire beta build is here

Starting with the OnePlus 9 series

By  Rajesh Pandey Mar 15, 2022

The Paranoid Android team made a huge comeback last year with their Android 12-based Sapphire Alpha builds. Initially, the ROM was available for a handful of phones before its availability expanded to more devices from OnePlus and Xiaomi. Now, more than four months after the initial build of Sapphire Alpha dropped, the Paranoid Android team has released the first beta build of their ROM for the OnePlus 9 series.

OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro get massive, predictable discounts in lead up to OnePlus 10 Pro global launch

OnePlus Buds Pro and OnePlus Buds Z2 are on sale too

By  Haroun Adamu Mar 1, 2022

There’s been a lot of discount sales on the OnePlus 9 series since they launched in March 2021. Just last month, the company reduced the prices of both the OnePlus 9 and the OnePlus 9 Pro significantly for two weeks. If you’ve been looking to buy one and somehow missed out on the too-many-to-count price slashes, you now have another chance. OnePlus is offering juicy discounts on last year’s flagship devices, alongside the OnePlus Nord N200, OnePlus Buds Pro, and OnePlus Buds Z2.

OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro update delivers January patch alongside an impressive-looking list of optimizations and fixes

Especially for users in Europe

By  Will Sattelberg Jan 21, 2022

No phone has made the jump to Android 12 without running into a few bugs along the way. Samsung paused its upgrade before making it available again just a couple of days later, while Google struggled for over a month to get its Pixel 6 issues worked out. With OxygenOS 12, OnePlus faces even greater challenges as it works to merge its code base with ColorOS. Today, a new round of bug fixes is making its way to the company's latest flagships.

OnePlus buyer's guide: Which OnePlus phone should you buy in 2022?

With a foreword about all that app-throttling business

By  Taylor Kerns Jan 10, 2022

here was a time when OnePlus's phone lineup was easy to understand, but as the brand's scope has grown, so has the sheer quantity of phones it offers. Now when you're thinking about buying a OnePlus device, you've got to contend with numbers and letters and descriptors — sometimes all at once (the OnePlus 7T Pro is a phone that exists). But what's all of it mean, and at the end of the day, which phone should you buy? Let this OnePlus phone buyer's guide be a good jumping-off point for a breakdown of some of the best Android phones you can buy.

The OnePlus 9 & 9 Pro are seriously discounted days before OnePlus 10 Pro announcement

Nothing like a good discount to digest some flaws

By  Prasham Parikh Jan 8, 2022

OnePlus phones aren't the best Android phones these days, but they're still solid products. They have a few things going for them, and a new discount from OnePlus — days before the expected launch of the OnePlus 10 Pro — definitely makes it easier to digest some of their flaws.

OnePlus 9 review: The end of an era

Longer update support doesn't matter if the updates are bad

By  Ryan Whitwam Jan 6, 2022

There was a time not that long ago that OnePlus phones were a guaranteed excellent value. That's no longer the case as the company has increasingly focused on flagship devices and carrier partnerships, pushing the cost of some devices over $1,000. OnePlus usually releases a T-series phone in the fall, but we didn't get one of those last cycle, probably thanks to the chip shortage. That puts the OP9 in a strange place of being the standard-bearer for the company after almost a year.

OnePlus is still trying to fix OxygenOS 12 on the OP 9 and 9 Pro

Starting with India and North America

By  Will Sattelberg Dec 30, 2021

Software updates are tricky, especially when you're jumping to an all-new system version. OnePlus has had a challenging time bringing Android 12 to its latest smartphones, even halting its rollout while it worked on fixing up some bugs. With today's patch, OxygenOS 12 users are getting a second round of solutions to some all too common problems.

How to install OxygenOS 12 on your OnePlus 9 (and why you maybe shouldn't)

For those who need it, here's some help

By  Jules Wang Dec 17, 2021

After suffering through an embarrassing recall, OxygenOS 12 (based on Android 12) is finally back for the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro. But is the right call to install it on your device? We're going to tell you how you can get the new update and why you might not want to.

OxygenOS 12 updates are back on for the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro, but not everything is fixed

GCam and auto-fill will have to wait for a future update

By  Will Sattelberg Dec 17, 2021

We were all set to praise OnePlus for getting its first stable build of Android 12 out to its first set of phones before the end of the year — until it turned out that update wasn't so stable after all. The company pulled its OxygenOS 12 OTA last week after discovering a ton of bugs and broken features, but the wait for its return ends today. A new build for the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro is once again making its way out to users everywhere.

OnePlus is pulling its OxygenOS 12 update for the OP 9 and 9 Pro

Hopefully a bug-free release will be out soon

By  Stephen Schenck Dec 10, 2021

Delivering a big platform update for your flagship phones is never a small task, and that's doubly true when you're dealing with a major codebase change like OnePlus faced with ColorOS integration. As a result, all eyes were on the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro as their manufacturer released its Android 12-based update for the phones earlier this week. Unfortunately, the reception's been overwhelmingly negative, and now OnePlus is taking the extraordinary step of suspending the update's distribution.