OnePlus has confirmed that Zen Mode will reach the OnePlus 6 and 6T at some point, but don’t hold your breath for Nightscape 2.0. The company confirmed all that to Android Authority via email.
For those of you who are out of the loop, both Zen Mode and Nightscape 2.0 are features that the company announced along with OxygenOS 9.5 which comes pre-installed on the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro.
In addition to those two features, the company also introduced a screen recorder to OxygenOS, though we’re still not sure if that feature will be reaching the OnePlus 6 and 6T or not. OnePlus did not have an answer for that, but considering that this is strictly a software feature, there is nothing preventing OnePlus from including it in one of the future updates for the OnePlus 6 and 6T.
Let’s first talk about Nightscape 2.0, as that is the feature that will not be reaching the OnePlus 6 series of devices. Nightscape 2.0 is essentially succeeding the original Nightscape mode that is available on both the OnePlus 6 and 6T. This is OnePlus’ camera mode for low light photography, and it has been made for the OnePlus 7 and 7 Pro’s 48-megapixel sensor which supports pixel binning.
This mode also utilizes the Snapdragon 855’s powerful ISP, and considering that neither of the OnePlus 6 smartphones include that 48-megapixel sensor or Snapdragon 855, that prevents OnePlus from delivering Nightscape 2.0 to those two devices.
Zen Mode, on the other hand, is more or less a software feature, which is why it will be reaching the company’s previous flagships. Zen Mode is inspired by Google’s Digital Wellbeing initiative, it basically makes the phone impossible to use after you enable it.
Zen Mode puts your device in a paused state, in a way. It will allow you to dial 911, reach some of your favorite contacts, and access the camera, but that’s pretty much it. You will not receive notifications, messages, or any other types of notifications. Zen Mode actually lasts for 20 minutes, and the whole idea behind it is to allow you to focus on whatever you’re doing without any distractions from your phone. It’s kind of a do not disturb mode, but not really.
OnePlus had introduced its newest flagship smartphones a couple of days ago, the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro. The OnePlus 7 Pro will actually go on sale in a couple of days (market-dependant), while the OnePlus 7 will become available at the beginning of next month, the company said.
Both devices are made out of metal and glass, and both are quite powerful, though the regular OnePlus 7 unit is inferior to the OnePlus 7 Pro. The OnePlus 7 Pro includes a new notchless design, while the OnePlus 7 recycles the design of the OnePlus 6T, for the most part.
The OnePlus 7 Pro also ships with more powerful internals, even though both phones are fueled by the same processor, and both include UFS 3.0 storage. The OnePlus 7 Pro also comes with a much better display, the very first QHD+ panel the company ever included in one of its devices. If you’d like to know more about differences between these two phones, click here.