It's been a year since Oppo announced its presence on the European stage, and since then, the company has launched some pretty tasty flagship phones. The latest range is the Reno series, and arguably the one handset in that range everyone will want is the Reno 10x Zoom. Along with its 5G version, it's not just one of Oppo's best phones, it's one of the best phones on the market. 

We've spent a good deal of time with the Reno 10x Zoom, and there's plenty in this  ColorOS-skinned version of Android to keep you busy. Oppo isn't exactly shy about adding features, and many options within its settings menus. 

If you've got one already, or are planning to get one, this is your guide to uncovering some of the Oppo Reno's features, and mastering ColorOS. 

Home screen and navigation settings

Activate the app drawer: After what feels like an age, Oppo's software finally has an app drawer. To activate it you need to go to your home screen settings by long-pressing on an empty part of the home screen and selecting "Settings" at the bottom of the screen. Hit "Homescreen mode" and choose "Drawer Mode" to enable the app drawer. Now you can swipe up the app drawer from the bottom of the screen.

Oppo Reno 10x Zoom tips and tricks Master ColorOS image 5

Home screen app layout: If you want to fit more, or want fewer apps on your home screen, got to your home screen settings by long-pressing on the wallpaper and choosing "Settings" or going to the main settings menu and choosing "Home Screen & Lock Screen Magazine". Now, choose the "Homescreen layout" option.

Here you can choose between having either four columns or five columns of apps.

Bulk remove apps: If you want to quickly delete multiple apps from your home screen, just long press on the wallpaper and you'll notice each app icon now has a grey square in the corner. Tap the apps you want to remove from the home screen and then press "remove".

Bulk add apps to a folder: To bulk add apps to a new folder, follow the procedure above, but instead of tapping "delete", tap "form folder".

Change the theme: As has been the case with Oppo phones for a long time, you can change the look of the app icons, wallpaper and overall theme of the phone by downloading and using new ones. Head to Settings > Home Screen & Lock Screen Magazine, now choose "Set Theme" to choose a different look, and tap "download more" to browse the available options. Many are free too download.

Change the wallpaper: Again, just press and hold the wallpaper and then choose the "Wallpapers" option. Now you can quickly swipe between the available images at the bottom of the screen.

Change animation effects: If you want to change the kind of animation you see when you swipe between your home screen, just long press on the wallpaper and choose "Effects". Now swipe through until you find a transition that you like.

Switch to gesture navigation: While you can use the standard virtual button layout with the Oppo phone, you can change that to a gesture based navigation. Head to Settings > Convenience Aid > Navigation Keys. Now you can choose from two different gesture options.

"Swipe from both sides" gesture navigation involves swiping inwards from the edges of the screen. "Swipe up" is a more iPhone like operation, which involves swiping up from the left or right to go back, swiping in the middle to go home, and holding to go to recent apps.

Sidebar menu: You might miss it the first time around, but Oppo has a sidebar menu sitting on the right edge of the screen. You'll see what looks like a slim, semi-transparent bar. Just drag it across to access a handful of shortcuts.

If you want to activate it, deactivate it, or change how it behaves, go to Settings > Convenience Aid and choose the Smart Sidebar option.

Assistive Ball navigation: In the same Convenience Aids menu, you'll see an option to activate something called the Assistive Ball. This essentially adds a permanent floating button to your screen that sits on top of everything.

Now, you can use this in place of your usual navigation gestures or buttons by choosing the "Gesture Operations" mode after activating it. The other option is using it as a shorctcut to a handful of functions by choosing "Tap Menu".

Change Assistive Ball function: Rather than use it for regular back, home and recent apps navigation, you can choose what each of your gestures does. So, if you want a single tap to bring down the notification shade from the top of the screen, you can choose to do that.

Just select the Tap, Double-tap or Touch and Hold options from the Assistive Ball menu and choose from the list of available functions.

Auto-Hide the Assistive Ball: After you've activated it, you can toggle the option to hide it at the bottom of the screen. This means that the button will automatically disappear whenever you have an app in full screen. You can bring it back again by dragging down from the top edge.

Speed up animations: If you want to make sure the app opening animations are as quick as possible, stay in the home screen settings menu and select "App Startup and Closing Animation Speed" from the list, now ensure "Fast" is chosen. By switching between the speeds you'll notice the animation when closing and opening apps will speed up and slow down.

Get to the Smart Assistant: Oppo's Smart Assistant is a collection of useful widgets and functions that lives to the left of your primary home screen. Swipe from left to right and you'll get to it.

Add/remove quick functions: The second widget in the Smart Assistant screen is Quick Functions. Here you'll find a collection of functions Oppo thinks you might need quick access to. To add your own, tap the little "+" icon in the Quick Function widget and then tap "add more apps" before selecting the apps you want to be in there.

Adjust which widgets appear: Again, in Smart Assistant, you get to decide which services you want to make use of. In the main screen, tap on the "+" in the top corner and then browse the services available.

Deactivate Smart Assistant: If you decide Smart Assistant isn't useful to you, head to Settings > Smart Services and deactivate it using the toggle switch.

Oppo Reno 10x Zoom tips and tricks Master ColorOS image 10

Lock screen, smart features and screen-off gestures

Launch camera from lock screen: You'll notice in the bottom right corner of the lock screen that there's a camera icon. Drag it up, and you'll reveal the camera viewfinder.

Change the fingerprint animation: You'll noticed when unlocking your phone with the under-display fingerprint scanner, there's an animation while it's unlocking. You can change this by heading to Settings > Fingerprint, Face & Passcode > Fingerprint > Animation Style. Now choose from five different animations.

Hide the fingerprint icon in standby: Toggle the "Display fingerprint icon when screen is off" option, and now the icon won't show up on the screen while it's blacked out, in standby.

Launch Google Assistant with the power button: Like a few different Android phones in 2019, you can launch Google Assistant by pressing and holding the power button for half a second. Head to Settings > Convenience Aid and toggle on the option at the top of the screen.

Raise to wake: There are a host of motion based gesture options in Oppo's software, one of them is raising the phone to wake up the screen when it's in standby. Head to Settings > Convenience Aid > Gesture & Motion, and now toggle on the option that says "Raise to Turn On Screen".

Double tap to wake: You can also double tap to wake up the screen. Just head to the same Gesture & Motion settings menu, select "Screen-off Gestures", toggle them on and then toggle the "Double Tap to Turn Screen On" option.

Activate your own screen-off gestures: On the same screen as the double tap to wake option, you'll see a "More Screen-off Gestures" field at the bottom. Tap on it, and now you can choose from seven different gestures to draw on the screen when it's in standby, and decide whether you want it to unlock, make a call, or launch an app of your choosing.

Activate/deactivate magazine lock screen: Magazine unlock automatically shows a new image on the lock screen every time you wake up the phone, but if you'd rather just have your own lock screen wallpaper you can choose to have that. Go to Settings > Home Screen & Lock Screen Magazine > Lockscreen Magazine and then switch it off (or on, if you want it).

Quick Search: From any of your home screens, you can search for anything on your phone just by dragging down on the screen, from the middle. You can search for contacts, apps, and messages as well as perform a web search.

Oppo Reno 10x Zoom tips and tricks Master ColorOS image 4

Security and apps tips

In the age of increased awareness of online and mobile security, it's becoming a more important part of your smartphone's operation. Here are some tips to help keep things locked down on your Oppo.

Passcode protect apps: You can lock individual apps behind a passcode or fingerprint scan. First, head to Settings > Security > App Encryption, now enter a passcode and a security question and answer before choosing which apps you want to add this extra layer of security too.

Lock apps behind fingerprint: Once you've gone through the previous step it'll suggest you use a fingerprint to unlock the encrypted apps select "use" and now you can access those locked apps with a fingerprint scan. To enable/disable it manually head to Settings > Fingerprint, Face & Passcode and choose "Use Fingerprints for", here you can toggle the app lock feature on or off.

Add an extra fingerprint: To add a second fingerprint for unlocking and authenticating, go to Settings > Fingerprint, Face & Passcode > Fingerprint and then type in your passcode. Now select "add a fingerprint" and go through the enrolling process. 

Enable facial recognition: If you'd rather use the camera-based facial recognition, go to the fingerprint, face and passcode settings and choose "Face". Now tap "Enrol Face" and go through the face scanning process to enrol it. 

Use face scan to unlock apps: Once enrolled, you'll see an option in the Face settings called "Use face for". Tap this, and you'll be able to use it to unlock your encrypted apps, or access your private safe. 

Cause face unlock to fail with closed eyes: If you're a little nervous about face unlocking, and don't want it to work unless you're looking at the screen, go to Settings > Fingerprint, Face & Passcode > Face and toggle the "Closed Eyes Will Fail Face Recognition" switch on. 

Clone apps: If you have two accounts for some services for personal and work (or any other reason), you can create clones of some apps, allowing you to separate setups for that app. Go to Settings > Clone Apps and choose from the available apps. For the most part, it's social media and messaging apps. 

Change default apps: If you want to change the default apps, whether that be your messages, email, browser, home screen launcher or any other default, you can do so by going to Settings > App Management > Default App. 

Uninstall an app: To uninstall an app, just tap and hold the icon, then tap "uninstall". If you have the app drawer enabled, you'll need to swipe the apps up from the bottom, and then tap and hold the icon in the drawer. 

Create a private space: Go to Settings > Security and scroll to "Private Safe". Now toggle the option to add a shortcut to your home screen to make it easy to get to. Now you'll get a pop-up window with "Use fingerprint or face recognition" on it, tap that, and you'll now see your private safe folder, with sections for audio, photos, documents or other files. Anything stored in here will be locked behind your face, fingerprint and/or privacy passcode. 

Enter Kids Space: ColorOS has a dedicated space for keep kids safe. Go to Settings > Security > Kids Space and tap "Enter Kids Space". Before doing that though, you can choose "Apps Allowed to be Accessed" and choose which apps your children can use. 

Oppo Reno 10x Zoom tips and tricks Master ColorOS image 6

Battery and performance tips

Super high efficiency mode: Head to Settings > Battery, and right at the top of the screen is a high efficiency mode that you can switch on or off. With it activated, it stops all the background tasks, reduces screen brightness and stops the phone from vibrating when you touch it. With this activate, battery life should last longer.

One tap to save power: Right at the top of the battery settings, in the bold battery level graphic is a option called "One Tap to Save Power". Select it, and you'll be taken to a new screen breaking down what needs to be shut down in order to extend battery life. Closing power-draining apps, or switching off location services, for example, are among the options.

"Who gives a monkeys about battery" mode: Okay, so it's not actually called that, but there is a more power intensive mode called "high performance mode" which, when activated, keeps the phone running at peak levels, meaning the battery is depleted much quicker.

Show the battery percentage: Right at the bottom of the battery settings, you'll find a toggle to switch on the percentage indicator in the status bar. Switch it on, and you'll see a numerical value inside the little battery icon at the top of your screen.

Sleeping mode: In Settings > Battery > Power save options you'll find just one option: Sleeping Mode. Activate it, and your phone will automatically guess when you might be asleep (ie: when your phone is idle for a while, late at night) and then stops all the background processing to save as much battery as possible while in standby.

See which apps are consuming power: Again in the battery settings you'll find "Power Consumption Details". Tap this and it'll show you a breakdown of which apps and functions have used how much of the consumed battery so far for the day, as well as offer break downs of the past few days. Tapping on an individual app shows more granular data.

Oppo Reno 10x Zoom tips and tricks Master ColorOS image 2

Camera tips and tricks

Zoom with the volume buttons: By default, you can switch between the cameras and zoom by either tapping on: or dragging: the "1X" on the screen, but if you open the camera settings by tapping the little cog in the corner of the camera viewfinder screen you'll see a "Volume Button" option.

By default, this is set to act as the shutter and take a photo, but you can choose to have it zoom in and out instead by pressing up or down. You can also just have it control the phone's volume as normal if you don't want either of the other two.

Shoot at 48MP: By default Oppo's automatic mode binds four pixels into one, creating a 12-megapixel picture. However, if you want to shoot at the full 48-megapixels available, go to "Photo Ratio" in the camera settings and choose "4:3 (48MP)".

Switch AI recognition off: Like so many other flagship Android phones, the Oppo uses AI to determine what's in the scene, and adjusts capture settings to match. If you'd rather not have this, you can toggle the "AI Scene Recognition" toggle off.

Add a watermark: Just underneath the AI toggle in the camera settings, there's a watermark option. Switching it on lets you add your own custom text to stamp your name on all your images.

Flip your selfies: Again, in the same menu, there's a toggle switch to flip your selfies, so that instead of processing a mirror image, it does the opposite.

Add a filter: Taking a photo, tap on the three dots in the top row of icons. Now you can scroll through a handful of filters.

Mess about with beauty modes: Switch the phone to portrait mode, and flip the camera around so you're taking a selfie. Now tap on the little yellow face icon. Here you can adjust how much touching up you want the AI to do, whether that's smoothing skin, or changing the size of your facial features.

Oppo Reno 10x Zoom tips and tricks Master ColorOS image 7

Other tips and tricks 

Screen recording: Drop down the quick settings/notifications shade and then tap on the Start Screen Recording tile. Before the first one, it'll ask for access to various permissions, once that's done, you'll get a three second countdown and it'll start recording. Tap on the red floating icon on the screen to stop and save the file. 

Add quick settings tiles: Drop down the quick settings shade from the top and tap on the icon that looks like three lines, with a single line pointing down next to them (near the tiny settings cog at the top). This opens up all the quick settings options available, so you can drag and drop them, or rearrange them. 

Split screen: By default, split screen multitasking is enable. To launch it, swipe upwards on the screen with three fingers while you're in a full screen app. You can cancel it by performing the same gesture.  

One-handed mode: Another option in the quick settings shade is one-handed mode. Drop down the shade, find the one-handed mode tile and tap on it. Now everything shrinks down in to the bottom portion of the screen. You can tap the little green arrow at the bottom to switch it over to the left side, or tap the arrows at the top to make it full screen again. 

See unimportant notifications: By default, Oppo's notification filters out notifications it thinks you won't find important. To see those, drop down the notifications from the top and tap on the little inbox icon next to the "x". This then shows you the messages it has filtered out. 

Schedule Quiet Time: As with so many other phones, Oppo lets you switch off all disturbances in a feature called "Quiet Time". To schedule it to activate at a specific time, go to Settings > Quiet Time and "Enable Automatically", before choosing the days, as well as start and end time you'd like it to be active. 

Enter Game Space: Oppo has its own dedicated interface for launching games, as well as managing performance and notifications while gaming. Go to Settings > Game Space and ensure you enable the "Game Space on Homescreen" option. Now you'll be able to find and launch it from among your other apps. 

Once launched you can add games to it, block notifications and choose between Competitive Mode, Balanced Mode and Low Power Consumption Mode.