Android 15 just made 2024’s best phone even better
OnePlus’s transformation is complete after the release of OxygenOS 15 this week. The Android 15-based update for the OnePlus 12 is a shining example of what a company can achieve when it realizes its past mistakes and resolves to fix them.
Now, OnePlus is one of the elite few companies that have pushed an Android 15 update out to its phones in less than a month after Google released the OS. Meanwhile, companies like Samsung are saying not to expect its Android 15 beta release for another month, followed by the full release of One UI 7 sometime early in 2025. I would have lost money if I had to wager a bet against which of these two companies would have had its Android 15 update out first.
As a OnePlus 12 user, I’m glad OnePlus got its act together and has been able to deliver such a monumental update in such a short amount of time. OnePlus 12 users can expect to see the update appear on their phones this week, while other OnePlus phones should get the update in the coming weeks and months.
That’s one of the many reasons the OnePlus 12 is a phone you need to consider picking up during Black Friday this year. We’ve already seen great sales on this phone just this week, with the phone on sale for $649. But if you’re willing to wait just 3 weeks for Black Friday OnePlus deals, I think you’ll be able to get it for even cheaper.
I’ve reviewed well over a dozen phones this year, but the one I keep coming back to is the OnePlus 12. Here’s why I think you’ll love it, too.
A refreshing look and feel
OxygenOS 15 sports a fresh coat of paint and refined iconography, including a more powerful theme engine that feels closer to OxygenOS’s golden days of yore. Not only that, but the company has added in several new features and options that are sure to get some users excited.
You can now choose to split the notification shade if you want, adding room for more quick toggles in a separate shade from notifications. You can always swipe left or right to move between these panes, so enabling the iOS-style feature is actually more handy than it is on iOS itself.
Speaking of iOS, OnePlus joins the swath of OEMs that have added a Dynamic Island-style pop-up notification to the punch-hole camera in the display, but it’s disabled by default. Right now, it doesn’t seem to support many apps so it’s probably not worth using outside of a few first-party OnePlus apps.
The new animations and optional frosted glass UI look are all quite beautiful and should please anyone who appreciates little details throughout the UI.
All of this ties in so perfectly with the haptics which have always been one of the real stars of the show when using the OnePlus 12. Move your finger along the brightness or volume sliders and each little notch is felt like you’re moving a dial. Keyboard taps are punchy and deep. Unlocking with the one’s excellent fingerprint sensor feels like pressing a button. It’s all incredible, and it makes me love using this phone over others.
AI to the rescue
OnePlus phones rarely have the best cameras in the industry, but the OnePlus 12 has surprised me more than once with its unique Hasselblad color tuning engine and the excellent telephoto sensor on the back.
With that said, I wholeheartedly welcome the new AI features that work to make the camera even better. We already tested OnePlus’ AI eraser and found that it was better than Google’s Magic Eraser, and now OnePlus is back with three other new tools I’ll be using all the time.
AI Detail Boost can help fill in the gaps to make low-resolution images look crisper and cleaner, or just add some more fine detail to an image that’s been zoomed into. This one’s nice, but I like AI Unblur even better since it can help clean up some of my favorite blurry photos. Check out this comparison of my son and his friends during Halloween, for example.
There’s also a reflection eraser tool that does exactly what it says on the tin, similar to the tool that shipped with Samsung phones in 2023.
Lastly, a new global search app uses Google Gemini to locally catalog anything you give it permission to, including photos, messages, contacts, and more. It’s not quite as robust as the Pixel Screenshots app on a Google Pixel, but it can be helpful for quickly finding photos, videos, or messages on your phone without switching between a bunch of apps.
OnePlus also upgraded the multitasking to make it more like the brilliant OnePlus Canvas software that debuted on the OnePlus Open. Floating windows now support gestures, the smart sidebar can be used like a desktop dock to launch apps, and switching between apps is faster and smoother than on any other phone, thanks to OnePlus’s brilliant UI design.
There are a lot of other little things we’ve been loving about this update and all of them culminate into an experience that’s better than any other phone on the market. I keep coming back to this phone time and time again despite having access to every other Android phone on the market, and I think you will find the same joy if you pick one up for cheap during Black Friday this year.
Now even better
The OnePlus 12 may be the most underrated flagship of 2024. It has a great design and a superb camera that rivals other flagships like the Galaxy S24 Ultra and Pixel 9 Pro XL. Now, with OxygenOS 15, it’s one of the first to get Android 15, offering plenty of new AI features.
