Features, release date and everything else you

(Pocket-lint) – ColorOS is Oppo’s take on a custom Android skin. One that it pre-loads to all of its phones out of the box, but with the next version there’s a little more intrigue. Earlier in 2021 it was announced that OnePlus and Oppo would be releasing a unified OS on all of its devices. 

That means – with ColorOS 12 and Oxygen OS 12 (already announced) – we’re likely to see the once distinct lines between the two get very blurry. Here’s everything you need to know about ColorOS 12, built – of course – on Android 12. 

Release date 

• Rollout from December 2021
• Will be available to 110 phones by end of 2022

Depending on your device, when you get the software will differ. However, the rollout starts in December 2021 for the Find X3 Pro, with other devices getting the update at some point in 2022. The plan is to have all included devices running the software by the end of that year. 

Features

Inclusivity

One of Oppo’s big focuses for ColorOS 12 is making the design more inclusive for different regions and languages. That means adjusting the spacing and the design so that when the app titles appear in languages that have longer phrases and words, that it fits naturally. 

Oppo has also worked on its various language translations to make them more accurate, particularly Dutch and Russian. It’s offered up to 67 languages, with the UI and content layout adapted to fit each one. 

The information layout of the various app interfaces has been reorgnised to make them more intuitive and simple to use. Plus, it’s been made more adaptive so that it can adjust to fit on any size and scale of phone. That suggests that Oppo will eventually launch a phone to the masses with a foldable/flexible screen, where the screen size changes size. 

3D Icons

Like OxygenOS 12, app icons in the new version of ColorOS will have a subtle 3D element to them to make them less flat. Customisation is still possible, with more pre-installed shapes and sizes of app icon, including Google’s classic Material icons. 

Wallpaper theming

In Android 12, when you change your wallpaper, the accent colour of yor UI also changes. In ColorOS, there’s something quite similar. You can choose a colour theme in the customisation screen or opt to pick four different colours from your applied home screen wallpaper and use those as a theme. 

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Battery Dashboard

Perhaps something that should have existed much sooner: Battery Dashboard. It allows you to see in detail how much power your phone is using throughout the day, so you can spot any signficant power drains and see which apps might be consuming too much of your battery juice. 

This includes a one-tap power saving option that lets you quickly close any apps that it detects are using a lot of power, stopping them from sipping away at your precious battery when they don’t need to be. There are also other quick options, as listed by Oppo: “disabling background activities, enabling auto brightness, disabling high performance mode, disabling 5G, disabling 120 Hz/90 Hz refresh rate, disabling GPS, setting the auto screen-off time to 30s, disabling edge lighting, and more.”

Colour Vision test/enhancement

As part of its efforts to make ColorOS more inclusive and accessible, there’s a new option in the display callibration menu that allows users to create a custom colour enhanced profile based on how they see colours. To activate it you run through a simple colour vision test that assesses how you see colours, it can then determine if you need a colour vision enhancement to be applied. 

Smoother performance

One of the biggest – or at least more important – changes is that the software is faster, smoother and less battery intensive. Oppo says that it takes up 30 per cent less memory than ColorOS 11, and that it could also lead to a 20 per cent increase in battery life.

What’s more, by using a technique called code decoupling, it avoids memory fragmentation which keeps it smooth and fast for a longer period of time. That should mean your phone’s hardware performance only degrades by 2.75 per cent over three years. In short: it should still feel fast and smooth 2-3 years after you buy it. 

PC Connect

This one appears to be a feature many manufacturers are trying to put into place recently. PC Connect will let you connect your phone to your Windows desktop or laptop, and use it to control your phone. When it launches – later on in ColorOS 12.1 – it will only require an app to be downloaded to your PC, and then you can connect wirelessly. 

This enables the ability to send photos and media files from your phone to your PC in speedy fashion. Using speeds up to 45MB/s, you’ll be able to transfer around 500 photos in a minute. 

Android 12 features

Google’s version of Android 12 comes with a lot of new features, many of which are being included in ColorOS 12. That means you get the privacy dashboard, plus microphone and camera indicators to let you know when an app is using those. It also includes new accessibility features added to Android 12. 

Another major focus was to become closer to stock Android by reducing the number of pre-installed apps and for things like Messages, Phone and Contacts, using Google’s apps rather than its own. It also means, sadly, there’s no pre-installed Relax app. 

Will my phone get ColorOS 12?

If you have an Oppo phone from the last couple of years, the answer is probably: yes. Oppo has ambitious plans to rollout the software to 110 different models by the end of 2022. 

Devices included in the rollout plan seen by Pocket-lint include: 

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By Chris Hall
·
18 October 2021