ColorOS 12 based on Android 12 is finally here. Unlike previous years, the new version of ColorOS will be available for a plethora of OPPO as well as OnePlus smartphones in the coming months.
The updated Android skin from OPPO brings a few design tweaks, some new useful features like Cross-Screen Interconnection, and bizarre additions like a Memoji clone called OMOJI. Let’s take a look at them one by one in this article.
Borderless Design
OPPO has made some changes to the overall look of its mobile operating system with ColorOS 12. The company calls it ‘Borderless Design’, at least in China.
As the name suggests ColorOS no longer uses borders for separation. Each element is placed on a translucent layer, which the firm calls ‘acrylic sheet’. Even the new icons are called ‘acrylic icons’.
The software now uses different shades of colors to distinguish between primary and secondary information. Further, ColorOS now follows responsive design. This means it is now compatible with different form factors, including tablets, foldables, smartwatches, smart TVs, and of course smartphones.
Inspired by iOS 14, ColorOS 12 comes with new widgets called ‘Quick View Cards’. They can be placed both on the negative (left) page as well as the home screen. Xiaomi is also testing a similar feature for MIUI.
Animations & Performance
ColorOS 12 arrives with ‘Quantum Animation Engine 3.0’. The new animation engine offers dynamic damping and extreme feedback.
In simpler words, the system now recognizes different window component elements with different mass and inertia. Hence, the swiping experience feels smooth and real.
To sustain performance, the latest version of ColorOS comes with AI Self-Smooth Engine 2.0’. The said engine reduces memory usage by 30%, reduces background power consumption by 20%, and increases battery life by 12%.
Thanks to this engine, read and write degradation is less than 5% and the aging rate stands at 2.75% with 36 months of usage.
New Features
Free Floating Window
Free Floating Window is the advanced version of FlexDrop introduced in ColorOS 11. Users can do much more with the new implementation. The windows can be now resized and moved anywhere on the screen with actions like tap and drag. It is more intuitive now.
Smart Sidebar 2.0
Smart Sidebar is one of the most useful features on ColorOS. The v2.0 brings support for smart functions depending on different usage scenarios.
For instance, the sidebar now shows an option to compare prices while shopping online, helps users identify music while listening to songs, offers a real-time translation option when playing foreign language videos, and displays a read-aloud function when reading something.
Shared Atlas 2.0
Users can now share multiple images at a time to devices from any brand. This feature is similar to ‘Link Sharing’ found on Samsung One UI.
Selected images will upload to the cloud and a WeChat applet is generated. The link for this applet can be shared with ColorOS as well as non-ColorOS users to deliver the pictures.
Cross-Screen Interconnection
Cross-Screen Interconnection is OPPO’s version of HUAWEI Multi Screen Collaboration. Users can simply drag and drop to share files between their PC and smartphone at a maximum speed of 45MB/s. This feature also enables screen mirroring with controls, clipboard sharing, and screenshot sharing.
Minimum requirements for this functionality include a computer running Microsoft Windows 10 64-bit powered by at least a 2.4GHz Intel Core i3 processor paired with 8GB RAM. The PC also requires a minimum of Bluetooth 4.1 and WiFi Direct.
OMOJI
OMOJI is nothing but a copy of Apple Memoji. OPPO is the latest Android OEM to introduce its own digital avatars for users after Samsung AR Emoji and Xiaomi Mimoji.
OMOJIs can be used in video calls, AOD (Always On Display) styles, and more. This feature is currently in the development stage and will be available with the stable version of ColorOS 12.
Car+
As the name suggests, this feature is similar to Apple CarPlay and Google Assistant Driving Mode. It offers navigation, calls, music, video, and voice control.
Security & Privacy
ColorOS 12 sports new privacy features from Android 12. Hence, it comes with features like ‘Privacy Dashboard, ‘Approximate Location’, and notifications for camera, microphone, as well as clipboard access.
There are also additional features like ‘Notification Smart Anti-Peepeing’, which hides notifications from others and media sharing without metadata.
Rollout Plan
Android 12-based ColorOS 12 be available for a total of 50 smartphones from OPPO and OnePlus in China. This new software will be the third major system update for some of these eligible phones. You can learn more about the update timeline from here.
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