Though Oppo, Realme and OnePlus name their proprietary Android skins with completely different names, the three UIs feel and look the identical and provide the identical set of options and just about the identical consumer expertise, a lot to the frustration of long-time OnePlus customers who nonetheless mourn a few of Oxygen OS’s proprietary options.
Nonetheless, no matter which one of many three manufacturers your cellphone comes from, you’ll get pleasure from a largely clean and feature-rich expertise.
In comparison with the older ColorOS 13/OxygenOS 13/Realme UI 4.0, the brand new Android 14-based ColorOS 14/OxygenOS 14/Realme UI 5.0 variations provide few user-facing modifications. We’ll cowl these as we go.
Lock display, house display, At all times-on show
You’d really feel proper at house in case you’ve ever used one of many three working methods. There are not any notable modifications to the way you navigate or how the UI appears to be like. You get a typical app drawer by default and a well-known notification shade with fast toggles.
Dwelling display • Notification shade • Current apps menu
Lots of the UI parts are customizable – fonts, icons, accent colours and even the form of the fast toggles within the notification shade.
UI customization choices
The At all times-on show operate provides all kinds of customizations as properly.
At all times-on show
A well known characteristic by this level is the power to launch an app by holding down the fingerprint reader when unlocking. A pop-up menu with apps of your selection opens up. Oppo/OnePlus/Realme pioneered this characteristic, and we’re pleased to see it nonetheless round.
Fast Launch fingerprint characteristic
Gestures and navigation
Navigation is fairly normal – you possibly can select between gestures and software program buttons. The gesture navigation could be tailor-made to your choice – sensitivity for the again gestures with separate granular management over the left and proper edge, hiding the gesture information bar, and so on.
System navigation choices
Some further gestures are additionally at hand – screen-off gestures to launch apps by drawing letters on a locked display, lifting the cellphone to your ear to reply, and auto switching to the earpiece if linked to Bluetooth. On sure Realme/OnePlus/Oppo units, often higher-end handsets, you possibly can management the cellphone from afar with Air gestures.
Display-off gestures and Air gestures
Multitasking and productiveness options
As most Android overlays these days, the trio has a handful of options appropriate for multitasking. You’ve got the usual Cut up View (two apps opened on the display concurrently), Versatile Window (open apps in interactive small home windows, you possibly can maintain a handful opened at a time) and Sensible Sidebar (choose apps and instruments of your selection so you possibly can launch them by pulling out the bar from the facet edge).
Multitasking choices
The Sidebar will get a brand new characteristic of its personal, although. Now you can save any kind of file to the File Dock and entry it anytime. A Current Information listing can be accessible.
Final however not least, a Sensible Contact characteristic permits you to extract photographs and textual content immediately from a screenshot, and it seems to be accessible solely on higher-end units. Nonetheless, the built-in Google Lens performance can try this for you, even when your Oppo/Realme/OnePlus cellphone does not help Sensible Contact.
Notifications
Notification options are fairly normal and easy, though there are notable exceptions. The Sensible notification hiding, for instance, is a cool privateness characteristic accessible on most Realme/Oppo/OnePlus units, even on extra finances ones. If you allow Face Unlock, the system will use your face’s information to maintain your notifications personal. For example, if the front-facing digital camera catches another person taking a look at your cellphone, it would conceal the contents of the notification banner.
Notification-related options and customizations
Talking of banners, the system will present a few fast contextual actions so that you can select from immediately from the notification within the notification shade.
Sensible Ideas are pop-up banners that may additionally persist within the notification shade as common notifications. They supply real-time data relying on the state of affairs. For instance, it would maintain you posted about your meals supply, ride-hailing service, and so on. You too can enable them on the lock display and At all times-on show.
Sensible strategies
Sadly, the system does not help sensible strategies from all apps, so your expertise might differ.
Equally to Apple’s Dynamic Island, Oppo has applied some kind of contextual bubbles. Oppo calls it Aqua Dynamics, and it really works with sure system apps, just like the recorder. A small bubble reveals up on the standing bar, indicating that the recorder is energetic. We could not make it work with the Music app, although, which is unlucky because it makes probably the most sense to work with media gamers.
And in case you’re a OnePlus or Oppo Discover N3 system proprietor, you possibly can swap between Ring mode, Vibrate mode and Silent mode on the fly by utilizing the alert slider.
Multi-screen join
That is hardly a brand new characteristic, however it provides an in depth listing of issues you are able to do by connecting your PC and cellphone or one other Oppo/Realme/OnePlus system. You’ll be able to display solid, share recordsdata and multitask. Nonetheless, we discovered the connection course of to be extraordinarily tedious with a number of sign-ins and points when connecting a Realme to an Oppo smartphone, and you may’t use it along with your desktop PC if it does not have wi-fi adapters. It is a bizarre limitation given that each one units are on the identical community. It is undoubtedly not an easy course of and it’s miles from Samsung’s DeX or Motorola’s Prepared For options.
Wrap-up
Though clean and feature-rich, ColorOS/OxygenOS/Realme UI is a bit behind the curve in relation to implementing the most recent Android modifications and stylish options. There are little to no modifications in the best way you need to use these three Android overlays and there are not any notable new options both. Whereas Samsung and Google are integrating AI-powered options into their very own variations of Android 14 and Xiaomi is revamping its MIUI 14 into HyperOS, Oppo, OnePlus, and Realme’s strategy is considerably stale.
