If your mobile phone is eligible for an Android version upgrade, will you accept and upgrade your phone operating system to the newer version?
If you’d ask me, I will definitely proceed to upgrade the phone to a newer Android version.
This is an Oppo mobile phone that is eligible for a free upgrade to Android 12.
In this video, I am going to let you know why you should upgrade from Android 11 to Android 12 if the option is available for you.
At the time of this video, the latest available version of the mobile operating system is Android 13 and it is generally available on newer phones.
Android 13 packs a lot of latest features and improvements in terms of usability and security.
However, as this Oppo phone came with Android 11, the upgrade option is to the next version, Android 12.
Android 12 is highly customisable and is more secure compared to Android 11.
If you get an upgrade notification like this, you can click the install options, or click ‘View Details’ to find out more about the update.
Otherwise, you can go to settings and select the ‘Software update’ menu.
It will check for updates and provide the option if available.
Click ‘Install now’ and let the phone update its operating system.
The update progress bar can take a while but I have sped up the video playback for you. The update will then start the verification process.
Once the update has been completed, click on ‘Restart now’ and the phone will start with Android 12 which is called ColorOS 12 in the Oppo phone.
If you go into ‘Settings’ and click ‘About device’, you can verify that this phone is now running Android 12 with ColorOS version 12.
It is also indicating that a newer version update is available.
Click on it and let it download the update.
Once that’s done, click on ‘Install now’ and the phone will reboot and load the updated Android operating system.
Keeping the Android operating system up-to-date ensures you will get the latest bug fixes and also new features released.
Let’s look at a few reasons why you should upgrade to Android 12.
The first thing you will notice in Android 12 is the design and more choice of personalisations.
It comes with the new translucent app icons and has a modern look.
The operating system’s Material Design language is branded as “Material You”, which features larger buttons, increased use of animation, and a new style for home screen widgets.
It has a beautiful selection of wallpapers and has a feature that allows the operating system to automatically generate a color theme for system menus and supported apps using the colors of the selected wallpaper.
Android has not been having a great reputation when it comes to privacy.
Android 12 is here to fix that with Private Compute Core (PCC) and Privacy Dashboard.
The Private Compute Core is Google’s way for keeping your data private.
Under Settings and Privacy, you will find the new ‘Privacy Dashboard’.
In this dashboard, you can see a clear overview of access permissions in the past 24 hours.
You can also select an individual item and view the apps that accessed it.
To manage which apps have access, click on ‘Manage permission’.
Here, you can decide if and when an individual app can have access.
Privacy Dashboard gives you easy access to information and control of your privacy.
Most of us have this feeling that our phone is constantly listening to us, especially when we start seeing ads related to what was being spoken earlier.
Android 12’s privacy settings now include individual toggles for the camera and microphone that turn those features off entirely for all apps.
All you need to do is just click the icon to block or click to make it available.
If you need to control microphone and camera access for a specific app, you can go to Settings and App Management.
Here you can manage individual app access to microphone, camera and other permissions.
How do you know when any app is accessing your camera?
Android 12 has an instant icon prompt that indicates whenever your phone camera is being used. This is a super useful feature to protect your privacy.
This safety feature is also included for microphone usage.
When any app uses your phone’s microphone, an icon prompt is displayed at the top corner.
In Android 12, if you go under Settings and Battery, the system will show you the device’s battery power information and usage statistics.
At the top, there are the recommended optimisations.
Click on this and you can select any recommended item and extend the battery life as shown.
It allows you to extend your phone’s battery power longer until it’s next charge.
A couple of weeks after updating to Android 12, I received a new update available notification on this phone.
Oppo has made Android 13 or ColorOS 13 available for this phone and I immediately started downloading the update.
Android 13 was released for the public on 15 August 2022, so this is a pretty recent version.
It can take a while for the 4.21GB update to download and be ready for the install.
The installation will restart the phone.
You can check the OS version again under Settings and About Device.
Here it shows ColorOS 13 and Android version 13.
Clicking the ColorOS logo will check if there are any new updates available.
This Oppo A74 5G smartphone now has the latest operating system and it feels good to know that it will be supported with updates and security patches for a much longer time than when it was running Android 11.
If your phone gets an Android version upgrade option, will you install it to benefit from the latest features and security fixes?
I’m hoping for the Oppo A74 5G Android 14 update by the end of this year. Let’s wait and see if that happens.
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