I did it, and HOLY CRAP THIS PHONE IS HUGE. Other hands-on observations:

• the vibration motor is garbage holy crap

• apparently I have to wait an arbitrary amount of time (allegedly a week) for OnePlus or T-Mobile to send me an unlock code even through it is fully carrier unlocked??

• I actually really like the OnePlus launcher on this phone, if only because of the tasteful customization and ability to have all apps on the home screen

• For a “clean” OEM ROM, there is still a lot of cruft

• The teardrop is a cute solution to a notch, but a hole-punch just looks better in every way.

• These rounded corners are hilariously wonky, and the software design with them is baaaad. Uneven margins and text weirdly close to the edges. I thought the Pixel 5 corners were perfect, these are just too much.

• The fingerprint sensor is pretty garbage, and this is coming from a Pixel 7 user. It definitely feels like early optical tech and makes me appreciate the still imperfect Pixel 7 one more.

Since I’ve been forced to wait a week by #OnePlus and T-Mobile to be allowed to unlock the bootloader on my phone that is 100% paid off and network unlocked, I decided to poke around with the default software some more.

It’s a _pretty good_ OEM version of #Android 11. I miss a lot of the Android 12 and 13 niceties, and over all it just feels a lot less cohesive than a Pixel. Like, if this was your experience with Android, I’d get why you would think it was not as well designed as iOS.

Okay I am officially bored of the stock OnePlus software. I definitely appreciate my Pixel more when I pick it up, though.

C'mon OnePlus/T-Mobile, email me that unlock code, already… it’s Linux time!

#Linux #GNOME #OnePlus #TMobile #Android