I had to switch to an older phone while trying to fix the screen flickering issue with my Pixel 6 Pro. I dug through the heap to find one that could be updated to Android 13 and ended up with the OnePlus 8. The gorgeous Interstellar Glow model still has a volume key like a proper OnePlus phone.
A day and about 16GB of downloading later, I realize why so many people don’t even bother updating their old phones – because the process sucks.
Initially, all Android phones were updated the same way. I was forced to do one update at a time and it took half forever for the process to happen once I downloaded the file.
Google fixed the issues over the years by adding a way to use a second partition to make the update process faster and deliver delta updates, where you only had to install things that had already changed and it could merge multiple small updates into one file.
I wasn’t thinking about this when I charged and turned on the OnePlus 8. Honestly, I was thinking about how to remove the screen on the Pixel 6 Pro without breaking it so I can push the damn cable all the way back into the socket. A broken screen meant about $200 out of my wallet.
I knew there would be an update or two waiting for me. However, I ended up sitting through four security patch updates, the Android 12 update, the second Android 12 update, the Android 13 update, and the final security patch update. That’s about 16GB of data for anyone tracking and about three hours of my valuable time.
I was curious so I took out my Pixel 4 and did the same thing. I had one update that put me on Android 13 with the February 2023 patch. I wish the battery on the Pixel 4 wasn’t a complete trash so I can use it though.
One place OnePlus gets it right is how it uses a separate update section so you don’t have to sit through a long, horrible file flicker while looking at the boot screen. That’s all the company gets when it comes to Android updates.
This is important because it’s exactly how Samsung does it. OnePlus may make good phones but hardly anyone uses them, while Samsung is the biggest phone maker in the world. You know someone who uses a Samsung phone and chances are you do too.
A lot of these people don’t care about updates, and the painful process is part of the reason. Nobody likes to restart their phone and will remember the time they had to do it eight times in one afternoon like I did. Instead, you ignore it and wipe the notification away.
I want to be fair here, so I have to say that I have no idea if this is something OnePlus has sorted out with the newer models. Samsung didn’t, and if you have a Galaxy S21 that you haven’t turned on in a few years, you’ll go through the same process I did.
At least the software you get is better. All those complaints about Android 13 Color OS whatever on the OnePlus forums are genuine. Too bad OnePlus created a tool that lets you undo. Of course, I didn’t read any of that before I started because I do things without thinking about them.
Anyhoo, I still have a phone running Android 13 in case I need to test something while I’m trying to work up the nerve to unlock my Pixel 6 Pro. It took a long time to get here and it’s an awful experience that made me reconsider how bad the battery on the Pixel 4 really is.