When I picked up the OnePlus 10 Pro, I immediately missed the old OxygenOS. Gone was the fluid and feature-poor software that made OnePlus phones such a great experience, replaced by the heavy, slower, and more annoying ColorOS-inspired software that few liked so much. I liked it even less with the OnePlus 10T, and I wasn’t the only one.
I really like the OnePlus 11, but I wasn’t expecting to like OxygenOS 13 very much. My first impressions of ColorOS 13 were good, but I didn’t trust the newly Oppo-ified OnePlus enough to think it would catch on. But after several weeks of using and loving the OnePlus 11, I no longer feel any animosity towards OxygenOS. Did I just get used to it, or did the software Strictly speaking got better?
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What’s the problem with OxygenOS?
The software on your phone, and whether you like it or not, is a surprisingly personal thing. What irritates me may go unnoticed about you, and the one trait you desire may be something I don’t consider essential at all. One size doesn’t fit all, and it takes a tremendous amount of effort for device manufacturers to understand where to draw the line—and to do that before adding the quirks of localization that make building the perfect operating system impossible. It just can’t always please everyone.
I know this, but it seemed like ColorOS never did. It tried to please everyone through endless customization, repeated requests to try this or that feature, extending battery life through cumbersome tweaking, taking dubious “inspiration” from other software platforms to introduce low-value copycat features, and over-complicating the basics with dense menus and confusing gestures. Also, don’t get me started with the default theme and color schemes and sad cartoon style.
As OxygenOS began sharing the ColorOS codebase and inherited everything that made ColorOS terrible, it became the antithesis of the clean, fast OxygenOS we once knew. I hardly wanted to use ColorOS on an Oppo phone, and I definitely didn’t want to use it on a OnePlus phone. Still, I was forced into this situation, and at first it was uncomfortable. Now both the software and I have softened.
Chill out
ColorOS had to to calm oneself down, and when it happened, I calmed down too. OxygenOS 13 on the OnePlus 11 isn’t nearly as intrusive and needy as before, and I found it so much easier to live with. It has feature suggestions at the top of the settings menu, as well as prompts to sign in to a OnePlus account, but it doesn’t send notifications and doesn’t constantly bother you about it. It does get nervous at times with Instagram using batteries in the background, but worries a lot less and also seems to have learned that I want WhatsApp to be running all the time too.
The menus and animations are still a bit slow compared to software like Samsung’s One UI, but somehow the carefully crafted haptic feedback minimizes my frustration. The use of primary colors for icons looks great against the black backgrounds (if you’re using dark mode), and the icon designs, menu flow, and preloaded app styling are all greatly improved by Oppo’s Aquamorphic design language. Features like Zen mode are still there, but they’re not shoved in your face.
The changes are subtle, like the font and whitespace changes that make everything clearer, and features that are always terrible – like the shelf window that swipes down in the same way as the notification shade – can be turned off entirely. This is also a good example of where OxygenOS still fails, as enabling and disabling is still clunky and tedious, just like the stupidly complicated way of headphone control on the OnePlus Buds Pro 2.
But the fact that the shelf isn’t active by default and disappears when you say it is a testament to a positive change. Calming down the software so it’s not so intrusive and desperate for your attention has worked wonders for OxygenOS – and allowed me to live happily with it. Or has it?
Getting used to the new OnePlus
So things are getting better in the world of OnePlus software. Yes, mostly, but there is something else. OxygenOS is ColorOS, which also happens to be RealmeOS. This means I’ll be using a slightly different version of the software on several different phones over the course of a few months. This continued exposure has inevitably softened my mind as I’ve become more accustomed to ColorOS’ weaknesses.
I’m aware of this happening, so my gradual acceptance of OxygenOS as it is today probably comes from two different places. First, it’s the work of OnePlus and Oppo to actually improve the software and minimize the more hateful aspects. Second, I use it so often that I’ve learned to accept, work around, or compensate for all of its little problems. Most people won’t be in this situation, but I’m sure just sticking with OxygenOS will ultimately have the same effect.
It might not be the software I praised on phones like the OnePlus 8 Pro, but it’s better than ever.
But my two-pronged acceptance wouldn’t be possible if OxygenOS’ problems stayed the way they were in previous versions of the software. It might not be the software I praised on phones like the OnePlus 8 Pro, but it’s better than ever, and saying that is a huge step forward for me.
I look forward to OxygenOS 14, where I hope two will see a sustained push towards livability and smooth everyday use. But in the meantime, I’m content to accept OxygenOS as it is, whether that’s just from improvements or the way the software does things is being pounded into me like a drum too.
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