Tushar Mehta / Android Authority
In case you might have missed it, most Android manufacturers these days are pursuing the iPhone’s success. Two ways for brands to achieve that objective have been to establish their own ecosystems or to replicate iOS-like visual elements. On this topic, my colleague Rita El Koury recently wrote about the profound impact that Apple’s design choices have on Android brands.
While most Android purists might disagree, I’m glad that one of my favorite Android brands, OnePlus, is implementing some iOS-inspired features. One of my favorites lets you control accessories, especially wireless earbuds, much more easily. The addition comes with OnePlus’ new OxygenOS 16 interface, introduced to the OnePlus 13 late last month and now rapidly spreading to several older or less premium devices (while the OnePlus 15 arrived with it out of the box).
In this post, I’d like to address why OxygenOS’s improved controls for earbuds are among my favorite OxygenOS 16 features — and how it remedies my biggest non-major issue with older firmware on OnePlus phones.
Did you know about new controls for earbuds in OxygenOS 16? 6 votes Yes, and I like it. 0 % No, but I would like to try. 83 % Anything else (tell us below!) 17 %
The need for better controls
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
OnePlus has been selling AirPods-rivaling wireless earbuds for a few years now. I’ve used nearly all of them, ranging from the flagship Buds Pro 3 to the most affordable Nord Buds. For about half the price of Samsung’s flagship pair, OnePlus’s premium offering comes with a great mix of brilliant sound, excellent codec support, and a nifty fit. Besides good hardware, the earbuds offer software-based enhancement, such as Spatial Audio, and sound personalization features.
However, if there’s one aspect that’s always stood out to me like a sore thumb, it’s the crazy number of steps required to change basic settings like ANC mode. If you’ve used a pair of OnePlus earbuds, you’d know what I am talking about. If not, please allow me to elaborate.
If you want to change even the most basic settings for the OnePlus Buds, the only way — until recently — was to go to the Bluetooth menu in Settings. From there, you can select the specific pair of earbuds you want to change the settings for, and then tap “Earbud functions,” which then opens up the space to fiddle with the basic settings.
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