OnePlus to finally bring the Always-on-Display feature to its smartphones.
OnePlus is finally working on bringing the Always-on-Display feature to its smartphones. It is a feature that OnePlus fans and users have been requesting since the past few years now. The feature basically allows users to take a glance at the notifications, time and the battery percentage without needing to unlock the phone. AOD was made widespread after the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S7 series, the first flagship series to come with such feature. It has now been adopted by many other OEMs including Huawei, Google, Xiaomi, LG and more.
Always-on-Display is a software-based feature and does not have any specific hardware requirements. However, the feature should only be enabled on phones with OLED panels as LCD ones can draw a lot of power. While OLED panels have the ability to turn off the pixels that are not being used, LCD panels are left turned on completely resulting in a high amount of battery drainage. Notably, OnePlus has been using AMOLED panels since the launch of the OnePlus 3 back in 2016.
OnePlus, up until now, has constrained from providing the feature over concerns of excessive battery drainage. Most smartphone, when used with the AOD feature, turned on pull only a small amount of extra battery, which sits usually between 2-3 per cent per hour. As the users have the choice to turn it off, they get to decide whether the small battery drainage is a cost they are ready to pay or not.
After the OnePlus 3 was dropped, people started begging for the AOD feature as the OnePlus phones started getting AMOLED panels. After four years of users' requests, the company has finally decided to listen. The company claims that the top feature request in the new OnePlus IDEAS forum has been for the implementation of an AOD feature in OxygenOS.
While it is exciting to wait for the feature, the company has not yet clarified which OnePlus devices will get the feature. This does make one point clear that the upcoming OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro devices will come with the AOD feature out of the box. OnePlus 7 series should receive the feature via an OxygenOS update. The major concern is for the older devices that include the OnePlus 6T, OnePlus 6, OnePlus 5T, OnePlus 5, OnePlus 3T and the OnePlus 3.
