OnePlus has unveiled its Android 11-based HydrogenOS 11 in China with a lot of new features, design changes, and improvements. HydrogenOS is the user interface for OnePlus phone users in China and it’s different from OxygenOS and it does give us an idea of what we can expect from the upcoming OxygenOS 11 update. OnePlus showed off the new Always-on Display, an updated dark theme, redesigned weather app, new improved Gallery, voice notes, and more.
HydrogenOS 11 features
Always-on Display:
HydrogenOS 11 Always-on Display theme was designed in collaboration with Parsons College in the US. It has a vertical line in the middle of the screen and at the top, you will see the total number of unlocks and also it has the date and time moving from top to bottom as time passes.
Gallery app:
The Gallery app is redesigned and you got integrated image and video editing features. The video shared by OnePlus on Weibo, clearly shows that the Gallery app has three tabs that can be swiped through. The layout of images and videos has also changed.
Weather app:
The pre-installed Weather app has been refreshed with new animations and backgrounds. It shows weather effects depending on the actual weather. You also get the usual forecast as well.
Improved dark mode:
As per the changes you get a dedicated switch in the notification panel to easily switch to dark mode in HydrogenOS 11. It can also be set to turn on automatically at a certain time, or according to sunset and sunrise. The new dark mode uses different shades of black to show different information. It has also passed WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) Double-A certification, meaning it offers a better dark mode experience to visually impaired users.
Memory management:
The all-new ORM memory management system can run more applications at the same time without much usage of RAM and reduce the chances of apps being killed in the background.
Some Other Features:
The new OS also brings improved voice notes with support for speech-to-text conversion, a one-handed mode for better usability with one hand, a new live wallpaper that changes according to the changes in the sky, three new themes in Meditation mode (Zen Mode), and more.
The icons have been changed, adapted a more squircle design that will presumably be an addition to the previously available options. There are some changes to the animations as well. According to the report, HydrogenOS 11 update will be available for the OnePlus 6 and newer phones starting mid-December. As of now, it is available in a Developer Preview for the OnePlus 8 series and the stable version said to release in Q4 this year.
Source: Gadget360