And as expected, the new Oxygen OS version comes with a ton of new features. And well, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if I tell you that these features help boost your smartphone experience by many levels. So, if you’ve recently bought the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro (or planning to buy), check out the tips and tricks below to get the most out of your new phone.
1. Enter The Zen Zone with Zen Mode
Digital Wellbeing is the flavor of the season, and most phone makers are trying their best to incorporate it some way or the other in their phones. Until the OnePlus 6T, the company hadn’t included any digital wellbeing modules on its phones. That changed with the new flagships as it comes with the Zen Mode. The Zen Mode shuns the usual method of blocking your notifications or showing your phone usage statistics. Instead, this new mode locks your phone for a full 20 minutes (during which you can leave your phone aside and interact with real humans). During this lockdown time, you can only use your phone to answer calls or to access the camera. To enable Zen Mode, slide the Quick Settings menu and tap on the Zen Mode icon on the second screen.
2. Safe Driving
Before we get started, let me tell you that this comes with a catch. You need to have the Warp Charge 30 Car Charger for this one. Once you connect it to your phone, you’ll see the option to set up the Driving Mode. You can either choose to activate the DND mode or launch an app each time you connect the charger.
3. Activate Fnatic Mode
Because every other phone packs a Gaming Mode. The OnePlus 7 Pro comes with a rather special gaming mode. Named after Fnatic, the popular gaming esport organization, this Mode lets the mobile gamers enjoy a complete experience. Apart from aggressive CPU utilization, it also comes with an advanced DND mode that shuts off every call, message, and notification (except the alarm and low-battery notification). Once you are done gaming, you can see all the calls and messages in the history log. To enable the Fnatic Mode, search for Gaming mode in Settings. Once in, add your games to the list. From now on, whenever you open the games, the Gaming mode will kick in automatically. All you have to do is tap on the Switch to Fnatic mode from the notification drawer.
4. Try out DC Dimming
DC Dimming is one of the newest OnePlus Laboratory features. It adjusts the brightness of the screen and lowers screen flickering in a low brightness setting. However, tread cautiously with it since this is a labs feature and can turn out to be buggy at times. But if you still want to go ahead with it, head over to Settings > Utilities > OnePlus Laboratory, tap on DC dimming and toggle the switch to activate.
5. Boost RAM
Another new feature is the RAM Boost. The OnePlus 7 can learn from your usage habits and in the process, it can predict which app you want to load or which data-set to load. In a nutshell, it can intelligently allocate available RAM to your apps, thus boosting the loading speed. To enable it, head over to System and scroll down until you see RAM Boost. Tap on it and toggle the switch on.
6. Tweak the Screen Resolution
As you may already know, it is the first OnePlus phone with a screen resolution greater than 1080p. The good news is that you can easily switch between the QHD+ and FHD+ resolution. To do so, head over to Display > Resolution and tap on QHD+. Do note that switching to QHD+ will result in high battery drain. The clever thing to do is switch to it whenever you have to watch movies and videos and switch back to FHD+ later.
7. Enhance Videos
The OnePlus 7 and the OnePlus 7 Pro comes packed with a gorgeous display, and is clearly made for watching high-res videos and movies (and playing games). OnePlus also seems to be on the same mission as they have added a nifty Video Enhancer feature to its new flagship. The Video Enhancer doesn’t convert low-resolution videos into HD. Instead, it enhances the colors of the video, making the colors pop out. The best part is that you do not have to add apps (like Netflix and YouTube) manually to it. To enable it, go to Settings > Display, scroll down and tap on Video enhancer, and toggle the switch on.
8. Enable Dolby Atmos for an Immersive Audio Experience
So much for videos, but what about audio? Your new phone comes with a neat Dolby Atmos support to enhance your audio experience. There are three different profiles to choose from – Dynamic, Movie, and Music. And well, I need not tell you what each one of them does. Also, when it comes to earphones, the OnePlus 7 Plus comes with three Style Preferences – Balance, Warm, and Nuanced. These profiles boost your average audio output. I found the Nuanced profile to be the best among the three. You can also tweak the EQ settings to suit your taste.
9. Lower the Refresh Rate for Longer Battery Life
The OnePlus 7 Pro phones come with two refresh rate options – 90Hz and 60Hz. Needless to say, the 90Hz refresh rate brings a buttery smooth experience. However, the 90Hz display panel also comes at a cost – battery life. Hence, if you want the battery of your OnePlus 7 to last a bit longer, you may want to consider switching to the 60Hz refresh rate.
10. Launch your Apps Super-Fast
Need your favorite apps in a flash? Simple, keep pressing the fingerprint icon for a little longer and your apps will be launched in an instant. Cool, right? To activate it, search for Quick Launch in Settings or go to Settings > Utilities > Quick Launch. Once in, toggle the switch on. After that, tap on Shortcuts settings and add your favorite apps to the list. What’s more, you can also change the positions of the shortcuts.
11. Edit Screenshot like a Pro
Back in the day, you had to root your phone to take a screenshot. Thankfully, things have changed for the better. With the new OnePlus 7, not only can you take a scrolling screenshot but you can also annotate and draw on top of them, not to mention, blur sensitive information. All you have to do is capture a screen grab and tap on the little thumbnail at the bottom-right corner. Tap on the icons at the bottom to edit it the way you want. My favorite tool? The blur tool.
12. Screen Recorder
Another cool feature is the Screen Recorder. Not only does it let you seamlessly record your screen, but it also comes with a host of cool features. You can select the screen resolution, bit rate, and the audio source for your videos. The touch-marker is switched on by default, thus making it incredibly helpful. What I loved about the OnePlus 7 Screen Recorder is that the on-screen controls are so subtle. The recording will automatically pause when you lock the phone. There’s a compact transparent control that disappears as soon as you hit the record button. Once you finish recording, double tap on the screen to bring back the controls and stop the recording. They say that it’s the tiny detail that matters, and it holds true for the Screen Recorder. Until you exit the app manually, you’ll see the persistent notification indicating that the app is running.
13. Play with Different Screen Unlock Animations
Want to switch over from the default fingerprint animation? Simple. Head over to Lock screen & Security > Fingerprint > and tap on Fingerprint animation effect. Choose one from the three available settings and hit the Save button.
14. Unlock Smartly
Even with the pop-up camera, the Face Unlock of the OnePlus 7 Pro is super fast. That means your phone will unlock the moment the screen is on, and that happens many times. If you would rather want to land on the lock screen instead of the home screen, you are in luck. There’s a way to change the default way to unlock. To do so, go to Security & lock screen > Face Unlock > Default way to unlock and choose the first option.
15. Show Battery Percentage
This one is not exactly a new feature but comes in handy if you want to see the percentage of remaining battery. All you have to do is go to the Display Settings, scroll down and tap on the Status bar. Now, toggle the switch for Show battery percentage. Simple. Not that it’s necessary, thanks to the no notch design, but you can also hide the battery icon and just choose to keep the battery percentage. To do so, tap on Battery style and select Battery hidden.
16. Set up a Snazzy Ambient Display
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could see all your notifications just by lifting your phone? Well, the Ambient Display of the OnePlus 7 makes it possible. The Ambient Display of the OnePlus 7 lets you choose the clock style and notification style. You can also display a custom message. To enable it, go to the Display > Ambient Display and choose your Clock Style. Once done, hit the Save button.
17. Get the Android Pie-style Home Button
Last but not least, your OnePlus 7 also comes with Android Pie-style navigation gestures. Yep, you can have the elegant pill-shaped home button on your phone. Here, the back button is to the left side. Thankfully, Oxygen OS lets you swap the order of the back button rather easily. To do so, head over to the Button & Gestures > Navigation bar & gestures > Navigation bar customization and toggle the switch for Swap buttons. At the same time, you can also add double tap and long-press action to these two buttons. By default, swiping up on the home button brings up the Overview Selection menu, while pressing and swiping the Home button will open the last opened app on your Recents Menu.
Get the Most out the New OnePlus 7 Pro
The OnePlus 7 is one of the few phones up until now to comes with the speedy Snapdragon 855 mobile processor. And with the liquid cooling and the ample amount of RAM, it only makes sense to get the most out of it. So, which one of these will you enable first? Let me guess, you are dying to try out Dolby Atmos. Next up: The new OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro has retained plenty of old features, and File Dash is one of them. Check out how to use this cool feature. The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.
