ColorOS 13 Preview: Nicer than ever for Oppo users but we have ONE question

With ColorOS 13, there is a huge focus on improving the aesthetics and customization options. Based on Android 13, this year's operating system by Oppo incorporates Material You theming revealed in this year's Google I/O, including picking accent colors from wallpaper and applying them to app icons and overall theme. But that is not all, there is another shade of this ColorOS that you cannot help but notice and call out Oppo for the same -- the similarities with Apple's iOS 15.

It's not a new trend given we saw the inclusion of Omoji, a Memoji replica, last year. But this year, the commonalities have only increased. Once you pull down the notification bar, the control center might make you want to double check whether you picked up your iPhone 13 by mistake. Long pressing on app folders also enlarges it just like iOS 15, although the same has not been extended to specific apps.

But it is not a bad thing, after all. These features fit well within the entire ColorOS 13 ecosystem and offer a convenient way of using the device. Also, it would not be fair to focus only on the Apple-inspired additions as Oppo has also featured plenty of unique upgrades. As always, reading the feature list does not tell us a lot about how the operating system fairs. So, how does the ColorOS 13 perform when used in real-life conditions and viewed as a whole? I tried out an early access build of ColorOS 13 on an Oppo Find X5 Pro to answer.

ColorOS 13 design

I'd like to highlight that I used the ColorOS 13 on Oppo Find X5 Pro, which is a flagship device and the OS experience can vary for more affordable smartphones. That being said, the latest operating system has a heavy focus on design and aesthetics. One of the biggest upgrades in this comes in the ‘Wallpaper & Style' settings, which was previously labeled ‘Personalizations'.

Adapting to the next level of Material You theming, it now lets you pick accent colors from the wallpaper and apply it to the overall theme including notification bar, dialer menu and so on. You can also do the same with icons with the ‘Match wallpaper colors' option. However, this does not apply to third-party apps as of now. Icons also get a new ‘aquamorphic' design with a hydro-dynamic aesthetic, marking a departure from ColorOS 12's acrylic theme.

Upgrading its Quantum Animation Engine to 4th generation, the app opening, closing and transition animations are much smoother and more detailed than its previous version, which looks great. The 120Hz refresh rate also helps in making it look better, which might not be possible in smartphones with lower refresh rates (90Hz or lower).

Finally, the always-on display (AOD) has also received options for more customization, the biggest of them being Omoji inclusion on AOD. Apart from that users can add custom patterns, texts and portraits of your photos using the Canvas feature. Support for Spotify AOD on lockscreen has also been added.

ColorOS 13 features

The biggest upgrade has been received by the notification and control center which is now a single bar instead of two separate slide down menus depending on which side of the phone you swiped. The control center, quite similar to the iOS 15, has larger WiFi and mobile internet icons and a large panel for music. The rest of the icons have also been resized to improve the spacing around them.

You can now enlarge app folders on the home screen, a feature we recently observed on the Nothing Phone (1) and of course, the iOS 15. This helps in directly opening an app from the folder instead of opening the folders again and again. Apps with widgets can now directly be accessed by long pressing the app icon.

Some quality of life features have also been incorporated from Android 13 such as the option to edit and save a copied text to clipboard, copying images to edit them, a new Kids space and a modified game engine that gives more options for gamers.

ColorOS 13 has also adapted all the privacy and security features from Android 13. You now get stricter location permissions, automatic detection of sensitive information to prevent third-party apps from reading it and picking a photo from the gallery to share with an app without letting it access other media contents.

The feature update has not been a major one like the design overhaul, but I believe that these were some important improvements needed to make the overall smartphone experience better.

ColorOS 13 verdict

The latest platform update by Oppo does a faithful job of incorporating the Android 13 elements to improve customization as well as adds some independent features that seem quite handy, inspired by iOS 15 or otherwise. I was impressed with the vast amount of customization available for the always-on display and icons.

However, there is a bigger question at hand. The ColorOS 13 I experienced was on a premium smartphone where bloatware is minimal and you do not get pestered by unwanted notifications -- something that usually happens with local models such as the Reno 8 Pro, Reno 8, F21 Pro, and so on. Will this clean and sleek experience be also extended to the mid-range and budget range smartphones that run ColorOS? The answer to this has not been very encouraging in the past, and I feel this question will have to be answered by Oppo. It is high time Oppo takes upon itself to justify its premium products with a premium software experience. This ColorOS 13 has the potential to deliver that, we just hope Oppo realizes that and resists its temptation of putting over 20 junk apps for the sake of monetary gains.