ColorOS 17 is here, and it might just be the most beautiful Android skin going around. It doesn’t add a whole lot of new features, though there are some very useful additions. Instead, the update takes a more aesthetic approach, with tasteful touch-ups and stylistic sensibilities that turn your phone into a work of art.
After updating my Realme GT 8 Pro, I extensively tested ColorOS 17 to ferret out every single change, and here are the ones that made me sit up and take notice. Among all the new ColorOS 17 features, a few really stood out to me and make this update visually pleasing.
ColorOS 17 Gets a Glow-up That Flows Throughout the OS
Like Nothing OS, Oppo’s ColorOS has its own vibe that leans towards heavy personalisation. But on ColorOS 17, there’s an even bigger focus on making every transition and interaction appear seamless and alive, and it shows.
Let’s start with the soft translucent effect because it’s just about everywhere. From the quick settings panel and the sidebar to the clock and Floating Island with all its live activity capsules, the glassy look is a charming addition that is hard to miss.
Much more subtle is the glow effect that appears when you interact with an element. For instance, when you tap on a quick setting tile or turn up the volume, you’ll notice a tiny bobbing flash to indicate the change.
The music player also gets a glow-up. Wherever it appears, be it the floating island, quick settings, or the lock screen, there’s a slight underglow that changes colours based on the album art. The seek bar also moves forward like a trail-blazing comet, which is thrilling to see.
But the star of all these design elements has to be the Flux Clock.
When you have the Flux Clock widget on the home screen, it transitions from the AOD to the lock screen and home screen widgets, all in flux. The clock size changes, but it always remains in view. When you lock the phone again, the same clock returns to the AOD again.
Screenshots really don’t do it justice, and you have to watch the buttery smooth transitions from one screen to the next to realise its beauty. If you thought the iPhone Duo’s subtle animation could win the internet, you have to check out ColorOS 17’s Flux Clock.
Oppo says these flowing design elements are powered by their Luminous Rendering Engine in order to make the interactions feel continuous.
Furthermore, the upgraded Laminar Flow Engine ensures the background and foreground processes coordinate with each other so these heavy visual changes don’t impact everyday performance.
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A Unified Design Makes Built-in Apps Feel Better
All the system apps get a floating bottom menu on ColorOS 17. These apps include:
- My Files
- Phone
- Browser
- Calendar
- Documents
- EasyFun
- Translate
- Compass
- Notes
- Tips
The floating dock unifies these apps and ensures a consistent design language across them all. It’s also convenient to house the main features at the bottom, which is the thumb’s natural resting place.
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ColorOS 17 Uses AI to Fight AI-Powered Scams
With call scams on the rise, I was glad to see AI protection features on ColorOS 17. There are three of these:
- Synthetic voice detection
- AI face swap detection
- Cross-app scam detection
What made me feel even more secure was that the AI scam detection supports Hindi, along with English and a couple other Southeast Asian languages.
Anytime you get a call from an unknown number, Synthetic voice-detection records and processes audio in real time. If it detects the use of synthetic voices, it issues an alert. Similarly, the face swap detection feature alerts you when it identifies face swaps on one-on-one video calls.
Cross-app scam detection is a more general protection feature that detects risks across apps. All these services use on-device AI, so no personal data is uploaded anywhere.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, I didn’t receive any such scam calls while testing. But I can breathe a little easier knowing that the AI on my phone can keep me from falling prey to these modern AI-enabled scams. It's a little like fighting fire with fire.
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OSee Is a Feature I Keep Coming Back To
OSee is basically a visual search tool, not unlike Google Lens. But the way it’s been implemented, it’s easily one of the best things on ColorOS 17. It’s also one of the few feature additions that isn’t just aesthetic in nature. Personally, I use it every day, and I do feel that OSee is quietly changing my habits and making me more knowledgeable about the world around me.
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AI Mind Suggest Keeps Me Informed
Building upon the ‘Mind Space’ personal hub introduced in ColorOS 16, the new update now adds a new AI Mind Suggest feature. It’s basically a smart reminder that pulls your travel information like your boarding pass or train ticket from across the system and delivers all the key updates to you.
This could come in very handy when the boarding gates get changed or if the train is running late. It’s not only meant for travel, however. You can enable Mind Suggest services for sports, news, music, and much more so you’re never in the dark about breaking news, your team’s performance, or if your favourite artist has dropped a new album.
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Agent Mode Is Not Quite Ready
Previously on ColorOS, you could only ask questions of Mind Pilot. But now, there are agentic capabilities added to the mix. The new Agent Mode can dig into your files and photos, organise them, create collages, and help you research with and summarise your documents.
You do get a few free tokens daily to get you going. But once they’re used up, you need to connect your ChatGPT account.
The only issue with this agent mode is that it takes a while to finish the job. Even then, there’s no guarantee that it’ll do what is requested. So more often than not, I let this feature alone.
ColorOS 17 Proves Looks Can Go a Long Way
From top to bottom, ColorOS 17 is an elegant update. The translucent luminous shades add liveliness and verve, while the continuous flowing elements across screens make them all appear as one.
It’s a little thin on new features and doesn’t bring a whole lot in terms of reliable agentic workflow. OSee and AI scam detection features are two notable additions that carry most of the weight. But in total, the ColorOS 17 update passes with flying colours, keeping alive the tradition of a smooth and flowing Android skin that is still hard to beat.
