Vivo announces radically redesigned OriginOS Android skin

Vivo has announced its new Android-based operating system at its annual developer conference in China. OriginOS is the successor to FuntouchOS and features a complete design overhaul that prioritizes widgets, arranging them in a grid-like layout. The widgets can update themselves with notifications called “nano alerts.”

“The genesis of OriginOS centers around three frontiers based on smartphone consumer demands: design, smoothness and convenience,” Vivo says in a statement. “OriginOS repurposes familiar features with new exciting designs to create the ultimate smartphone experience.”

Of all the skinned versions of Android out there, Vivo’s FuntouchOS has long been the one most obviously in thrall to iOS, with similar notification design, color palettes, and use of transparency. OriginOS’ tile-based approach to widgets isn’t a million miles away from what Apple introduced this year with iOS 14, although that wasn’t exactly the most unique design itself. For its part, Vivo says it was inspired by Huarong Dao, the Chinese variant of Klotski sliding block puzzles.

Vivo also claims that OriginOS will be much less resource-intensive than FuntouchOS, with lower RAM requirements. We’ll have to test for ourselves once it rolls out, but there’s little information in that regard — Vivo hasn’t said anything about a release date. The company did, however, show off a mockup of the OS running on its current X50 flagship phone (above).