The OnePlus 5 and the OnePlus 5T were the company's pair of 2017 flagship smartphones, and the two phones are still poised to receive software updates according to OnePlus' Software Maintenance Schedule. Although both phones launched with Android 7.1 Nougat on board, OnePlus has promised to update them sometime in Q2 of 2020 with OxygenOS 10 based on Android 10. This promise was made back in October of 2019 during the launch of the OnePlus 7T Pro, and now, OnePlus is starting to make good on its promise. The company has announced the first Android 10 beta update for the OnePlus 5 and 5T.
OnePlus 5 Forums ||| OnePlus 5T Forums
Over on the official OnePlus forums, Manu J., Global Product Operations Manager at OnePlus, announced that the company is ready to roll out the first beta OxygenOS 10 build based on Android 10 for the OnePlus 5 and 5T. OnePlus wants interested users to test this release before the company rolls out the update to the wider public. Because this is a test build, it won't be available via an OTA update. However, unlike other Open Beta builds, you will receive OTA updates for future OxygenOS stable builds as well as Open Beta builds. That means you won't have to wipe the data on your device to migrate from the Android 10 beta release to the stable release, but do keep in mind that if you're still on the final Android 9 Pie-based OxygenOS Open Beta, you'll have to perform a data wipe to upgrade to this new Android 10 beta release in the first place.
Here is the stated changelog for the Android 10 Open Beta 1 update:
Changelog
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System
- Brand new UI design brings light and fluid experience
- Updated to Android 10
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Full Screen Gesture (OP5T Only)
- Newly added Hidden Bar to allow left-right switches of recent apps
In addition to the changes listed here, there are also other features introduced in Android 10 and OxygenOS 10.
Here are the download links: OnePlus 5, OnePlus 5T. Once you have the Android 10 Open Beta 1 package downloaded, move it to the root directory of your internal storage using a file manager application. Then, go to Settings > System > System updates, press the menu button in the top right-hand corner, choose Local Upgrade, and then select the file you downloaded.
If you would rather wait for OnePlus to roll out the stable Android 10 update for the OnePlus 5 and 5T, then you don't have to do anything today. The last stable OxygenOS update for both devices was released back in March of 2020, so unless there are some glaring bugs with this Android 10 beta build, we can expect it to go stable sometime next month.