OnePlus phones just keep getting better and better, but what’s not often talked about very much is the software that comes pre-installed on board. It’s Android, but it’s OnePlus’ own brand of Android called OxygenOS and it’s getting very close to beating Google at its own game.
From the once-very-bloated-but-now-not-so-bad offering that is Samsung One UI to more vanilla takes from LG and HTC to the quirky OS skins that Huawei and Xiaomi put out, every manufacturer likes to put its own particular spin on Android (apart from stock Android devotees like Nokia). For many years it was accepted that Google led the way with the slickest, most intuitive, most efficient software: the ‘stock’ Android experience that appeared first on the Nexus phones and survives in slightly altered form on the Pixels.
Spend a while with OxygenOS, the spin-off of stock Android that OnePlus launched back in 2015, and you could well make the case for it eclipsing what Google is doing. It keeps the best bits of what Google has built, and adds some thoughtful, well-designed, functional and very useful extras.
Stock Android might be bloat-free and streamlined, but it’s very, very dull to look at. OxygenOS, meanwhile, is much easier on the eyes—and that makes more of a difference than you might think. You get more control over the look of the software as well, whether that’s the overall theme, the font, or the accent color used.
From the design of app icons to the use of fonts to the little visual tweaks inside the apps themselves, it’s hard to fault the look of OxygenOS. It manages to be clean and elegant without being boring, whether you’re flicking through the Settings menu or sending text messages. And get this: The weather app in the app drawer actually changes according to the local weather.
Gaming mode runs automatically but you can easily customize it.
Gaming mode makes a lot of senseOxygenOS brings with it a gaming mode that Google would do well to copy if anyone’s actually using their Pixel phone to do some serious gaming. Offering features that are just common sense, it kicks in automatically when a game starts but can be heavily customized from the phone Settings menu.
Gaming mode lets you block notifications, route calls to the speaker only, disable automatic brightness adjustment, enhance the display with an HDR-style boost, add some extra oomph to the haptic feedback, and even focus as much of the phone’s processing power as possible to the game you’re playing.3) OxygenOS lets you run apps in parallel
The ability to run parallel apps isn’t exclusive to OxygenOS, but it’s implemented very well here, and it’s something that’s sadly lacking in stock Android for the time being. Essentially, it means you can run two different instances of an app with two different sets of login credentials.
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