Spotify is running on iOS 18 and Oxygen OS 15 right now, and they’ve lifted Apple’s live activities on Dynamic Island, using it as live alerts. Essentially, iOS 18 and Oxygen 15 allow you to move certain apps to a live activity window at the top. You can expand these live alerts, and while on iOS you have to tap and hold, on Oxygen OS you just tap. Oxygen OS 15 made it better by letting you choose whether to tap to expand the card or open the app, which gives you more control.
But Oxygen OS 15’s most impressive upgrade is the ability to handle two live alerts at once, stacking them with two expanded cards. This improvement shows that Oxygen OS 15 is full of inspired but improved features. I’ll categorize the features into three categories: original, inspired and improved, or copied. Yes, there’s a difference between inspired and copied!
Animations in Oxygen OS 15
From the moment I started using Oxygen OS 15, the smoothness of the animations stood out. It’s faster and more consistent than any OS I’ve used, including Apple’s iOS. The parallel animations allow for smooth transitions when switching apps, making it much more fluid than Oxygen OS 14. Even small animations, like opening folders or widgets, are incredibly smooth. Oxygen OS 15 truly excels here, delivering original and excellent animations.
Lock Screen and Always-On Display Features
Oxygen OS 15 also significantly improved the lock screen and always-on display (AOD). The new Flux themes blend your wallpaper, clock style, and other info seamlessly. However, all the text is preset, and you can’t add your own custom text, which is a missed opportunity. For these changes, I’d rate them as inspired and improved.
The quick settings can now be used in split mode, similar to iOS and other Android skins. The design is slightly updated and looks clean, though I’d call it inspired rather than original.
New Features and AI Upgrades
There are some exciting new features in Oxygen OS 15, like “Share with iPhone,” which creates a workaround for easier file sharing between Android and iOS devices. This is definitely an original feature.
The AI upgrades in the Photos app are quite impressive. AI Unblur improves slightly blurry photos, and the AI Detail Boost adds more detail to cropped photos, delivering excellent results. These AI tools, while inspired by other systems are improved in performance.
Android 15 Features
Added a bunch of Android 15 features so Circle to search is here Finally, there’s pass scan, which scans your boarding pass and adds it to Google Wallet. The default assistant can be Google; now even Gin Live works. I tried it out and I’ve been enjoying using G, and Android 15’s Theft Protection is here as well. Considering Android 15 didn’t have too many features.
Conclusion
Oxygen OS 15 brings a solid mix of original, inspired, and improved features. While it borrows ideas from other systems, the execution is often better. Though some AI tools need more polish, the foundation is strong, and future updates will likely enhance the experience even further. What do you think? Does Oxygen OS 15 feel like a copy, or do you think it has truly improved upon its inspirations? Let me know in the comments!
