So today we will have a look at top 10 OnePlus tips, tricks, and features to help you get the most out of your device. As most of these features are related to Oxygen OS, folks on other variants of OnePlus devices can use them too. Let’s have a look.
1. Modify Home Screen Layout
OnePlus 3 is powered by the Oxygen OS Launcher and when you swipe to the extreme left you get the Shelf View where you can pin the most used contacts, apps, and other widgets. However, the best customization feature opens up when you long tap on any open section on the home screen and tap on the Customize option. First of all, you can disable the Shelf View if you don’t actively use it and also choose to have the quick search and notification by the up or down swipe. You can also make the persistent Google Search bar transparent, change the icon size to small, large or standard depending on your comfort level. Finally, you can also choose how many apps are lined up in the app drawer. You will get all these options when you swipe to the right in the customize mode. The OnePlus launcher also supports icon packs that you can download and apply.
2. Do More with Manual Camera Mode
The manual camera mode of OnePlus 3 is just amazing and you can get the option by swiping left to right on the camera interface. You can manually change the value of ISO, exposure, white balance and even the focus by using the slider on the respective options. It’s very easy to take all kind of shots in the manual mode and the option to get everything to normal with the Auto mode is also very easy to adjust even in the manual camera mode. One cool feature about the manual mode is that you can set separate focal and exposure points for your photos.
3. Enable Proximity Wake to Have a Glance at Notifications
While you don’t get the full-fledged Always On display like the Samsung Galaxy S7, you can still enable the Proximity wake feature to have a glance at the time, date, and unattended notifications. This way, you can know what’s going on with the apps even without unlocking the device. The option to enable the settings is found under the Display settings names as Proximity wake. You also get the option of the Ambient display which wakes up the device black display momentarily when you receive a new notification. As the backdrop is all black and the device has AMOLED display, there is minimal battery drain due to the screen, but then some battery will be used to keep proximity sensor on all the time.
4. Use Invert Mode to Save Battery While Reading
If you have a habit of reading online articles, or saved articles on Pocket, or even any ebook reading apps installed on your device, you can save a considerable amount of battery by doing so in the Invert colors mode. The option can be activated using the notification control settings and it inverts every color like a negative view. Therefore black becomes white and vice-versa and you get a black background an AMOLED display, which saves battery when compared to a white background. The only thing to note here is to use the invert color option when the backdrop is white and not black.
5. Advanced Configure Alert Slider
OnePlus 3 has a hardware alert slider using which you can mute all or non-priority notifications on your device. However, you can configure it through settings to make more sense and you will find the option directly under Android Settings named as Alert Slider. Here there are two options based on the Priority settings and Silent settings. Tapping on them will take you to in-depth settings where you can configure which of the events, reminders or calls you would like to ignore in both the modes. In silent settings, however, there are not many options when it comes to calls and reminders and only the volume of alarms and media can be configured.
6. Save as RAW Format
If you are a hardcore photographer, apart from the awesome manual mode, you also get the option to save photos in RAW format. RAW photos, when compared to a normal JPEG file, are lossless image files from the camera sensor which have a lot of details which are used in post-processing to get amazing shots. This can be enabled in camera settings, however, saving in RAW format will only make sense if you are planning to process the photo in an image processing tool. Also, photos saved in this format will take up a lot of storage space.
7. Use Dark Mode
Again, for the love of AMOLED displays you have the option to turn on the system-wide Dark mode from the Customization option in Android Settings. The Dark mode not only looks cool on the AMOLED display but also saves battery. You can also change the Accent colors to match your mood. There are 8 different solid colors to choose from.
8. Configure LED Notification for Each App
While we are talking about accent colors and dark mode, you also get the option to configure LED notifications color. Different colors like RED, Green, Purple can be set for events like battery charging, battery full, etc. You cannot change the notification pulse color for individual apps (there’s an app for that), however, from the Per app notification section you can configure which app can show the notification using the pulse notification colors. Club it with Proximity Wake gesture and you will never miss a notification and that too in style.
9. Configure Status Bar
While Android Marshmallow introduced Status bar cleaning option as a hidden feature in System UI Tuner, in OnePlus 3 you can find it under the Customization option. Using this option you can simply decide which icons you wanna see on the status bar and which you want to hide. Just toggle the switch on or off to include or exclude an icon. So let’s say you don’t want the alarm icon to be displayed in the status bar, you can disable it here. Only the alarm icon will be disabled, however, the alarm will functional in its normal manner.
10. Color Balance and Night Mode
Last but not the least, heavy readers can adjust the color balance of the display and even turn on Night mode to reduce eye strain. The option is found in the OnePlus 3 Display settings where you can configure the color balance and Night mode intensity. You can also turn on the reading mode from the notification drawer quickly and can help you reduce eye strain and get a good night’s sleep as well. If you’d rather watch (and share) the video, then we’ve got that beaming on our YouTube channel, as well. Click on it below to watch it in its entirety.
Conclusion
So these were the top 10 tips, tricks, and features of the OnePlus 3. Try ’em on and do let us know about your experience when it comes to using OnePlus 3 on a daily basis. We would love to hear your views about the device. ALSO READ: 10 Things You Perhaps Didn’t Know Your Android Phone Could Do 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.
