OnePlus is the most recent producer to serve up an early have a look at its Android 14 interface. OxygenOS 14 is now in public beta, and the primary construct is rolling out to customers enrolled in this system. Just like what Samsung did with One UI 6, OnePlus is limiting who can set up OxygenOS 14: the beta is simply obtainable for the OnePlus 11, and in the meanwhile, it is geared toward clients in India and North America, with no point out of when European OnePlus 11 house owners can take part on the motion.
OxygenOS had an attention-grabbing journey in recent times, and whereas it took some time for OnePlus to combine the ColorOS codebase, the OxygenOS 13 launch delivered stability and an honest feature-set that is just like what you will discover on OPPO telephones. With OxygenOS 14, the established order is essentially unchanged; the interface appears to be like and appears like ColorOS, and it is lacking noteworthy new options.
That stated, this is all the pieces that is new in OxygenOS 14, and what you possibly can look ahead to in subsequent beta builds.
OxygenOS 14: Carbon Footprint AOD type
OnePlus at all times had one of the best AOD kinds, going again to the introduction of the Perception AOD that was designed in collaboration with Parsons College of Design. The producer adopted that up with the Homeland AOD collection that showcased the consequences of worldwide warming in real-time, and the most recent addition in OxygenOS 14 follows an analogous sample.
The Carbon Footprint AOD is designed to spotlight the consequences of carbon emissions, and it has a nifty characteristic that permits you to monitor your individual — strolling 10,000 steps cuts down on emissions by as much as 1.74kg, and also you get a visible illustration of this on the lock display screen.
Very like the Homeland AOD, you get three distinct kinds to select from — globe, forest, and island lagoon — and it modifications dynamically primarily based in your step rely.
OxygenOS 14: Ringtones and notification sounds
One other new characteristic in OxygenOS 14 is the introduction of Aquamorphic ringtones and notification sounds.
These ringtones and tones are extra playful than the usual OxygenOS sounds, which have been moved to the Traditional part.
There’s additionally a brief blurb for the Alert Slider that now sits on the high of the Sound & vibration menu. You possibly can dismiss this, however it provides new OnePlus customers a fast walkthrough of the slider and its options.
OxygenOS 14: Design and usefulness modifications
Whereas a subset of the OxygenOS userbase has been clamoring for a return to the interface’s vanilla appear and feel, that ship has sailed. OxygenOS 14 retains the identical design aesthetic, and whereas OnePlus notes that the Aquamorphic Design has been tweaked with a extra “pure, light, and clearer colour type for a extra snug colour expertise,” I did not discover any modifications.
Visually, OxygenOS 14 is an identical to OxygenOS 13, and all of the interface components, together with the notification pane, settings web page, inventory apps, are unchanged. The one change I observed is that the house display screen now has a persistent search bar simply above the tray, and this pulls up the worldwide search characteristic. Fortunately, you possibly can disable the characteristic should you’re like me and do not use international search in your OnePlus telephone.
A brand new characteristic rolling out in OxygenOS 14 is Sensible recommendations, which surfaces real-time details about ride-hailing companies or meals supply within the lock display screen, notification shade, or the standing bar. Consider it because the OxygenOS model of Google’s At A Look widget.
A giant usability change is the power to set app languages on a per-app foundation, and that is now obtainable within the Extra Settings sub-menu. Altering the setting right here will change the language of simply that app, with out affecting the system language. Different modifications embody a cloud sync choice that saves your Wi-Fi passwords within the cloud, however I do not fairly see the utility of such a characteristic.
OxygenOS 14: Safety and privateness modifications
OxygenOS 14 contains modifications to app permissions that Google launched in Android 14, specifically the power to grant picture and video permissions as an alternative of entry to all information on the system.
OnePlus continues to consolidate the varied safety and privateness settings right into a unified change, and whereas a few of these modifications are stay in OxygenOS 13.1, OxygenOS 14 builds on that. Sensible Lock has been renamed to Lengthen Unlock, and all of the privateness settings are actually in a single web page, making it simple to entry all of the settings.
The safety dashboard has a delicate design change, and it ditches the overt Materials You influences and is in keeping with the remainder of the OxygenOS 14 aesthetic.
OxygenOS 14: Lock display screen
The lock display screen additionally will get a delicate tweak, with the password enter switching to a extra Pixel-esque format. You get two new lock display screen controls: flashlight, and QR code. The latter pulls up Google Lens so you possibly can scan a QR code with ease, and it is a helpful addition.
You possibly can arrange a persistent media participant on the lock display screen, providing you with entry to music playback controls with out having to wake the gadget. This is not a brand new characteristic as similar to it is also obtainable on OxygenOS 13, however there’s now a toggle for it within the House Display & Lock Display sub-menu within the settings, making it far more seen. In OxygenOS 13, that is tucked away in AOD settings.
OxygenOS 14: Far more to return
We’re simply getting began with OxygenOS 14, and OnePlus will introduce extra options over the approaching weeks and months. For now, it does not make a lot sense to put in OxygenOS 14 in your telephone — there are bugs within the UI, and no notable options. However that scenario will change with subsequent builds, and I will replace this put up as soon as as new beta builds grow to be obtainable.
