The OnePlus 5T is one of the best smartphones you can buy right now, especially considering the competitive price tag. One of the phone’s stand-out features is Oxygen OS which injects some nifty features into Google’s standard Android operating system. But some of them are buried deep within the Settings menu.
In what follows we’re going to highlight a bunch of really useful OnePlus 5T tips and tricks, so that you can make the most of your smartphone.
Swap buttons
The OnePlus 5T is the first smartphone in the company’s portfolio to come without a physical home button. Instead, you get virtual on-screen keys.
But if you’re switching to the 5T from a Samsung phone, you might find it a bit difficult to adjust to the flip-reversed keys (the Back button is on the left, while the Recents key is on the right). Fortunately, you can easily swap the two keys.
Just head to Settings>Buttons>Swap Buttons. Toggle the switch to move Back to the right side of the screen and Recents to the left.
Also, note that each button can be configured to trigger additional actions by long pressing or double tapping on it. You have a total of seven actions to choose from:
- Open/close menu
- Search assistant
- Turn off screen
- Voice search
- Open Shelf
- Open/close notification center
- Open/close split screen
Take a screenshot with gestures
Need to take a screenshot on your OnePlus 5T? You can do that the classic way by holding down the Power and Volume Down buttons simultaneously.
Or you can use gestures. To do so, you’ll need to enable the “Three-finger screenshot” option by going to Settings>Gesture. Once you’ve done that, go to the screen you want to capture and do a three finger swipe down on the screen. And voila!
Take a selfie with the main camera
The OnePlus 5T’s selfie camera is pretty decent, but it struggles in some situations – like low-light environments. Also, there’s no Portrait Mode available. Fortunately, you can easily take a picture in the camera app using the fingerprint scanner as a shutter release. This way, you can take clearer self-portraits. And you can even blur the background if you wish to so.
To enable this feature, go to Settings>Gestures >Long press to take a photo. Unfortunately, it works only when using the phone’s proprietary camera app and not with third-party camera apps.
Get full-screen video
Watching videos on the OnePlus 5T’s 18:9 AMOLED display can cause the dreaded black box effect on some of the videos. Fortunately, you can easily go full screen while watching YouTube videos. Just pinch out on the display and the video will fill in the additional space. Other apps might require you double tap for full screen.
Yet, the majority of the apps on your phone aren’t compatible with 18:9 displays. So OnePlus allows you to view (some) of your apps in full-screen mode. To do so, go to Settings>Apps>Full-screen apps and change the ratio.
In case where apps don’t handle 18:9 aspect ratio all that well, you can quickly change them back to their original 16:9 compatibility mode.
Change Icon shape and size
Want to change the look of your icons? Nothing easier. Just press and hold on the home screen wallpaper and go to Settings. Tap on Icon pack and pick between one of the three options:
- OnePlus
- Round
- Square
Or you can download an additional icon pack from the Google Play Store.
Lift to see notifications
Want to check your notifications at a glance without having to unlock your phone? You’ll need to enable both Ambient Display and Lift up display – both of which are located in the Display settings.
So the next time you’ll want to check out notifications, all you’ll have to do is pick up your phone.
Get rid of the Shelf
The Shelf is a screen that appears as you swipe left from your home screen. It shows you weather info, recent apps/contacts, and battery stats. You can add additional widgets for the things that matter most to you.
But what if you don’t like the Shelf and you want to see it gone? Nothing easier. Press and hold on the home screen wallpaper and access Settings. From there, simply disable the Shelf option.
Be sure to try out these tips on your OnePlus 5T and tell us what you think in the comment section below. What additional options should OnePlus add in future iterations of Oxygen OS?
