We went to London to understand a little more about the system OxygenOS 13 – arriving in mid-2023 – which will animate the smartphones of the family OnePlus. But what was the need to go and do an in-depth analysis only on the operating system? Well since the merger between OnePlus and OPPO, which took place in mid-June 2022, the aficionados of the brand have perhaps been a little afraid of losing that character that only OxygenOS has been able to build over the years. Let’s try to understand something.
OxygenOS 13… no, don’t call it (anymore) ColorOS
Let’s try to go straight to the point that it’s useless to go around it anyway. In mid-June 2022 the merger between OPPO and OnePlus and to announce it was Pete Lauthe founder of OnePlus directly on the official forum:
As many of you know, I took on additional responsibilities last year to oversee the product strategy of both OnePlus and OPPO. Meanwhile, we have integrated some of our teams into OPPO to streamline activities and capitalize on shared resources. After seeing the positive impact of these changes, we have decided to further integrate our organization into that of OPPO.
Pete Lau – Chief Product Officer of OPPO / Founder of OnePlus
Someone will ask: but what changed compared to before? Right observation. Now OnePlus can count on more resources (both production and development), an even better hardware development, will be able to make even more economies of scale but above all have a technological transfer from the OPPO brand (such as Supervooc technology).
Among the shared activities there should also have been a unification of the OS which would have seen OxygenOS merge with ColorOS (the current OPPO system present on several OnePlus smartphones). That was the case for a while, but now the cards on the table are definitely changing. This is why the need to meet journalists from all over the world to put some dots on the i explaining what the company’s new vision will be linked to the development of OxygenOS 13 and future.
Gary Chen (head of Software Products di OnePlus) e Crayon Hsieh (Head of OneLab di OnePlus)
Same scaffolding, different “makeup”
At the London round table, in front of journalists, Gary Chen (Head of Software Products of OnePlus) and Crayon Hsieh (Head of OneLab of OnePlus) talked about how the new OxygenOS 13 will have an infrastructural base shared with the OPPO brand and with its ColorOS while all that are the graphic parts and the general user experience will be that typical of OnePlusthe one that made nerds from all over the world fall in love with it when the brand was launched on the market 13.
Indeed, OxygenOS has always been renowned and loved for its punctual updates, clean graphics without artifice and speed of response. In short, one her arrival was a godsend.
To be clear, ColorOS is not “evil” but perhaps it is not good for all those who have always chosen OnePlus for very specific reasons: the price and speed of the operating system which has never had equal.
Furthermore, OnePlus’ relationship with its community has always been very, very intense, in any corner of the world. A few years ago we went to India to find out how OnePlus had become the number one brand in a difficult market like the Indian one. And the answer we gave ourselves was thanks to the community.
First images of the OxygenOS 13 Always on display shown on OnePlus 10 pro and 10T
What’s new in OxygenOS 13
The news of OxygenOS 13 they will be different and will try to put the user back at the centre, as was the case in the past. Some of the new features have instead been developed in close collaboration with partners such as Google and Spotify.
- AI System Booster
Thanks to advanced and intelligent memory management systems, AI System Booster allows you to suspend multiple applications at the same time, so you can quickly switch between applications for a faster, smoother and more uninterrupted experience. The system makes performance consistent even under memory overload and gets the job done in seconds. The result is a 30% increase in fluency rate, 20% increase in app installation speed, and 10% increase in app launch speed compared to previous versions of OxygenOS. - Homeland Always on Display
A new and dynamic Always On Display (AOD) which is activated based on temperature changes in real time and which shows different animations with a very “kawaii” mood. The AOD also allows you to view the time, date, notifications, missed calls and more when the screen is off. - Always on Display per Spotify
OnePlus will be the first to offer an always-on music display tailored to your recent tastes and listening. Working together with Spotify, OnePlus managed to fine-tune the details of Spotify’s AOD, such as colors, font size and icon style. In the future, the cooperation between OnePlus and Spotify will be further strengthened. We asked if other players were planned and so far the answer has been no. We will see in the future if there will be further developments. - The first Spatial Audio developed together with Google
OnePlus is the first manufacturer to develop Spatial Audio technology in collaboration with Google and Dolby, for seamless integration with Android and the best possible experience with Dolby Atmos. The result is one of the most advanced spatial audio solutions ever, with support for multi-channel and dual-channel content. “Sound quality is a subjective matter,” he says Gary Chen, Head of Software Products di OnePlus. “To measure it meaningfully, OnePlus put together a team that dedicated itself to optimizing the sound quality based on the feedback obtained in the test phase”. Obviously not all headphones are suitable for Spatial Audio, so this portends us an imminent launch of headphones with this functionality. - Private Safe 2.0
OxygenOS 13’s Private Safe 2.0 ensures safe and secure data sharing. For some specific application scenarios, OnePlus implements the “Auto Pixelate” feature on Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. When users share a screeshot from these two apps, OxygenOS 13 automatically mosaics private information to ensure that user data isn’t accidentally leaked. When the app asks the user for permission, the user can choose to deny it, allow this time, or always allow. - Design Aquamorphic
OxygenOS 13 is based on the design philosophy that OnePlus has renamed Aquamorphic. The colors of OxygenOS 13 are more vibrant and neutral than the previous version. At the same time, for a better user experience, buttons with clear edges have been added to improve their intuitiveness. Calculators, lock screen shortcuts, etc. have been added with defined action areas to make user clicks safer and more intuitive.
From what we saw during the conference, the look and feel of OxygenOS 13 will depart from that of Oppo’s ColorOS to give users personalized experiences.
4 years of major updates and 5 years of security patches
During the meeting with the press, the team of OnePlus has confirmed its commitment to improving the user experience of its users, providing 4 generations of OxygenOS and 5 years of security patches on smartphones that will be presented starting from 2023.
In short, it seems that for OnePlus the return to the original link with its community is very close and we are very happy with this.