2019 was a great year for smartphones with a multitude of brands bringing new models and series to the market. This year also saw brands understand and increase their focus on the software side, rounding up the already-incredible hardware that has now become available. A great example of this is the new ColorOS 7, which will be rolled out to the global community of over 300 million users.
ColorOS 7 implements a new Infinite Design concept which makes the interface more fluid, lightweight and intuitive, along with new audio and visual interactions. It will be coming to a host of OPPO smartphones next year. Users of phones such as the original F11, F11 Pro, Reno, Reno 10x Zoom Edition and the Reno 2 can already check out the trial version.
How to install ColorOS 7 trial version
Eligible OPPO phones can be updated to ColorOS 7 by going to Settings and heading to Software Upgrades. There will be a Settings icon on the upper right corner, under which you will find the Trial Version. A few hours after submitting your application, a new version will be detected, which can be downloaded. Note that there could still be bugs with the trial version, and ColorOS has a community to collect the feedbacks.
What's new in ColorOS 7?
One of the first things you will notice is the all-new iconography, which is now designed with fewer colours, follow material design, and are more graceful. Moreover, the icons can also be customized in terms of the overall shape, corners, and foreground separation. This is applicable to third-party apps as well.
ColorOS 7 will also bring a number of new wallpapers created by designers under the Special Artist Wallpaper project, which are inspired by topics such as nature, environment, culture, etc. There’s also a special “Hawa Mahal” live wallpaper especially for Indians which changes according to the time of the day. Besides this, there are also a few others that animate when touched or tapped.
2019 also proved that everyone loves dark mode, and saw many apps provide an option to switch to a darker UI for an improved visual experience and even reduced power consumption. ColorOS 7 brings the ability to switch to Android 10’s dark mode at a single tap in the quick toggles. This makes the interface pitch dark for an improved visual experience. Moreover, it also adds dark mode for over 200 popular apps that don’t yet support it natively, including WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram.
The animations have also been revamped to looks more natural, intuitive and realistic transitions. For example, when you go to the home screen, the app closes and goes back to its place. The weather app also changes dynamically with the weather in real-time. The app uninstalling animation has been refined to disintegrate and disappear.
Visuals are just half the interaction experience, with audio forming the rest of the experience. For ColorOS 7, OPPO partnered with Epic Sound, the Danish audio production company to create a more pleasing audio experience. Notification sounds have also been shorter. Haptics has been improved for toggles such as the alarm, compass, on/off switches, gestures, and typing for a more immersive experience. The alarm tone can also be adapted to the outside weather for a layer of rain or bird sounds.
ColorOS7 features not just enhance the user experience, but the new OS also gets a tidy makeover that looks pleasing to eyes and soothing to use. The new UI design looks like a refreshing change for existing OPPO users, as well as new users.
