OnePlus 7 Gets Its First Update, Said to Improve Photo Quality; Also Adds April Security Patch, DC Dimming, and Fnatic Mode

The OnePlus 7 went on sale in India today at 12pm (noon) at a starting price of Rs. 32,999 for the base 6GB RAM/ 128GB variant. Consumers have been waiting for this smartphone since its launch last month. At the current price, it is the most affordable smartphone that is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC. OnePlus has now rolled out the first software update for this smartphone and it should reach retail units soon after they are unboxed.

The update brings OxygenOS 9.5.4.GM57AA to the OnePlus 7₹ 32,999 (Review) and it is 223MB in size. It claims to improve the camera performance of the smartphone, bring tweaks for smooth scrolling and an optimised algorithm for in-display fingerprint unlock sensor, apart from "general bux fixes and improvements". OnePlus is also bringing a DC Dimming feature to the OnePlus 7 along with Fnatic Gaming mode. These two features weren't available on the OnePlus 7 before the update and were exclusive to the OnePlus 7 Pro

Post the update, we didn't find any improvement in the photo quality of the OnePlus 7 after installing the update, in comparison with our review. You can see the before and after images here, below. The DC Dimming feature and Fnatic Mode features were added to our OnePlus 7 review unit. This update also brings in the April 2019 Android security patch for the OnePlus 7.

OnePlus 7 photo quality before update (left), photo quality after update (right) (Tap to see full-size image)

OnePlus updated the OnePlus 7 Pro₹ 48,999 (Review) to get the DC Dimming feature as well. This DC Dimming feature uses DC voltage to control the light output of the LED. Currently, smartphones use Pulse Width Modulation which causes the screen to flicker at low brightness levels. It is a beta feature but if you wish to enable it, you can go to Settings > Utilities > OnePlus Laboratory > DC Dimming.

Fnatic mode is another new addition to the OnePlus 7 via this update. This feature boosts gaming performance on the device. It blocks all notifications on the smartphone, diverts all resources towards the game, and also disables the secondary SIM slot to increase the signal strength on the primary SIM and reduce interference. You can enable Fnatic mode by going to Settings > Utilities > Gaming Mode> Fnatic Mode

You should get an update notification on your OnePlus 7 smartphone. In case, you want to manually search for the update, you can go to Settings > System > System Updates to check for it