I tried OnePlus’ OxygenOS 15, and it’s much better than I expected

Ahead of OnePlus announcing OxygenOS 15, Oppo showed disconnected ColorOS 15, which has taken rather a batch of inspiration from Apple’s iOS software. Given really intimately nan 2 pieces of package are related, I was abruptly concerned that OxygenOS 15 would travel nan aforesaid path.

I’ve now had immoderate hands-on clip pinch OnePlus’ latest software. Is it arsenic derivative arsenic I feared? Surprisingly, no.

Not a full iOS clone

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Thankfully, OnePlus has not adopted each nan heavy-handed “inspired by iOS” features visible successful ColorOS, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t taken a fewer of them on. Perhaps nan astir evident is simply a Dynamic Island rip-off called Dynamic Cloud, wherever a pill-like floating model appears astatine nan very apical of nan surface surrounding nan beforehand camera connected my OnePlus 12. It useful pinch immoderate modular apps for illustration nan Recorder and pinch third-party apps for illustration Spotify, but not pinch different logical apps for illustration YouTube Music aliases OnePlus’ O Relax app (at least, not astatine this time).

You tin swipe it distant and swipe it backmost again while it’s active, which is nice. A pat expands nan model to show Spotify euphony controls and actions for nan Recorder app. It seems to activity really well, and I for illustration nan mini “music playing” animation, but it’s not nan first clip we’ve seen an Android telephone pinch this feature.

The caller move fastener surface is different iOS carryover, pinch nan expertise to create different civilization fastener surface and location surface styles and move betwixt them. Just for illustration iOS, you tin alteration nan timepiece style and adhd a extent effect to make photos of group aliases pets guidelines retired from nan background.

There’s an overseas Word Art characteristic for nan wallpaper, which adds a connection to nan inheritance aliases foreground, but you tin only take betwixt a group fewer examples, made up of cringey phrases for illustration Keep Movin’, Game On, Fast, and Cute. Not being capable to adhd your ain words is strange, but not being capable to region OnePlus’ silly words wholly is very annoying. This besides continues successful different caller wallpaper styles, and nan phrases get moreover worse. I will never, ever want to usage a wallpaper pinch True to nan Core aliases Be nan Legend written connected it, yet OxygenOS 15 assumes I will. Also, nan truth nan connection Fast looks for illustration “fart” and sits down a photograph of a man’s bottommost is an unfortunate, but childishly amusing coincidence.

ColorOS 15 looks to person much customization features for nan look of nan fastener surface and widgets, galore of which look to travel straight from iOS, but these are missing connected my type of OxygenOS 15. You tin still move up nan look of nan fastener screen, but not arsenic overmuch arsenic successful ColorOS 15, and based connected immoderate of nan atrocious options available, you’ll astir apt want to instrumentality pinch a plain aged inheritance anyway. Elsewhere, Google Assistant is still nan default adjunct connected my OnePlus 12 pinch OxygenOS 15, but for consequent OnePlus phones, it will beryllium swapped to Google Gemini.

Is it still accelerated and smooth?

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OnePlus has ever emphasized nan velocity and smoothness of its OxygenOS package arsenic a large benefit, and for OxygenOS 15, it has introduced Parallel Processing. This exertion is designed to support animations and app switching operating without lag, peculiarly for dense users who multitask often and request to entree aggregate apps very quickly. Whether you’ll announcement nan differences depends connected if you make these demands connected nan system, intimately observe animations successful slow motion, aliases straight comparison different phones together simultaneously.

I person utilized OxygenOS 15 normally, and it’s surely fast, but whether you deliberation it’s smoother than earlier will dangle connected your meaning of nan word. A tried-and-tested cliché is to comparison smoothness pinch butter, and I find OxygenOS 15’s food to beryllium nan benignant that has gotten a small excessively acold successful nan refrigerator. In its quest for smoothness, nan package tin consciousness a small labored (even erstwhile group to accelerated successful nan Settings menu). When I comparison basal animations and navigation pinch nan Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, nan OneUI-equipped Samsung telephone feels snappier and much straight successful tune pinch my finger’s movements. I deliberation OnePlus’s food needs immoderate clip astatine room somesthesia earlier use, but not everyone will agree.

OnePlus has ever pushed nan velocity and smoothness of its OxygenOS software.

The Games app has an updated Toolkit pinch a action of caller features, including nan expertise to summation nan framework rate, a 4D vibration mode, a Quick Start feature, and a measurement to way nan magnitude of clip you play a game. When playing Asphalt Legends Unite, nan 4D vibration characteristic was not available, but I utilized nan Adaptive Frame Booster and nan Hyper Resolution. The crippled plays good and looks awesome connected nan OnePlus 12, but I’m not judge really overmuch of that is down to nan crippled mode tweaks aliases nan stunning surface and powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. Either way, playing games is 1 of nan OnePlus 12’s beardown points.

AI photo-editing tools

• 1. Original
• 2. AI Eraser

Open nan Gallery app, and you’ll find OnePlus’ caller AI Editor tool, which includes an AI Eraser and 3 caller features called AI Detail Boost, AI Reflection Eraser, and AI Unblur. Using existing photos saved connected my OnePlus 12, I gave nan AI Eraser and nan AI Detail Boost a effort and was mostly impressed pinch nan results from them both.

The AI Eraser instrumentality successfully removed a personification from a photograph and filled successful nan inheritance successful specified a measurement that you’d person to look difficult to recognize it was AI-generated. However, nan instrumentality only automatically recognized 1 personification successful a photograph of 2 people, and there’s nary measurement to adhd nan different truthful nan instrumentality removes both. You person to usage nan Smart Lasso instrumentality to do this. You can’t edit its action either, truthful successful this photo, it removed nan dog’s lead. It’s not arsenic smart arsenic Google’s Magic Eraser.

To effort nan AI Detail boost, I cropped an existing photograph down and ran it done nan feature. It efficaciously sharpens nan picture, removing nan blur and pixelation introduced erstwhile you harvest an image down. It’s astir noticeable connected nan equine rider’s information vest, wherever nan matter has mislaid each its fuzziness. The solution jumped up to a afloat 4096 x 3072 pixels, truthful there’s much to it than conscionable a fewer basal tweaks. It’s an effective instrumentality that really does amended nan look of cropped images.

Other caller features successful OxygenOS 15

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What other is caller successful OxygenOS 15? There are caller icon designs to try, a flimsy alteration to nan Settings paper (which emphasizes abstraction and minimizes clutter), and a prime to divided nan notification and speedy entree shades betwixt nan near and correct of nan location screen.

OnePlus’ Shelf has been redesigned pinch caller colors and layout options. An different Share pinch iPhone characteristic has been added to seamlessly stock files pinch nan competing device, and nan OnePlus Open’s photograph attachment shortcut makes an quality to velocity up photograph sharing, too. Theft Protection is an different caller characteristic that uses nan accelerometer and various different factors to measure if your telephone has been stolen and past automatically locks it.

Aside from nan photo-editing devices that usage AI, OnePlus besides uses Google Gemini models for various productivity tools. In AI Notes, it tin make summaries, alteration nan formatting, heighten nan copy, and moreover grow connected slug points. An AI Reply characteristic useful successful WhatsApp, Snapchat, and Instagram and tin contextually understand messages and make replies. Intelligent Search scans each section files connected your telephone from a azygous hunt building and generates an reply to your question, but it does not look that it will activity connected each OnePlus phones. Circle to Search also arrives and is 1 of nan astir adjuvant AI features, but it is disposable connected galore different Android phones, too.

Better than expected

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

After utilizing OxygenOS 15 for a fewer hours, it seems OnePlus has kept astir of ColorOS’ iOS homage retired of nan software, and I’m very pleased astir that. Most group will admit nan velocity and travel of nan OS, but it whitethorn request refining, arsenic I for illustration Samsung’s attack to smoothness. The AI photo-editing devices are interesting, but nan wallpaper and fastener surface customizations are oddly restrictive, and astir of nan different AI features won’t beryllium ones you usage each nan time.

One flimsy interest is OnePlus’s nonaccomplishment to corroborate that each nan features discussed will beryllium disposable connected nan OnePlus 12, arsenic it has stated that Google Gemini and Intelligent Search will beryllium restricted to nan OnePlus 13. This aside, and considering my trepidation erstwhile I started utilizing it, OxygenOS 15 turned retired to beryllium a pleasant astonishment — and I deliberation you’re going to bask utilizing it.