OnePlus recently hosted an Ask Me Anything (AMA) event at Reddit possibly to stir some more interest on the OnePlus 3T. In two days, it has accumulated thousands of responses highlighting the immense interest generated by the handset, which was officially launched last Nov. 22.
On OnePlus 3T's Early Release
Essentially, the Reddit AMA event has been opened to address questions about the device. Participants immediately pounced on the very thing that has preoccupied a number of fans upon the 3T's announcement:
Why release the device barely 6 months after OnePlus 3's rollout?
OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, through his Reddit username carpe02, merely reiterated what he has stated before.
"We had the capability to improve the product, wanted to try it out, so we did," Pei said. "We think in a simple way. :)"
Fear Of Obsolescence
Some users noted that the gap between the OnePlus 3 and 3T is about 6 months and promptly voiced concern that OnePlus 4 and future devices will get the same release pacing. There is fear that it exposes OnePlus handsets to redundancy and quick obsolescence.
"I hope that I can love my device for at least a year or two, with the full experience of good and solid updates," a Reddit poster said.
Some users have taken to helping the OnePlus team answer questions. For example, to address the question about the short product release cycle, some users began referencing that the latest and greatest specs today such as the Snapdragon 821 processor will probably get replaced by a better chipset by the time OnePlus 4 becomes available. This is one of the most effective posts thus far, capturing OnePlus' talking point that they have the opportunity so they are acting on it.
Hardware vs. Software Imbalance
As the OnePlus team struggled to cover all the questions and issues raised about the OnePlus 3T, some posters also began citing the software support for older devices such as OnePlus One and OnePlus 2. This crowd pointed out that these older devices have been seemingly abandoned since updates to their versions of the OxygenOS have been slow in coming.
"My op2 is stuck on oxygenOS 2.2.1 and I cannot do anything to get it to 3.0.2 or higher," said one poster.
The problem has popped up numerous times as the OnePlus team got uncharacteristically silent in the subject of software updates except to say that OnePlus 3 and 3T will get the same software treatment after the Android Nougat update.
Some of OnePlus' responses also provide a bit of insight such as the possibility that the slow OS development could be blamed on the process of integrating the Oxygen OS and Hydrogen OS. The OnePlus team noted that they are now working faster when compared with the time they have to maintain two teams for these operating systems.
On Daydream And The Future
When Daydream VR also got thrown in the mix, the OnePlus team pointed out that it would not be released yet. Future phones such as the OnePlus 4 have also been discussed. However, no definite plans or hardware specs were provided.
OnePlus 3T is not yet available in the United States. Retailers such as Amazon are only selling OnePlus 3 and older OnePlus handsets.
