User-friendliness is paramount in retaining users.

With the conclusion of the Honor Magic7 series launch event, China's large-cup flagship phones have seen a comprehensive update this year. After attending numerous launch events, Xiao Lei observed that, in addition to focusing on new chips, imaging, and battery technology, major manufacturers this year also emphasized underlying system optimization and the reshaping of AIOS. Whether it's vivo's OriginOS 5, OPPO's ColorOS 15, Honor's MagicOS 9.0, or Xiaomi's MIUI 15, "smoothness" and AI are ingrained in their DNA.

So, how user-friendly are the systems of today's flagship phones from various brands? With this question in mind, Xiao Lei decided to conduct a horizontal comparison and review of the systems of four flagship models released this year to see how they stack up. (Note: This article does not contain any sponsored content. Enjoy with confidence.)

Fashionable and Steady, Distinct Design Approaches

When it comes to systems, most consumers naturally notice the UI interface design upon first use, and various systems have undergone significant changes in their latest versions this year. Some are more fashionable and trendy, while others maintain a steady style.

For this review, we selected four representative Pro models: OPPO Find X8 Pro, vivo X200 Pro, Xiaomi 15 Pro, and Honor Magic7 Pro. The first two are equipped with the MediaTek Dimensity 9400 mobile platform, while the latter two use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

(Source: Lei Tech production, from left to right: Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, Honor)

ColorOS 15 on the OPPO Find X8 Pro has seen the most significant progress among the four manufacturers. Compared to its predecessor, it is more fashionable and trendy. The overall design concept has shifted from aquatic design to a natural style, pursuing more natural physical interactions in the real world, providing a very good visual experience. vivo's OriginOS 5 has also been adjusted with brighter colors, but changes to icons and the system interface are not too significant. vivo's improvements mainly focus on animations.

(Source: Lei Tech illustration, left: vivo OriginOS 5; right: OPPO ColorOS 15)

Xiaomi MIUI 15 is essentially an iterative update of the original MIUI. The framework has become more robust, and there are no longer minor issues with interaction. It has to be said that Jin Fan's secluded training played a crucial role. However, similar to vivo, Xiaomi has not undergone a complete redesign, making MIUI 15 look quite similar to its predecessor. Considering that the original MIUI was officially released only last year, making major changes within just a year would indeed be detrimental to helping consumers establish a new impression.

Like Xiaomi, Honor MagicOS 9.0 is not interested in overhauls but instead focuses on adding more interactive animations and providing more AI-related interaction modes.

(Source: Lei Tech illustration, left: Honor MagicOS 9.0; right: Xiaomi MIUI 15)

Although each brand has different directions and choices in UI design, they are surprisingly consistent in the interesting features of the lock screen interface. This year, each customized system has introduced a new lock screen interface design. vivo's OriginOS 5 supports six new styles such as colorful photos and film filters, while OPPO's ColorOS 15 offers nine styles including Healing Moments and Light and Shadow Art. In addition to the newly mentioned styles, Honor's MagicOS 9.0 also adds a digital human style created using a large model, enhancing interactivity.

(Source: Lei Tech production, from left to right: vivo, Honor, OPPO, Xiaomi)

It is worth mentioning that both Xiaomi and Honor have implemented an Always-On Display mode similar to Apple's Always-On feature. The benefit of this is that it allows users to maintain continuous animation effects during unlocking, and information notifications will also be displayed more timely and intuitively.

(Source: Lei Tech production, left: Xiaomi 15 Pro; right: Honor Magic7 Pro)

In addition to new styles, MIUI 15 also introduces an AI wallpaper feature. Users can freely select some of their favorite photos and animate them or add depth-of-field information using large model algorithms.

After experiencing these systems, Xiao Lei believes that they have made significant improvements in fluidity. Interruption animations and continuous animations can only be said to have subtle differences between different brands. Among the four systems, Xiaomi and Honor can be considered the steady types. Although there are no noticeable changes, their interactive animations are much more delicate than their predecessors. Especially regarding global vibrations, Xiaomi currently offers the most diverse options among manufacturers. In contrast, vivo and OPPO focus on fashion and trends, using bright colors and engaging lock screens and widgets to attract younger consumers.

Heading to the 'Island' While Crossing Ecosystems: Changes in System Interaction

Since Honor released MagicOS 8.0 based on the Magic Large Model earlier this year, China's customized systems have collectively entered the AI era. In the latest system versions equipped in this year's flagship large-cup phones, in addition to being more aggressive and comprehensive in AI, they have also introduced many interesting new features, such as Live Photo shooting, "Dynamic Island," and cross-ecosystem file transfer.

1. Collectively Heading to the 'Island,' Except for Xiaomi

The concept of "Dynamic Island" was first introduced by Apple on the iPhone 14 Pro. However, this interaction method was already similar to a design introduced by Honor on the Honor V20 in 2018. It basically displays real-time applications in a small window on a specific area of the screen for an extended period, with taps and swipes triggering different mapped actions. However, Apple combined this interaction method with its pill-shaped cutout, achieving a certain level of usability and aesthetic appeal.

The Dynamic Capsule on the Honor Magic7 Pro has not changed much from its predecessor but is compatible with more applications, and the trigger conditions are clearer. For example, when Xiao Lei recently purchased some household items online, logging into the associated account on the Magic7 Pro immediately popped up a delivery notification without staying on the screen for too long to avoid affecting the viewing experience. After actual testing, the Honor Magic7 Pro can simultaneously display up to six Dynamic Capsules, the most among customized systems.

(Source: Lei Tech production, from left to right: vivo, Honor, OPPO, Apple)

The Dynamic Island on the OPPO Find X8 Pro is almost identical to Honor's mode, but in terms of design, OPPO does not cover the cutout area when expanded. Although this brings the interactive controls closer to the center of the screen, making manual operations easier, Xiao Lei believes it is less aesthetically pleasing than vivo's and Honor's designs. However, the Dynamic Island on the OPPO Find X8 Pro can also be operated by swiping when not expanded, which is relatively convenient.

Honor's and OPPO's "Dynamic Island" basically follow the logic of real-time notifications plus operation controls. vivo, on the other hand, has added some AI-related interactions to its Dynamic Island on OriginOS 5, which it calls "Atomic Island." For example, when we see a good picture and want to save it, we can long-press the image and drag it to Atomic Island, where it will pop up the required operations, such as saving or forwarding. Similarly, Atomic Island can connect various third-party applications, allowing all text and images to be quickly accessed.

Yes, vivo's Atomic Island is essentially a combination of Honor's "Any Door" and "Dynamic Island" functions. After experiencing these systems, Xiao Lei believes that among the three systems that provide the "Dynamic Island" function, vivo's has the strongest interactivity, Honor's displays the most detailed information, and OPPO's is more convenient to operate. Unfortunately, Xiaomi's MIUI 15 still does not have a similar feature.

2. Live Photos Can Be Taken, But the Experience Varies

The most popular mobile imaging feature this year is undoubtedly Live Photos. A moving photo can capture the most lively and interesting moment while also preserving the sound from that moment, making it feel like reliving the scene when viewing these photos. Therefore, we can see that this year's flagship large-cup phones all mentioned the ability to take Live Photos during their launch events. However, after experiencing them, Xiao Lei found that each brand's Live Photos are quite interesting in their own way.

In terms of functionality, OPPO, Honor, vivo, and Xiaomi all allow users to choose whether to take Live Photos in the default shooting interface and support Live Photo shooting across all focal lengths, which is almost identical. However, the dynamic photo recording duration for the vivo X200 Pro is 3 seconds, while it is 2 seconds for the Honor Magic7 Pro, OPPO Find X8 Pro, and Xiaomi 15 Pro.

It is worth noting that if watermark photography is enabled, only the vivo X200 Pro can currently retain the watermark effect when the photo is animated, while the other three models do not support this. If the watermark is modified or turned off in the album, the dynamic photos of Honor, OPPO, and Xiaomi will revert to static photos, while vivo can retain the watermark settings but cannot make other modifications. Additionally, none of these four flagship large-cup phones can retain HDR information in photos after resetting the cover, which is somewhat unfortunate.

3. Forcibly Compatible with the Apple Ecosystem, Only Honor Does Not Follow the Trend?

Since OPPO proposed the gimmick of being very "Apple-like," various manufacturers this year have seemingly been injected with adrenaline, striving to forcibly enter the Apple ecosystem and break the iPhone's moat. So, how is everyone's experience?

In fact, vivo was the first to propose file transfer with the iPhone. As early as 2015, vivo released its own file transfer APP, which can transfer files across Android and iPhone. Later, it introduced the vivo Office Suite on OriginOS 4, enabling interconnectivity with macOS. After experiencing it, vivo's file transfer is very stable overall, with high efficiency whether transferring photos, videos, or documents. However, the overall logic is similar to that of older file transfer tools like Kuaiya and Qiezi Interconnection and is not very innovative.

OPPO, which wants to enable one-touch transfer with the iPhone, finally launched the complete version of the O+ Connect APP half a month after the release of ColorOS 15. It allows the iPhone to recognize that the OPPO Find X8 Pro is initiating a file transfer request via NFC and directly enters the APP interface to start the transfer.

(Source: Lei Tech production, iPhone to OPPO file transfer)

Of course, vivo and OPPO use more traditional "hotspot-based file transfer" methods, where the Android device enables a hotspot, and the iPhone joins it, allowing for lossless file transfer without consuming data.

Xiaomi's approach is somewhat unique. Although it also requires a separate APP called "Xiaomi Interconnect Service," it only needs to recognize the same account and connect to the same Wi-Fi to start the transfer. Xiao Lei believes that Xiaomi's solution is more suitable for users who own both an iPhone and a Xiaomi device, as the transfer requires logging into a Xiaomi account. If you need to transfer files to friends or strangers, the conditions are relatively harsh; OPPO and vivo are more like features prepared for sharing photos and videos with friends, with OPPO offering the most convenient experience and vivo the easiest to operate.

(Source: Lei Tech production, Xiaomi to iPhone file transfer)

Currently, vivo and OPPO's file transfer already supports transferring Live Photos. OPPO's transferred photos and videos retain complete HDR information and can be normally played back and edited on the iPhone; Xiaomi does not support the transfer of Live Photos.

Honor's file transfer solution still only supports transfer within the Honor brand and the Huawei HarmonyOS ecosystem, including the latest HarmonyOS NEXT system. It has to be said that Honor may currently be the best choice for users who want to try HarmonyOS NEXT but cannot completely abandon Android, whether as a primary or secondary device.

(Image source: Shot by Lei Technology, Honor and Huawei file transfer)

Overall, the systems pre-installed on these four flagship models basically already possess the most popular functions and features of the day. Although each vendor has a slightly different approach, they are all at a usable level. From my personal experience, the most significant progress has been made by OPPO. I still remember the choppy and incomplete feeling when I first tried the Find X7 preloaded with ColorOS 14 last year. This year, OPPO has improved all the necessary functions and even surpassed vivo in terms of aesthetics. Of course, this is not to say that vivo, Xiaomi, and Honor lack sincerity; it's just that their previous systems were already quite complete, making it seem like there hasn't been much progress in comparison.

What progress have AIOS systems made in the past year?

AIOS, a term frequently heard at this year's launch events, aptly describes this batch of innovative new systems. From Honor's MagicOS 9.0, capable of automatically ordering 2,000 cups of coffee, to OPPO's ColorOS 15, which can eliminate AI reflections, what new AI-integrated features have these "AIOS" systems introduced over the past year? How have the once-hyped AI removal and AI writing functions improved?

Regarding AI functions in mobile phone systems, AI removal is perhaps the most commonly used by users. Whether for travel photos or privacy pixelation, AI excels at removing clutter or sensitive information from photos. In April of this year, I conducted a horizontal review of the AI removal functions of four popular models. Now, eight months later, let's assess how their AI removal capabilities have evolved.

Honor and Xiaomi have made the most significant improvements in AI removal. In this sample image, we chose a teddy bear sculpture as the object to remove. As can be seen, both Xiaomi and Honor achieved impressive removal effects, leaving a clean image with minimal impact on the background. Xiaomi, in particular, deserves special praise. When Pengpai OS 1 was released, Xiaomi offered AI removal as a non-default option in the Pro version, but now it adeptly utilizes large models to recognize the background environment.

(Image source: Shot by Lei Technology, original image for AI removal)

vivo and OPPO have made modest progress in AI removal, but they already performed well in previous versions. Especially OPPO, after nearly a year of learning, the generated background now aligns even more closely with the environment. Upon casual inspection, there is virtually no sense of incongruity.

(Image source: Diagram by Lei Technology, from left to right: Honor, OPPO, Xiaomi, vivo)

Besides AI removal, AI writing is another popular basic AI function among users. I frequently use the system's built-in AI writing function to quickly and conveniently jot down notes. So, how do OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi, and Honor fare in AI writing?

We tested their respective native note-taking apps, selecting the AI writing function in the notebook section, and posing a unified request: "Lei Technology is about to attend CES 2025 in the United States. Please write a promotional lead based on this premise."

From my personal experience, both vivo and Xiaomi can write based on input requirements and revise different paragraphs afterward, achieving excellent results. OPPO, on the other hand, requires users to first input text in the note and then click on the continue writing function to improve it. While OPPO cannot generate copy based on input requirements like Xiaomi and vivo, its continue writing function essentially rewrites the text for users. However, ordinary users might initially find this function confusing and mistakenly believe it's not available.

(Image source: Diagram by Lei Technology, from left to right: OPPO, Xiaomi, vivo, Honor)

Honor's notebook AI functions do not include writing but rather writing summaries and taking meeting minutes. However, users can long-press the navigation bar to activate the YOYO intelligent agent and send this request to obtain a copy.

(Image source: Diagram by Lei Technology, Honor MagicOS 9.0)

Each AI writing style has its unique characteristics. OPPO's style is more business-oriented, vivo's is a classic promotional lead, Xiaomi's is concise, and Honor's is tailored for social media dissemination.

These four flagship models have exceeded expectations in the classic AI functions of AI removal and AI writing. Additionally, Honor and OPPO have introduced unique AI functions: "autonomous driving" and "AI reflection removal."

Honor Magic7 Pro's "autonomous driving" is essentially achieved by activating the YOYO intelligent agent to complete complex operations. This can be seen as a combination of a large model and automatic task execution. I tested YOYO by asking it to cancel automatic renewals. Upon issuing the command, YOYO immediately checked the automatic renewal items in WeChat and Alipay, demonstrating speed and convenience.

(Image source: Diagram by Lei Technology, Honor MagicOS 9.0)

OPPO Find X8 Pro's AI reflection removal is also a practical function. Reflections from glass, windows, etc., can easily mar photos, and AI reflection removal effectively addresses this issue. Based on my experience, OPPO's AI reflection removal works well most of the time but may struggle with numerous reflections.

Eight months ago, when I tested various vendors' AI functions, noticeable gaps existed. For example, OPPO excelled at removing clutter, vivo impressed with removing passersby, and occasional AI recognition errors occurred. In less than a year, the AI functions of these four flagship models have essentially reached a level where good feedback is consistently achievable with a single tap. It's fascinating to ponder how far AIOS will evolve in another year.

All four flagship systems are formidable

I recall that a few years ago, customized systems focused heavily on "smoothness." Limited by SoC, memory, and storage performance, manufacturers often required in-depth tuning to achieve a barely smooth user experience. In just a few short years, mainstream phone manufacturers like OPPO, Xiaomi, Honor, and vivo have transcended the literal meaning of "smoothness," introducing interesting and practical new features such as system-level AI, global animations, rich dynamic effects, and cross-ecosystem interconnection.

After an in-depth experience, these four customized systems no longer have obvious usability issues. Many online discussions about Xiaomi's Pengpai OS 2 having too many bugs or OPPO's ColorOS 15 not being smooth enough do not significantly impact personal use. Even iOS, long revered by Apple fans, has its share of problems, doesn't it? Personally, I believe that concluding a system is definitely not good solely based on online opinions, without personal experience, is indeed misguided.

Returning to the question of "which of the four flagship systems is the strongest?" Lei Technology will briefly summarize for you:

vivo X200 Pro (OriginOS 5):

Pros: Strong stability, rich features, good AI interaction experience;

Cons: Fewer system customization options, limited play methods.

OPPO Find X8 Pro (ColorOS 15):

Pros: Rich dynamic effects, many imaging customization options, best interconnection with the iOS ecosystem;

Cons: UI interface inconsistencies, such as the notification bar and control center.

Xiaomi 15 Pro (Pengpai OS 2):

Pros: Rich global haptic feedback, excellent operating experience;

Cons: Lack of real-time notification support.

Honor Magic7 Pro (MagicOS 9.0):

Pros: Rich AI functions, extremely smooth system, rapid gallery loading speed;

Cons: Does not support Android/iOS ecosystem interconnection.

These are my conclusions based on a horizontal comparison. I personally believe that whether it's a system or a specific phone product, personal experience is essential for a meaningful evaluation. Lei Technology welcomes phone owners to share their thoughts on using these systems for mutual communication and progress.

Source: Lei Technology