OPPO ColorOS 12 Archives - Gizmochina

Oppo A53 receives its final major update in the form of ColorOS 12

Anurag — Tue, 31 May 2022 07:59:18 +0000

Oppo A53 5G recently received the updated version of ColorOS 12 on the variants across India. The rollout comes 2 months after Oppo announced the release of the beta version for Indian users. The news of this update is going to cause mixed reactions among Oppo A53 users because the latest update marks the end of official ColorOS releases for the smartphone.

As per a recent announcement post on OPPO Community, the stable ColorOS 12 update with Android 12 is currently rolling out to the OPPO A53 in India. However, the rollout is still in the initial stage so, in order to receive the update, users are required to submit an application form.

If you own the Oppo A53 and live in India, you can register for the ColorOS 12 stable update by going to the Software Updates section in the Settings app on your phone. In the Software Updates section, tap on the kebab menu in the top right corner and you will be able to see an option to register for the update. After submitting your application, you will receive the ColorOS 12 through an OTA update.

OPPO is yet to share the release timeline for other regions. But we expect the company to soon make an announcement on the future updates once it’s ready for a wider rollout.

OPPO A53

Oppo has brought many new features and updates with the latest stable ColorOS 12 update based on Android 12. The new firmware brings changes in the elements of the smartphone’s interface, including icons, system apps, and quick settings panel. It also introduces some Android 12 privacy features like Privacy Dashboard and microphone and camera Indicators.

It is worth mentioning that once you update to the latest version, the operating system will automatically perform various operations to optimize your device. It could cause your smartphone to overheat, lag, and drain its battery quickly. Oppo recommends to you to turn off the screen and charge your device for a whole night once the update is successfully installed.

ColorOS 12 update timeline is here for OnePlus 7 series & bunch of other devices in China

Zohaib Ahmed — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 09:07:09 +0000

OPPO is currently on a streak of rolling out the ColorOS 12 for eligible devices, with a bunch of phones receiving the update in March alone. Continuing with that, the company has now announced ColorOS 12 update timeline for the entirety of the second quarter of this year — and it even includes devices like the OnePlus 7.

Without jumping into anything else, let’s check out the timeline straightaway:

ColorOS 12 China beta update timeline for April-June 2022

From April 7

OPPO Reno3 5G
OPPO K7x

From April 26

OPPO A53 5G

From April 28

OPPO Reno7 5G

From May

OPPO Reno Ace
OPPO Reno 10
OPPO Reno Ace Gundam Edition
OPPO Reno Barcelona Custom Edition
OPPO K9s 5G
OPPO A36

From June

OnePlus 9RT
OnePlus 7 Pro
OnePlus 7T Pro
OnePlus 7
OnePlus 7T
A96 5G

ColorOS 12 China stable update timeline for April 2022

OPPO A92s 5G
OPPO A55 5G

A total of 18 devices will be getting the update in China in the second quarter of 2022. While most of these will be getting it in the beta form for which users will have to register, the OPPO A92s 5G and A55 5G are set to get stable ColorOS 12 this month.

The OnePlus 7 and 7T series are also a part of the list but it’s obvious that their global counterparts will be receiving OxygenOS 12 rather than ColorOS. June is the expected rollout date for these devices, meaning a global OxygenOS 12 release is still months away.

Oppo’s ColorOS has over 500 Million global monthly active users

Pranav Sawant — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 18:24:43 +0000

Oppo’s ColorOS has improved a lot since its official release. The recent ColorOS 12 offers a finer user interface and has features like 3D icons, Privacy Dashboard, and Flexible Windows. Now, Oppo took it to Twitter revealing that the ColorOS has over 500 Million global monthly active users.

As per the company, the ColorOS monthly active users have exceeded 500 million all over the world. This is impressive considering that last year its smartphone shipment fell by 2%. Although the shipment declined, Oppo still managed to overtake other Chinese, as per research done by CINNO. It seems that Oppo’s ColorOS is really doing the magic here.

Thank you for being one in 500 MILLION!

All of us here at ColorOS is incredibly grateful to be by your side

Share your favorite #ColorOS moments& features with us in the comments! pic.twitter.com/AlTolGTSCd

— ColorOS (@colorosglobal) February 17, 2022

The ColorOS userbase is expected to increase even further this year considering that it has a couple of major phone launches in the pipeline.

One such launch is the Oppo Find X5 series China debut. The smartphone series will be launched on February 24 in the country. It will include the Find X5 and Find X5 Pro. If we go by the leaks, Oppo will employ the in-house MariSilicon X NPU inside the Find X5 Pro. The chip will be alongside the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset.

The Find X5 duo will have AMOLED screens with a 6.55-inch FHD+ display on the vanilla model and a 6.7-inch QHD+ screen on the Pro model. Both will have 32MP selfie cameras and a 50MP triple rear camera system. Unlike the Pro model, the Find X5 will be powered by either the Snapdragon 888 or 888+ SoC.

ColorOS 12 Review: A Step In The Right Direction

Sudarshan Ravichandran — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 09:52:48 +0000

Last year, OPPO changed the ColorOS branding in line with the version of Android it is based on. Hence, the latest version of the company’s mobile software is called ColorOS 12 much like the underlying Android 12 version. It succeeds the Android 11-based ColorOS 11 from 2020 with subtle changes.

I got to use a beta build of ColorOS 12 for the past few days. I will be sharing my experience with the new software in this article.

ColorOS 12 Review

Visual Changes

ColorOS 12 brings improvements to the design introduced in the ColorOS 11, which itself is a refinement of ColorOS 7’s design language. The firm calls the new design ‘inclusive.’

According to OPPO, it has made changes to the UI taking internationalization into consideration. The smartphone brand claims that it has worked with a linguistic expert team to implement accurate, concise, and fully localized text.

In the latest iteration, ColorOS supports 67 languages, including 13 Indian languages. I tried out some languages like Tamil, Hindi, and Gujarati. I would say it’s still a work in progress, since a simple search in the Settings menu in these languages does not yield proper results. Also, most of the app names are listed in English instead of the selected language.

Though ColorOS 12 focuses on reducing redundancy by bringing a common UI layout everywhere possible, dual languages fail to conform to this design philosophy. Also, in some regions, OPPO devices will continue to ship with Google Phone and Google Messages. This further affects the company’s goal of reducing redundancy.

Then, there are new first-party icons. These 3D icons animate while opening and closing an app, much like on MIUI. Almost all the UI elements now act like objects in the physical world. For instance, when you tap on an icon, it gets pressed as if you are clicking on a button.

The most obvious change is inertia of animations. Elements across the UI make movements depending upon how fast or slow you interact with them. This feels very natural but it’s difficult to express in words.

Unfortunately, there is no ‘Material You’ theming in ColorOS 12, but it does come with a wallpaper-based color palette. I am not a fan of this, as most of the time I had to choose the colors myself. The system would end up selecting random colors instead of picking up suitable ones.

Finally, there are no new first-party live wallpapers. It would have been nice of OPPO to introduce some. However, we do get Canvas AOD from OxygenOS, which is known as ‘Portrait silhouette’ on ColorOS.

Improved Features

Flexible Windows

ColorOS11 brought a floating window feature called FlexDrop. With ColorOS 12, OPPO has changed the name of this feature to ‘Flexible windows’. As its new name suggests, the floating windows can be now resized by dragging the left or right corners.

Further, floating windows can now be activated either by simply swiping up the app from the bottom or tapping on the app icon from the Smart Sidebar. Users can convert these floating windows into ‘Mini windows’ by reducing their size and can also hide them quickly by dragging them to the left or right edge of the screen.

The floating windows can be easily hidden while playing games by simply tapping outside them. These windows now also support drag and drop gesture to share files to other apps.

Despite all the improvements, users can only use one floating window at a time.

Smart Sidebar 2.0

The Smart Sidebar 2.0 on the Chinese version of ColorOS 12 shows options depending on different usage scenarios. But on the Global variant, all we get is quick access to ‘Screen translate’ that was introduced in ColorOS 11 and a new ‘Background stream’ option in media apps like YouTube.

For those unaware, ‘Screen translate’ on ColorOS uses Google Lens to translate the content on the screen to your desired language. Hence, users can translate content in just two steps – swipe to access Smart Sidebar 2.0 and tap on Screen translate.

This process takes longer on other Android skins. Users first need to take a screenshot of the page they want to translate. Then, they have to open that image in the Google Lens app or in a gallery app that has Google Lens built-in.

As for ‘Background stream’, it enables users to stream videos on apps like YouTube in the background. Although Google’s streaming platform supports this functionality on all devices, it requires a premium subscription. But ColorOS users can now bypass the need for a subscription.

New Features

Android 12 Features

ColorOS 12 arrives with all the new Android 12 features. Users get access to a Privacy Dashboard, approximate location sharing, camera/microphone indicators and toggles, chat bubbles, conversation widgets, and others.

These new features enable users to have granular privacy controls and more. All of them work as expected without any issues.

Omoji

OPPO has become the latest Android OEM to introduce an Apple Memoji clone called Omoji. This feature is still in the initial stage, and therefore, it feels unfinished.

Since none of the current-gen OPPO smartphones feature a 3D face scanning system like on iPhones, Omoji uses the front-facing camera to detect users’ facial expressions.

Currently, users can click pictures or record videos with Omoji. They can also use these personalized 3D avatars for AOD (Always-on Display).

I personally don’t think this feature will stay for long, as it’s difficult to replicate the success of Memoji. Other Android manufacturers have already moved on.

PC Connect

PC Connect is probably the best new feature on ColorOS 12. But unfortunately, it is not yet available in the international markets. OPPO says that this productivity feature will be introduced in the future for select models.

PC Connect is OPPO’s answer to HUAWEI Multi Screen Collaboration and Samsung DeX. It enables users to connect their smartphones with compatible Windows computers. Users can not only share screens but also transfer files, sync notifications, and more.

Rollout Plan

OPPO says that ColorOS 12 will be its widest rollout in the company’s history. The firm plans to upgrade 110+ devices and cover 150 million users worldwide.

The beta rollout has already kicked off. However, it will continue through the second half of 2022. In other words, the update rollout is still slower than Samsung’s.

Samsung updated most of its massive smartphone/tablet portfolio to Android 11-based One UI 3.x within the first half of 2021. Considering the improvements OPPO has brought to the table over the past couple of years, we think it could also come up with a better rollout strategy in the coming years.

Update Policy

ColorOS 12 is the first version of OPPO’s mobile operating system to reach devices that are nearly three years old. That’s because the firm has now updated its software update policy to provide up to three Android updates and up to four years of security updates.

OPPO’s new policy goes in line with that of its powerful international competitors Samsung and Xiaomi.

Future of ColorOS

OPPO has confirmed that the next major release of its mobile operating system will be a unified software that will run on both OPPO and OnePlus devices. It has not revealed the new branding for this Android skin, but I think the company will continue calling it ColorOS. Let me explain why.

OxygenOS 12 based on Android 12 was also released recently. It is almost identical to ColorOS 12 with some minor changes. In China, OnePlus phones already run ColorOS.

1 of 2

Hence, I believe that ColorOS will become the face of OPPO and OnePlus globally with the next major release. The new software will most likely be based on Android 13 and will be called ColorOS 13.

On the other hand, although OPPO and realme continue to deny, realme UI is another clone of ColorOS much like the new OxygenOS. But at present, we cannot tell for sure if the world’s fastest-growing smartphone brand will adopt the unified branding or continue with the relame UI name.

Conclusion

ColorOS 12 takes OPPO’s mobile operating system in the right direction. The new version of the software follows the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ mantra.

Users who are accustomed to ColorOS 7 and ColorOS 11 will feel right at home with some minor changes here and there. OPPO advertises ColorOS 12 to be close to stock Android 12. But it, actually, isn’t.

Though ColorOS 12 brings all the new features of Android 12 and Google services, it has its unique look, which one cannot deny. With more meaningful tweaks keeping internationalization in mind, ColorOS could get even better.

Gone are the days when Chinese Android skins were known for mimicking iOS. Hopefully, more Chinese OEMs will adapt their software keeping in mind the global users’ preferences.

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