At a OnePlus’ community event in London, the company revealed its roadmap for OxygenOS 13.1 and beyond. For the first “Open Ears” event in two years, the Oxygen OS team shared upcoming changes and developments for both OxygenOS 13 and 14. As a bonus, OnePlus committed to offering four generations of OxygenOS and five years of security updates on selected devices launched in 2023 onwards. This brings it in-line with the Samsung’s policy and exceeds Google’s promises.
Before looking to 13.1, the company reviewed some of the new features in OxygenOS 13 which is currently rolling out to supported devices like the OnePlus 9.
- AI System Booster
- Homeland Always on Display
- Spotify Always on Display
- Spatial Audio developed in conjunction with Google
- Private Safe 2.0
- Aquamorphic Design
Although I’ve not yet seen it in action, I think the best one of these is the Private Safe feature which alerts you to instances when you might be taking a screenshot with personal information in it and auto pixelates the data. It can be overridden but it’s good feature to avoid embarrassment.
The System Booster works to keep everything buttery smooth, trying to keep the right apps loaded in memory while making sure that games and other high performance apps load swiftly. OnePlus has always had something like this, but certainly it’s changed visually when you start up a game.
The Homeland Always on Display is a little unclear but I think it’s supposed to alert you to the impact of climate change on animal’s habitats. Again, I’m trying to figure out how to use it on the phone.
And in contrast, really not sure what Aquamorphic Design brings to the party other than smaller icons and preponderance of blue. Fortunately, it can be changed back to good old OnePlus red.
For OxygenOS 13.1, which is expected in the first half of 2023, the team are expecting to build on Private Safe with additional privacy focussed features. Another area of focus is improved digital health and well-being with more accessibility features for users with disabilities. Inclusive design can often bring benefits to everyone, not just those initially targeted.
Gary Chen, Head of Software Products at OnePlus, and Crayon Hsieh, Head of OneLab at OnePlus presented at the meeting. Gary confirmed, “OxygenOS is an integral part of OnePlus, co-created by our community members, and as a user-oriented company, we do everything we can to enhance user experience. With more users keeping their devices for longer, we want to make sure we can offer that possibility. This new update policy will give users access to the latest security and functional features required to power OnePlus’ signature fast-and-smooth experience throughout the lifetime of the phone.”