After a flood of leaks and teasers, Vivo has unveiled its latest Android skin OriginOS in China today. OriginOS is a successor to the existing Funtouch OS, which has long been criticized for being one of the most bloated Android skins. Well, OriginOS is no vanilla Android but brings a major design overhaul to Vivo’s smartphone users.
1. Klotski Grid
Vivo is adopting a new grid-based design for the home screen with OriginOS. It is based on the Klotski grid, a Japanese puzzle game, and adds flexibility to the UI. You can now choose from a variety of icon shapes (1 x 1, 1 x 2, 2 x 3) and is reminiscent of the Windows 10 start menu grid. The bigger the icon, the more functionality you get out of it.
This functionality feels a lot closer to the latest iOS 14 build and the evolution of the existing icon/ widget grid on Android.
The nano alerts are the icing on the cake for the grid-based design. Vivo now strives to deliver users key information at the right time and this is where nano alerts come into play. OriginOS does not want you to open many apps. Instead, it wants to bring core functionality to the app card on the home screen itself.
Further, a long-press on icons can help you access more features, such as any specific lens (telephoto or macro) and video modes in the camera app. This is certainly amazing and will come in handy when you want to capture a moment in a jiffy.
Android might still be struggling to implement navigation gestures, but Vivo has it all figured out. I already liked the gestures on Funtouch OS but the company decided to provide users the option to customize their own navigation experience with OriginOS.
As leaked earlier this month, OriginOS offers you a quick toggle to jump between the new grid-based UI or the standard Android-like UI that we have come to know with Funtouch OS over the years. You simply need to tap a button to go from a beautiful grid with nano alerts to a well-known and comfortable experience. All of your data is preserved and accessible in both worlds.
