Official Android 13 updates are now rolling out to six (!!!) different OnePlus phones
If you've been following the mobile industry for more than a little while, you might remember a time when OnePlus only released one or two phones a year. Those days are obviously gone, and the company's recent prolificity has had a number of different consequences, including a general state of confusion over the distinctions between certain products and a completely unexpected wave of software updates flowing around the world as we speak.
After impressively beating Samsung to the stable Android 13 punch with an over-the-air OS promotion for the 10 Pro flagship all the way back in September, OnePlus needed an inexplicably long time (compared to the competition) to spread the love to its most popular handsets from 2021.
But now the 2020-released OnePlus 8, 8 Pro, and 8T are officially following the 9 and 9 Pro's example, and the same goes for the 9R, 9RT, and 10R. That's right, the little company that used to (try to) "kill" flagships with unconventional marketing and a tightly run manufacturing operation is clearly all grown up, rolling out six, count'em, six different Android 13 upgrades at the exact same time.
Now that's an impressive software support feat, and in case you're wondering, all six OTA rollouts are not only confirmed by various user reports on Reddit, Twitter, and multiple OnePlus Community threads but also by the smartphone maker itself through the voice of the OOS (Oxygen OS)Operation Team Head.
Based on Google's Android 13 makeover delivered to a small group of Pixel devices back in August, the six new OxygenOS 13 goodie packs naturally share a lot of things in common, with each installation requiring a whopping minimum of 5.5 gigs of free storage space and at least 30 percent battery level for successful completion.
While the changelogs are not 100 percent identical, you can get a pretty good idea of what's coming by looking over the following list of new features, add-ons, enhancements, and UI tweaks, which seems to be the most complete of the bunch:
Aquamorphic Design
• Adds Aquamorphic Design theme colors for enhanced visual comfort.
• Applies the Aquamorphic Design philosophy to animations to make them natural and vivid.
• Adds Shadow-Reflective Clock, with shadow simulating the orientation of the sun and moon.
• Adds a Home screen world clock widget to show the time in different time zones.
• Upgrades to Quantum Animation Engine 4.0, with a new behavior recognition feature, which recognizes complex gestures and provides optimized interactions.
• Optimizes UI layers for a clearer and neater visual experience.
• Applies real-world physical motions to animations to make them look more natural and intuitive.
• Optimizes the widget design to make information easier and quicker to find.
• Optimizes fonts for better readability.
• Optimizes system icons by using the latest color scheme to make the icons easier to recognize.
• Enriches and optimizes illustrations for features by incorporating multicultural and inclusive elements.
Efficiency
• Adds large folders to the Home screen. You can now open an app in an enlarged folder with just one tap and turn pages in the folder with a swipe.
• Adds a new type of Always-On Display that shows live information about music, ride-hailing, and food delivery. (Supports only some apps)
• Adds media playback control, and optimizes the Quick Settings experience.
• Adds more markup tools for screenshot editing.
• Adds support for adding widgets to the Home screen, making information display more personalized.
• Adds Sidebar Toolbox. You can open a floating window inside apps for smooth operation.
• Optimizes Shelf. Swiping down on the Home screen will bring up Shelf by default. You can search content online and on your device.
Seamless interconnection
• Optimizes earphone connectivity to deliver a more seamless experience.
Personalization
• Optimizes Bitmoji to offer more Always-On Display animations.
• Optimizes Insight Always-On Display, with more personalized Always-On Display settings available.
• Optimizes Portrait Silhouette Always-On Display, with more drawing tools and line colors available.
Security & privacy
• Adds an automatic pixelation feature for chat screenshots. The system can identify and automatically pixelate profile pictures and display names in a chat screenshot to protect your privacy.
• Optimizes Private Safe. The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is used to encrypt all files for enhanced security of private files.
Health & Digital wellbeing
• Adds Kid Space. When in Kid Space, your browser app automatically switches to Kids mode to create a child-friendly space.
• Adds distance-from-phone, ambient light, and sitting posture reminders in Kid Space.
• Adds Eye comfort in Kid Space to protect children's vision.
Performance optimization
• Adds Dynamic Computing Engine to improve the system speed, stability, battery life, and app experience.
• Adds Aquamorphic Design theme colors for enhanced visual comfort.
• Applies the Aquamorphic Design philosophy to animations to make them natural and vivid.
• Adds a Home screen world clock widget to show the time in different time zones.
• Upgrades to Quantum Animation Engine 4.0, with a new behavior recognition feature, which recognizes complex gestures and provides optimized interactions.
• Optimizes UI layers for a clearer and neater visual experience.
• Applies real-world physical motions to animations to make them look more natural and intuitive.
• Optimizes the widget design to make information easier and quicker to find.
• Optimizes fonts for better readability.
• Optimizes system icons by using the latest color scheme to make the icons easier to recognize.
• Enriches and optimizes illustrations for features by incorporating multicultural and inclusive elements.
Efficiency
• Adds large folders to the Home screen. You can now open an app in an enlarged folder with just one tap and turn pages in the folder with a swipe.
• Adds a new type of Always-On Display that shows live information about music, ride-hailing, and food delivery. (Supports only some apps)
• Adds media playback control, and optimizes the Quick Settings experience.
• Adds more markup tools for screenshot editing.
• Adds Sidebar Toolbox. You can open a floating window inside apps for smooth operation.
• Optimizes Shelf. Swiping down on the Home screen will bring up Shelf by default. You can search content online and on your device.
Seamless interconnection
• Optimizes earphone connectivity to deliver a more seamless experience.
Personalization
• Optimizes Bitmoji to offer more Always-On Display animations.
• Optimizes Insight Always-On Display, with more personalized Always-On Display settings available.
• Optimizes Portrait Silhouette Always-On Display, with more drawing tools and line colors available.
Security & privacy
• Adds an automatic pixelation feature for chat screenshots. The system can identify and automatically pixelate profile pictures and display names in a chat screenshot to protect your privacy.
• Optimizes Private Safe. The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is used to encrypt all files for enhanced security of private files.
Health & Digital wellbeing
• Adds Kid Space. When in Kid Space, your browser app automatically switches to Kids mode to create a child-friendly space.
• Adds distance-from-phone, ambient light, and sitting posture reminders in Kid Space.
Performance optimization
• Adds Dynamic Computing Engine to improve the system speed, stability, battery life, and app experience.
As always, not all users in all countries are looking at a simultaneous update, with the OnePlus 8, 8 Pro, and 8T currently being treated to the highly anticipated OS promotion only in India and North America. Meanwhile, of course, the OnePlus 9R, 9RT, and 10R happen to be region-specific devices anyway, allowing the company to make all of their owners happy a lot more quickly.
Things that are NOT allowed: