Everything you need to know about OPPO ColorOS 15
A smooth operating system that feels blazingly fast requires more work than you think. And that's before you consider all sorts of Android conveniences and the rare Apple compatibility. #oppo #coloros15 #android
Note: This feature was first published on 17 December 2024.
OPPO invited its top executives and engineers to Singapore, to give us a crash course and deep dive into ColorOS 15. Photo: HWZ.
Reinventing ColorOS 15
For many Android-based phone brands, a reskinned operating system is just a reinterpretation of their design choices and brand image. Sometimes, proprietary features make things more convenient than stock Android, but the rest is a repackaging.
Very few exceptions go beyond customising new menus and buttons. One of them is OPPO, which has spent many years transforming the mobile Android OS into the phone company’s own reskin, ColorOS.
ColorOS 15 by OPPO. Image: OPPO.
Launching alongside the OPPO Find X8 series its its latest Android 15 remake, ColorOS 15. This operating system melds the arts with software ingenuity to create a swift, pleasant-to-look-at, and user-friendly system that offers features that conventional Android wouldn’t be able to offer.
Photo: HWZ.
ColorOS 15 introduces even more optimisations and unexpected features, like the Apple-compatible Touch To Share. We attended an operating system workshop where OPPO’s engineers and directors discussed its (OS’s) core purpose, what users ask for, and how it delivers extra perks to users and make itself unique in a sea of Android handsets.
Speed is of the essence
OPPO explains how Android typically processes tasks, which is compared against OPPO's parallel rendering techniques that allow the phone to multi-task without affecting other components. Photo: HWZ.
A critical but oft-overlooked aspect of Android is the feeling of productivity when navigating between apps. Users don’t have time to sit around and wait for loading screens, and the milliseconds of waiting for Android animations to resolve can add up over a long day of phone use. Unfortunately, having no animations makes it hard for users to visualise navigation, so it has to be intuitive, pleasant, and faster than a blink of an eye.
One of the two rendering engines OPPO deploys to make its animations more responsive and speedy. Image: OPPO.
ColorOS's pleasant and intuitive scrolling has improved significantly in its 11 years of existence (since 2013). Of note, OPPO said ColorOS 15 contains over 800 animations to convey its seamless browsing experience.
The other engine, responsible for CPU caching and its instruction sets that makes it more efficient and faster than other Android alternatives. Image: OPPO.
The real magic, however, is engineering. More specifically, OPPO revamped its Android rendering framework (Luminous Rendering Engine and Trinity Engine), giving it a parallel rendering response that allows multiple inputs to be executed, unlike conventional Android rendering, where it’s serial/sequential.
OPPO was not shy about demonstrating how ColorOS 15 holds up in an app-opening gauntlet. It was also not very subtle about who the "other OS" is. Photo: HWZ.
The company cited massive improvements, such as an 18% better response speed, 40% increased stability over control, and an overall 22% smoother experience compared to “other Android OSes” (they compared against a well-known Korean phone brand at the workshop).
Pro photo-editing for casual photographers
AI Eraser has been improved further, thanks for further AI training done in-house by OPPO. Photo: HWZ.
Bundled with ColorOS 15 is a host of photo-editing tools inside OPPO’s default Photos app. OPPO developed These AI-trained features in-house, where the company repeatedly trains its tools to improve its object recognition and intelligent-fill algorithms.
It was already very good when we tried on earlier versions of ColorOS (via the Find X7 Ultra, for instance), so we don’t doubt they’re even better on ColorOS 15 and the newer Find X8 Pro.
Shot on OPPO Find X8 Pro, before using AI Eraser. Photo: HWZ.
With ColorOS 15, OPPO phone users can access Photo Editor, which effectively offers four AI-based editing modes: Enhance Clarity, AI Eraser, Unblur, and Remove Reflection. Since the AI processing is cloud-based, you will require mobile data or a Wi-Fi connection.
Shot on OPPO Find X8 Pro, after using AI Eraser. Times Square in NYC has never looked so quiet. Photo: HWZ.
Of special note is the AI Eraser. There are three ways to indicate edits. Smart Lasso is an outlining selection tool that allows you to circle areas you want to erase. Paint Over lets you pretend your finger is an eraser, and you use a rubbing motion to erase spots on the image. Remove People is a one-tap function that removes everyone else from an otherwise pretty photo.
AI Clarity Enhancer improves low-resolution images in your Photos app, giving you a 4K resolution upsample in return. Photo: HWZ.
Enhance Clarity is also particularly powerful because it can restore old, low-resolution photos to 4K resolution with a single tap.
Touch To Share
Touch To Share works with Apple iPhones. It's great. Photo: HWZ.
By now, you would have heard about Touch To Share, which allows OPPO phones to send photos to iPhones and vice versa. All the iPhone user needs is the O+ Connect app from the Apple App Store, while it's a built-in feature on the OPPO Find X8 series phones.
The cool part is that OPPO figured out how to quickly make its photo transfers between different operating systems: up to 100 photos in 4K resolutions within 8 seconds.
The two OPPO spokespersons demonstrate Touch To Share, live. Photo: HWZ.
You don’t need to touch the phones together since O+ Connect works via a Wi-Fi Direct connection. This explains the fast transfer speeds and why the transfer app still works even before Touch To Share exists.
The real perk of Touch To Share, however, is that the iPhone owner doesn’t need to open the O+ Connect app first. As long as O+ Connect is installed and set up on the iPhone, touching a fellow OPPO Find X8 series phone will trigger a pop-up asking to receive photos.
We almost missed out on this photo because the photo transfer was that fast. Photo: HWZ.
OPPO said Touch To Share exists because it realises that many users also carry both Apple iPhones and OPPO phones. Either that or OPPO users have family or friends who carry iPhones. A fast and easy way to transfer photos is just the workaround no one asked for but needed.
AI Productivity
AI Toolbox is where the productivity hacks are. And OPPO has done an excellent job at shipping features that feel accurate and reliable to use. Photo: HWZ.
Like other market-leading mobile AI efforts, OPPO has many AI productivity features. However, OPPO has made theirs easy to use and understand.
AI Toolbox is a hidden floating menu that you can pull out in relevant apps. The functions at the top depends on the app you're in. Screenshot: HWZ.
AI Toolbox is a floating menu that appears when browsing the web or writing messages. It offers several shortcuts and two AI features, AI Summary and AI Speak, which help you abbreviate or recite the content on the page. The toolbox works in third-party web browsers, including the Google Chrome app.
The only catch is you need to enable AI Toolbox. It can be found under Settings > Accessibility & Convenience > Smart Sidebar.
A cool perk of AI Speak is that you can skip forward and backwards (0.5s) and make it read back slower (0.5x) or faster (2.0x). This is great if you’re struggling to follow a heavy topic or if you're pressed for time.
AI Reply generates so many alternatives, and you might be spoilt for choice. Screenshot: HWZ.
AI Reply appears in the AI Toolbox / Smart Sidebar if OPPO detects you’re in a compatible messaging app (WhatsApp is supported). It simply detects written on the screen, and offers a conversant reply in six different styles with three options per style to choose from. A handy tool here is “regenerate”, which creates new replies in case you don’t like any of the first drafts.
Similarly, AI Toolbox also has AI Writer, which appears if you’re in a social media or document app instead. It works on Google Docs, Microsoft Word, Instagram, and X, as well as OPPO’s document app. AI Writer can help draft, check, or rewrite existing content.
The "generate" button for voice recordings appear after you complete your recording. Screenshot: HWZ.
However, OPPO’s AI shines in the Recorder voice memo app. If you press the “generate” option during a voice recording, the phone automatically creates a summary and transcription of your audio clip in the Notes app.
Generated summary. Screenshot: HWZ.
Audio transcript, generated with AI. Screenshot: HWZ.
No prizes for guessing what clips we used to test AI Summary and AI Transcription. While the transcription could use some minor edits, summarisation passed with flying colours. We took no umbrage at its quality, even if it’s imperfect.
Other optimisations
If all those ColorOS 15 tools aren’t enough for you, OPPO also included Gemini (the app) and one of the best AI search tools it has ever developed, Circle To Search with Google.
OPPO also included multi-tasking (Boundless View), allowing users to split-screen into two apps (horizontally), and those halves are adjustable. This was inspired by the same Boundless View on its foldable phones, the Find N3.
Aqua Dynamics is a reimagined Dynamic Island notification bar that has more functionality and better legibility. Image: OPPO.
Flux Themes is a quick, easy, and personalised way to dress up the entire UI. Under Settings > Wallpapers & Style, you can select pre-defined themes, create your own, and specify the typeface, animations, and more.
Aqua Dynamics can show app shortcuts when interacted with. Photo: HWZ.
Other little areas where they show extra care and thought include an auto-brightness toggle (tap the brightness bar in the pull-down menu), a smart charging toggle that limits battery to a maximum 80% to extend its longevity, and a promise to support Google Theft Protection when the feature finally rolls out.
More about ColorOS 15
OPPO summarises everything you need to know about ColorOS 15. Photo: HWZ.
If you want to read more about ColorOS 15, you can find all the details on OPPO’s official website.
The operating system is supported on its entry-level (F series, A series), midrange (Reno), and flagship (Find N, Find X) phones. However, the OPPO Find X8 series comes with ColorOS 15 out of the box.
OPPO Find X8 Pro. Photo: HWZ.
The OPPO Find X8 series starts at S$1,349 and is available at online stores such as ShopChangi, KrisShop, Lazada, Shopee, TikTok Shop, Zalora, and major consumer electronics stores.
To learn more about the phones, read here.
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