ColorOS 12 (Android 12): what Google could learn from Oppo

Here is a little feedback on the beta of Oppo’s ColorOS 12 interface based on Android 12. A customization function is particularly nice, but some bugs obviously remain to be corrected.

ColorOS 12 is Oppo’s interface update toward Android 12. Officially presented by the brand not long ago, this new software experience brings several optimizations. We are thus promised better performance, improved energy efficiency, better management of confidentiality, better design, etc.

I had the OPPOrtunity (haha, pun intended) to test the beta of ColorOS 12 on theOppo Find X3 Pro and there is a function that I particularly like and that Google could use as inspiration to integrate it into its Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. Today we are going to talk about customizations.

ColorOS: a story of personalization

You should know that ColorOS, in recent years, has particularly stood out for its many customization features. This was one of the great strengths of the Oppo Find X3 Pro when it was released: if you don’t like the look of your interface, you could change almost everything (appearance, size and shapes of icons, colors accentuation…) with a welcome granularity.

Switching to Android 12, ColorOS 12 pushes this quality even further by adjusting the best functionality of Material You. Indeed, the new guidelines initiated by Google in terms of design rely fully on the harmonization of tones between the wallpaper and the colors of the system.

However, on Pixels, this option is largely automatic and handled by Google’s impressive algorithms (the user only has a choice of three color groups from the settings). That’s really great, but Oppo’s solution is also very interesting and leaves more freedom.

The good idea of ​​ColorOS 12

In the Customizations tab there is a section Colors which, with ColorOS 12, welcomes a new function called simply: “Background color selection“. This one is very easy to use and that’s what I had the most fun with.

With this option, the system analyzes your wallpaper and identifies several colors that it highlights with dots. Click on the one that suits you and ottoman, the accent colors of the system harmonize immediately.

Also, what I thought was kind of a bug at the start turned out to be pretty nifty. Let me explain. Each time you go to launch this function, your wallpaper will be combed through so that a small handful of colors stand out. However, it is never the same colors that are used. At first, I found it a bit of a shame, but ultimately there are so many possibilities open to me as soon as I get bored of a color or want to try a new one.

It’s like a game of chance after all. Also, the same color often ends up being re-proposed, so not too much frustration if you have missed one at one time or another. Even better: ColorOS 12 lets the user slide their finger across the screen if the hues detected by the system aren’t exactly what they want.

Thus, he can go and choose with precision the shade that suits him the most.

In short, these are only purely aesthetic rants. Casually, this is an important subject. The smartphone being the daily companion of the majority of us, a little personalization makes it possible both to stand out and to brighten up the user experience a little. Note that Samsung One UI 4 offers something similar. It would be interesting to see the developers at Google provide a similar solution directly on Android.

Beyond that, there are no drastic changes on ColorOS 12. We still appreciate the appearance of the Google power menu on the Find X3 Pro. This was however already present on theOppo reno 6 still under Android 11 – probably through a minor update to the previous version of the interface. A choice all the more interesting as the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro no longer integrate the Power menu on their version of Android 12.

On the performance or battery side, my daily use has not yet enabled me to draw any relevant conclusions. However, I have a few bugs to report.

Beta bugs

It is characteristic of a beta to still have some bugs. And to be completely honest, Oppo’s still has a significant number of them. Example: Pausing a YouTube video is very annoying. I press pause, the video starts again a few seconds later, I press again and start again. It was not until the third press that I was finally at peace.

That’s not all. My call log does not update until I restart the smartphone, the display of photos in the gallery occasionally bug, the photo taking is not always instant and the device sometimes refuses to connect to perfectly functional Wi-Fi networks (at home and at the office).

Finally, the worst bug: the freeze complete and untimely followed by automatic restart of the smartphone. This has happened to me twice. The first without my knowing why. The Find X3 Pro did not respond at all to my actions on the screen or on the physical keys before restarting.

The second time came right after I changed the audio source during a call in progress to switch from my wireless earphones to the smartphone speaker. Return to the home screen and no reaction to all of my actions… then restart.

Patience, patience …

The moral of this story is obviously not that ColorOS 12 is an interface full of problems, but rather a reminder that it’s always difficult to judge a beta. To all users of Oppo smartphones, especially those who have asked me on the question, I will simply advise to wait patiently for the stable version of the update.

On the Find X3 Pro, deployment begins in December 2021, then many of the brand’s devices will follow in 2022.