In today¡¯s technology-driven world, one thing that feels as personal as our thoughts are our phone. It is not just a device that helps us make calls and send messages anymore, but an integral part of us that we require for simply living.
When any of us buys a new phone, setting it up is the next exciting thing we can¡¯t wait to do. Everything from choosing a personalized theme, the background to ringtone is a decision that shows our own preference and that is why phone brands are now taking personalization to a whole new level.?
Up until a few months ago, the things we could personalise were limited, the app icons were pre-set as were many other settings but now, some of the leading brands like Apple, OnePlus and OPPO are giving all the power to the user.?
When Apple first launched iOS 14, it revolutionized the way we looked at phones. Most of us were not sure how far this personalisation could go but now there are countless videos of how people have actually hand-drawn every icon on their phone and the options are endless. iOS 14 allows the user to add as many unique widgets as they want to on the home-screen, lock-screen and menu section.
They also introduced a special widget called the Smart Stack. This is essentially a carousel of the most useful information of the day, culled from your installed apps. The Smart Stack is automatically generated, and you can access it from the widget menu.
While Apple is currently leading the personalisation race, the good news is that OnePlus and OPPO are not far behind. Both brands recently announced the launch of their new OS systems and personalisation is leading the innovation for both as well.?
OPPO has launched the ColorOS 11 in collaboration with Android 11 and the beta version is already rolling out. The list of features is long and exciting for any tech enthusiast. With its ¡°Make Life Flow¡± concept, ColorOS 11 maintains the beloved stock Android features while also providing the rich UI customization sought by OPPO users.??
While using ColorOS 11, users can essentially create their own Always-On Display, theme, and wallpaper, as well as fonts, icons, and ringtones. This latest upgrade also enhances stock Android¡¯s Dark Mode with three colour schemes and levels of contrast.?
OPPO is making sure all its users feel noticed which is why the Relax 2.0 lets users create their own white noise mix while also offering an extensive and immersive collection of sounds from cities around the world.
If you love watching videos but don¡¯t want to miss out on texting then OPPO has you covered with Flex drop. The new feature which is not available in any competition phone provides a simple and intuitive solution for multi-tasking where users can watch video and text at the same time. Users can even switch between and control different smart home devices through a new Device Control menu, without having to download new apps.
Most of us worry when updating the operating system on our phones because it can lead to lags and hanged screens but ColorOS 11 has introduced UI First 2.0, which combines OPPO¡¯s proprietary lag-reducing engine with Quantum Animation. This boosts RAM utilization by 45%, improving the response rate by 32% and the frame rate by 17%.
Amongst all these features, ColorOS is doing something specifically for its Indian users. OPPO is adding a low battery message feature that provides options to send messages when phone battery drops to 15%, displaying users' current location to selected contacts.? This allows users to share their status with families and friends when their phone is about to run out of battery. This feature is definitely giving an edge to OPPO¡¯s new OS in comparison to Apple and OnePlus.
The popularity of high frame rates has been confirmed by our peers, however, on phones that support high frame rates, all lags and stutters will appear more obvious.?
In response to the recent predominance of high frame rates in smartphones, ColorOS 11introduces UI First 2.0, combining our lag-reducing technology with our Quantum Animation. By doing that, the RAM utilization is boosted by 45%, the response rate is improved by 32%and the frame rate stability by 17%.*?
To reduce the APP loading time, AI App Preloading will learn user behaviour and then preload those apps for users. To improve the fluency of the system, Super Touch intelligently identifies the key user¡¯s scenarios and optimizes the touch response speed accordingly.?
In ColorOS 11, what you get is an overhaul that starts from our technology and goes all the way up to the visual design for truly fluid user experience.
Now, talking about OnePlus, they launched Oxygen OS 11 which is also based on Android 11. The brand is taking its already smooth UI and pushing it to a new level by adding a long list of features like an always-on ambient display function, 10 new clock styles. Along with that a shortcut key for enabling the Dark Mode will be added and there is also an automatic Dark Mode option too where you can choose the time at which Dark Mode enables and disables.
Oxygen OS 11 comes with five new themes on the Zen Mode which are the ocean, space, grassland, Zen space1, Zen space2 along with different timing options. OnePlus has also introduced the group feature in Zen Mode so that users can also invite your friends.
In comparison to Apple and OPPO, OnePlus is not giving the user absolute control on personalization. The options are fairly limited in comparison to the other two phones and that is definitely putting it in third place.?
Apple iOS 14 is already has a world-wide roll-out and is available on most of its devices, OnePlus¡¯s Oxygen OS 11 is currently only available in OnePlus 8 and will be rolled for all devices down till OnePlus 6 soon and OPPO ColorOS 11 beta-version will be released in a batch-by-batch approach, starting with the Find X2 Series and Reno3 Series. The complete rollout will cover 28-plus phone models, including the Find, Reno, F, K, and A series.?
The ColorOS beta version is currently out for Find X2, Find X2 Pro, Find X2 Pro Lamborghini edition, Reno3 4G, Reno3 Pro 4G, F17 Pro and will be rolled out for the rest starting with Reno4 Pro 5G in October.?
This race for personalization is one without a finish line because there is always new to innovate and with brands like Apple, OPPO and OnePlus as leading contenders, every tech enthusiast is in for a ride with every launch.