A summary of OS of different brands, to be sure your money is well spent after considering all aspects.
Note: This will keep getting constantly updated after enough evidence and research is collected.
[Last Updated: 10-09-2024]
OneUI is one of the best and one of the most feature rich Android skin you'll ever find. Samsung has come a long way in terms of software and have improved not only the software, but also update speed.
Now promising even 7 years of updates in their S series, while 5 years for other models.
However, ONEUI in cheaper M series phone suffers due to poor optimizations for weaker CPU's, while the higher end phones work great. This is a great contrast and shows how one UI for every model is almost impossible to implement.
Even if we disregard that, many features of One UI are removed to keep it lighter for low-end models, which again defeats the purpose of one UI, except just for the visual overhaul.
However, these are just us nit-picking things. Overall ONEUI is one of the best android skins, with timely updates and fast response by the company on critical issues.
The AI features are great, work pretty well, and samsung's use of AI for optimization is one of the best. A major reason why their battery life lasts as long as competitors with much bigger battery capacities.
Gone are the days of MIUI, and the controversies surrounding it. One of the major reason for Xiaomi to overhaul and rebrand it's UI was because MIUI was associated with a lot of negative publicity. It had its fair share of issues when Xiaomi was new, but those days are far gone.
That's when HyperOS was released, and it wasn't just a name change. There was a complete overhaul: with improvevd animations, improved fluidity, and focus on connectivity(especially with the Xiaomi eco-system).
HyperOS in 2024 is very good, the speed of updates has improved in most xiaomi models, while the integration of different features has improved.
Overall, its a great improvement and shows promise that Xiaomi is not slacking off, and ignoring their software experience like some other companies. HyperOS promises less resource consumption, as well as faster OTA updates, along with lower latency in the communication between hardware and software.
Although it could still be improved in some areas, it's going in the right path.
HyperOS' major selling point was deeper integration of new algorithms and AI into the OS for better optimization and feature roll-out. And it shows, it has a large amount of features competing directly with OneUI. However, while optimizations have been improved, they still have some catching up to do to be on the top.
IOS doesn't really need an introduction. Some people love it, while others hate the amount of restrictions it has. Regardless, it has one of the best animations in any UI, and fluidity of IOS is something most android OEM's take inspiration from.
Although I don't like the restrictions IOS puts in, I can't deny the quickness of updates when compared with most of the android UI's. Not just in being timely updates, but even after 3+ years, the updates don't become stagnant.
Overall IOS is one of the best OS in performance, animations, and fluidity. Do note that it's not bug-proof either, and you're likely to come across bugs here and there if you use iPhone regularly, but honestly a software can never be 100% bug free. It's about how fast does a company respond in fixing issues, rather than just releasing it once.
Apple has always played it safe, at least for the last 5 years. It shows in their AI integration into IOS which was announced early but is constantly delayed. Regardless, the features shown and announced till now show great promise if work as advertised. I'll take apple's word for it, since they usually deliver sooner or later. It's the same for optimizations, the newer algorithms in IOS for resource, battery, and camera management, are some of the best.
Update speed: 7/10
Update longevity:7/10
OS reliability:8/10
Visuals+Animation:8.5/10
AI Features: 7/10
Unlike other UI's in Android, this is one of the cleanest one. Its almost stock but Motorola added it's own features and apps in it for productivity and other miscellaneous features.
Being so close to stock makes it pretty smooth, consuming low resources, and running smooth even on mid-lower end models.
The downside?
Motorola has a poor software policy, with users constantly complaining of updates delayed by several months and sometimes major updates coming out over 6-8 months later than promised.
The Motorola experience is not for everyone, and I'd say if you're getting a low end device and don't care about updates, is when you should consider this phone.
While Motorola did advertise AI based features, most of them seem pretty generic and don't always work as intended. Especially in Camera enhancements.
ColorOS is pretty good, similar to OxygenOS. If you used either of Oneplus, Oppo, or Realme phones, you'll feel right at home and be able to easily adjust.
Updates have improved a lot, and so has the optimizations. ColorOS is plenty feature rich, there is nothing to complain about in that regard.
For stability, its stable enough. There can be hiccups here and there, but nothing enough to make you want to throw your phone. ColorOS has rather worked pretty well for the most part.
Update policy in Realme and Oppo is usually 3+4 years, while for Find X series it's 4+5 years of updates.
ColorOS has a good amount of AI features, especially in the Find X series, and AI based optimizations in battery and camera work pretty well(depending on your preferences).
However from my personal experience of using multiple ColorOS devices: It works great for a year, but after a year or so, it starts to show some minor bugs here and there. Take this with a grain of salt from an individual experience, but I've used X series flagships phones.
ONE UI
HyperOS
IOS
OxygenOS
FuntouchOS
ColorOS
Hello UI
OxygenOS started as a pretty clean software experience, closer to stock, with its unique quirks which made the OS loved by many. Although in the last 4 years OxygenOS has been shifting away from itself, slowly adopting more and more features from it's sister company oppo's ColorOS.
Today you'll find a lot of similarities in ColorOS, OxygenOS, and Realme UI.
Regardless, OxygenOS is still one of the better UI experience you can find on Android. The speed and longevity of updates has improved a lot in recent years, since almost everyone in the competition is focusing on software now, and Oneplus doesn't want to be left behind.
In terms of modern AI features, Oneplus still has catching up to do, if we compare it with OneUI, HyperOS, or IOS. But yes, AI based optimizations for battery, camera, and resource management seems to work quite well.
Update speed: 5/10
Update longevity:5/10
OS reliability:7/10
Visuals+Animation: 6/10
AI Featurse: 7/10
Update speed: 8/10(in newer phones)
Update longevity:8/10
OS reliability:8/10
Visuals+Animations: 8.5/10
AI Features: 9/10
Update speed: 9/10
Update longevity:9/10
OS reliability:9/10
Visuals+Animations: 9/10
AI Features: 9/10
Update speed: 9/10
Update longevity:9/10
OS reliability:9/10
Visuals+Animations:9/10
AI Features: 9/10
Update speed: 7/10
Update longevity:7/10
OS reliability:8/10
OS Features: 8/10
Visulas+Animation:7/10
AI features: 8/10
FuntouchOS used to be infamous for being laggy and slow, with poor optimizations. But, it's much better now. Although I'd still say it's not as good as OneUI, IOS, OxygenOS, and ColorOS. But it's not too far behind, within 5 years or less it should improve drastically and catch up.
FuntouchOS does have a lot of features, but the optimizations can be a hit or miss, along with lots of pre-installed apps, or even ads.
Visually it still looks a little bit 2018-ish, and although optimizations and fluidity have improved a lot, there's still a considerable room to improve especially in the mid-low end FuntouchOS phones.
However, updates have improved quite a bit in being delivered on time. Although the longevity in IQOO's flagship 12 series is 3+4 which is pretty standard, but almost all flagship series of a company are giving 4+5 years now. And its the same for Vivo x100 series.
FuntouchOS has decent amount of AI features and AI based optimizations, which is why it has one score higher than Oneplus. Especially in the camera department, Vivo has implemented AI very well.
MagicOS
Update speed: 7/10
Update longevity:7/10
OS reliability:8/10
OS Features: 8/10
Visuals+Animations:8/10
AI Features: 8/10
Update speed: 6/10
Update longevity:6/10
OS reliability:7/10
OS Features: 7/10
Visuals+Animations: 6/10
AI Features: 6/10
MagicOS is ehh.. in a weird spot. It's not unreliable by any means, has a lot of features, and is getting even more AI based features baked into the OS.
But,
The updates are almost always late, even in their flagship Magic series, and are one of the lowest in a high-end flagship.
Even if we disregard that, MagicOS still looks and works like old EMUI, and suffers from the same issues such as delayed notifications, random apps being put to sleep, and optimization issues.
All of these issues can be really annoying for most people, so MagicOS gets a lower than average rating, more reliable than Moto but worse than others. AI based enhancements are also hit or miss, for some it works great while for others it doesn't.
In terms of AI features, Honor has been one of the manufacturers to be pretty late to the party, so they're playing catch up right now.