OnePlus 6T Will Have a “Whole New UI,” Improved Camera

In the lead-up to the OnePlus 6T unveiling on October 30, the company behind the phone can’t stop talking about it. (That’s OK with me! I just hope they leave some surprises!) Today, during an interview posted to their forums, OnePlus talked about some of the big software changes that are coming to the 6T and also that we should expect an improved camera experience.

OnePlus’ “resident software expert” Szymon K. and User Experience Lead Crayon Hsieh, were the two speaking during the interview. They actually provided some depth in their description of the UI that has us both excited and worried.

For one, they called it a “whole new UI” that will “express the OnePlus design language” while making it the “most distinct and intuitive version of OxygenOS yet.” OK, so what does that mean? We aren’t getting a whole OPPO-esque skin now, are we? I don’t think so. I hope not. They talked more about it just being faster and smoother than ever before with the addition of new features, rather than a heavy skin. Again, I hope.

As an example, they talked about a refreshed or improved gesture navigation. With this new version, swiping up on an app will grab ahold of the app you are in to let it follow your finger. As they describe it, this makes for a “more natural experience.” Additionally, a flick from bottom right of the screen lets you quickly jump between your two most recent apps, which you used to not be able to do without an app switcher button. They’ve also implemented a short-press on the power button to activate Google Assistant, which is already a OnePlus 6 Pie feature. You’ll find overall, better animations and smoothness throughout too.

Another example would be a better AI algorithm that keeps track of your sleep schedule to help extend battery life at night and reduce power consumption. So yeah, these changes don’t necessarily seem like a full UI makeover, but rather improvements.

For the camera, they really just mentioned that they “put a lot of work” into improving the camera, but can’t say what exactly that means. That sure doesn’t sound like we’re getting new sensors in the OnePlus 6T, so hopefully they’ve figured out a system that brings smarts and processing closer to Google’s with the Pixel camera.

// OnePlus