Oppo starts Color OS 12 global launch, reveals ho-hum update policy
TL; DR
- Oppo announced the availability of Color OS 12 for the Find X3 Pro.
- However, this is only available in two countries for the time being.
- Oppo has also announced new guidelines for operating system and security updates.
Oppos Color OS has been steadily improving lately and has a lot of features and a ton of customizations compared to other Android skins. The company has been testing the Android 12-based Color OS 12 for a while, but it’s finally ready to roll out a stable update.
The company announced the first launch of Color OS 12 today, but this isn’t exactly a widespread launch. The so-called “Pilot” update will be released today at 6:00 p.m. GMT (2:00 p.m. ET) for the Oppo Find X3 Pro in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Oppo says it will showcase the full-length global version of Color OS 12 at an online introductory event on Oct. 11 at 9 a.m. GMT (5 p.m. ET). You can then learn more about the new Android 12-based software. We assume that the update will then be available in other countries.
Aside from Android 12-related functions, the new Android skin offers new animations, an interpretation of Apple’s Animoji, an optimized always-on display and improved connectivity with Windows PCs. Oppo also says the skin can now run for up to 36 months without a noticeable drop in performance.
The company aims to eventually bring the update to over 110 devices and 150 million users worldwide. And to this end, it has announced an optimized update policy for its devices released from 2019.
Opposite new update policy
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
More precisely, it offers three “major” operating system updates for the flagships of the Find X series (with the exception of the Lite and Neo models). That means last year’s Find X2 series and the most recent Find X3 series, as the company didn’t release any Find X flagships in 2019.
It also announces two Android updates for the Reno, F, K and Find Lite / Neo phone series, which are believed to be from 2019 as well. Oppo is taking a step back and is only promising a single operating system update for “some” of its A-series phones. The latter in particular sounds like some budget phones don’t get a single operating system update at all. It definitely sounds like Samsung is making better operating system updates promises for their budget phones.
Oppo told Android authority that getting Color OS 12 onto some budget devices with less than 3GB of RAM was a challenge. The company added that it was working on a “lighter version of ColorOS” for budget phones to meet demand for updates.
Fortunately, Oppo also offers better security patch commitments. It specifically provides four years of security updates for the Find X, Reno, F, and K series phones. Meanwhile, the Budget A-Series is slated to receive security patches for three years.
