New gestures and navigation interface
Aside from the new interface changes, OnePlus has also did quite a good job in terms of navigation options.
Aside from the standard three-button software navigation layout that's been around for ages, OnePlus has also employed Android Pie's new button interface, which consists of a pill-shaped home button and a contexual back button that only pops up when you can go a step back. Finally, the good ol' full-gesture interface of OnePlus is also on deck for all those who like gesturing around the interface.
Now, with the regular three-button layout (back, home, recents), you still get the same level of customization you had before: you can swap the back and recents to better suit yourself, choose whether to have a button that lets you hide the navigation bar or not, as well as our favorite old feature - define custom shortcuts for long presses and double taps of either navigation key.
With the new pill navigation layout, you get similar levels of customization - you can still put the contextual back button on either the left or the right side of the home button as well as set up different shortcuts for double-tapping and long-pressing either of the two buttons. Of course, there's no recents button here - holding and swiping up on the pill-shaped home button gently lets you cycle through your recent apps. Alas, just like in stock Android Pie, there's no easy way of getting into split-screen mode without having to fiddle around the unconveniently-tiny three-dot menu at the top of the app's card.
Now, we haven't used OxygenOS 9.0 enough to say how good the battery life is, but if we take Google's claims close to heart, users should experience even less standby drain from apps that you use infrequently. The new Adaptive Battery feature is available on the OnePlus 6 thanks to Android Pie, and it's enabled by default, which should come as no surprise. It's claimed that Adaptive Battery will closely monitor your app usage and learn which ones it could restrain in order to maximize your battery's endurance.
However, we've come to know that most of Google's claims for magical battery life-improving techniques rarely trasnslate into easily-perceptible difference for users. You can never be sure if Google's claims will ever hold true
Among all the other new features, OnePlus has also slipped a new and improved Do Not Disturb mode. Well, it's not groundbreakingly-new per say, but it's a bit more user-friendly - when you tap the button to manually enable the feature, a prompt will pop up, asking about how long would you like to remain undisturbed.
OxygenOS 9.0 on the OnePlus 6 is great, and it's hard to argue with that statement. Aside from the plethora of new features, the core OxygenOS experience has been kept unchanged, which should keep fans happy.
The only issue here is that you might have not received the update yet, but rest assured it's coming your way very soon.