It’s a non-negotiable right now that every phone-maker out there must have a plan for integrating AI into its devices. OnePlus is a little late to the party, but it’s arrived nonetheless. Back in May, the company announced plans for bringing its own vision of personalized AI to OnePlus phones, and from this week, it’s rolling out to the OnePlus 13 and 13R.

At a launch event in London earlier this year I not only got to see the first AI features to land on OnePlus phones in action, but also learn about what the company’s future plans are for bringing more complex and sophisticated AI features to its phones down the road.

With all Android phone-makers increasingly making use of best-in-class Qualcomm chips and relying on Google’s Gemini AI, having a strong AI strategy is one way they can set themselves apart from rivals. I was impressed with how far OnePlus seems to be thinking ahead and not rushing into going ham on AI. Its initial AI rollout will likely capture people’s attention, even if its ideas aren’t entirely original.

OnePlus’ statement AI tool is called Plus Mind, which can save, suggest, store and search based on what’s currently on your phone screen, ultimately depositing the details in an app OnePlus is calling «Mind Space.» Plus Mind can be activated at any time, either by a dedicated button (if your phone has one) or by a swipe-up gesture. If it spots details of an event or reservation, it will propose creating a calendar entry.

Mind Space is a place to «organize your fragmented memories,» said Arthur Lam, the company’s director of OxygenOS and AI strategy. This is a hub where all of your most important content will live. AI search will allow you to find what you need without the information overload you may be used to, or it will automatically translate content into another language to make it accessible and searchable.

Plus Mind will debut with the upcoming launch of the OnePlus 13S, a phone designed specifically for the Asian market, which comes with a dedicated AI button (the «Plus Key,» as OnePlus is calling it) on the side of the phone. That means for those of us in the US and Europe, we’ll have to wait a little longer to enjoy OnePlus’ vision for AI ourselves. It will eventually be rolling out to the OnePlus 13 as an over-the-air update later this year, although the company is yet to confirm exactly when.

Plus Mind and Mind Space: My first impressions

On the OnePlus 13, which shipped before the addition of the Plus Key, you instead have to use a three-fingered swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen to activate the AI features. When I tested this in person, it was hit or miss as to whether I could get it to work. There’s definitely a knack to it — you need to start from a couple of centimeters above the lower rim — and there’s a high chance of accidentally displacing what’s on the screen. 

It’s clear that OnePlus designed Plus Mind to be used with a dedicated button, and no doubt all future OnePlus phones will feature a Plus Key of their own. It is a shame in retrospect, though, that the key is missing from its most widely available 2025 flagship phone.

After using Plus Mind to save a variety of content, I had mixed opinions on how useful it was. The process of capturing and creating events out of details displayed on screen was seamless, and I found that I was able to use natural language within Mind Space to pull up the details of these events after the fact. But when saving articles I thought were interesting, Mind Space wasn’t able to provide a summary of the entirety of what I’d been reading — only of the specific text that was on screen at the time I activated Plus Mind.

I also struggled to organise the content into collections within Mind Space. This is a manual process, rather than a situation in which the AI takes over to categorize everything you’ve saved. This feels a little like a missed opportunity.

Like other Android phone-makers, OnePlus has the benefit of tapping into the best of Google’s Gemini phone tools, while also choosing what additional features it wants to bring to its phones to make them stand apart from its competitors. That said, its initial foray into AI with Mind Space is bound to draw comparisons to what Nothing is doing with Essential Space — its own dedicated hub for saving content, snippets, links and reminders.

What’s next for OnePlus AI?

Plus Mind and Mind Space are just the first part of OnePlus’ three-stage AI strategy. Next up is integrating a large language model into Plus Mind, allowing your phone to understand your habits to create a «persona» it uses to understand you.

«It will help you understand yourself,» said Lam, and could even help you discover something «surprising» or «enlightening» about yourself.

Stage 3 is when OnePlus plans to go full AI agent, turning into a personal assistant that can know everything about you. But the company’s not quite there just yet. In the meantime it has a few other ideas in the pipeline.

Coming first to India (again, not the EU or the US), are AI VoiceScribe, which will provide you with a quick summary after your call on WhatsApp, Snapchat or Telegram, and AI Call Assistant, which provides you with in-call translation in both text and voice.

On the more playful side, OnePlus is introducing two AI photo tools. The first, AI Best Face 2.0, will allow you to correct the faces of up 20 people in a group photo so that everyone is looking their best (if they have their eyes closed, for example, or what OnePlus describes as a «suboptimal expression»). AI Reframe, meanwhile, will analyze your carelessly shot holiday snaps and suggest creative cropping and framing to make it look like you weren’t three cocktails deep when you shot them.

These photo features will come to OnePlus phones this summer, beginning this week, but for the major OnePlus AI tool rollout, you might have to wait a little longer.

The award-winning, quirky survival game Grounded is like the game version of the classic ’80s comedy film, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. And on July 29, Xbox Game Pass subscribers can get early access to that game’s sequel, Grounded 2. 

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, a CNET Editors’ Choice award pick, offers hundreds of games you can play on your Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One and PC or mobile device for $20 a month. A subscription gives you access to a large library of games, with new titles, including Doom: The Dark Ages, added monthly, plus other benefits such as online multiplayer and deals on non-Game Pass titles.

Here are the games Microsoft is bringing to Game Pass soon. You can also check out all the games the company added to the service recently, like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4.

RoboCop: Rogue City

Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass and Game Pass Standard subscribers can play on July 17.

Serve the public, protect the innocent and uphold the law as the cyborg RoboCop. You’ll investigate crimes in Old Detroit before using your cyborg strength, cybernetic implants and arsenal of weapons to eradicate gangs from the area. This game is a whole new RoboCop story based on the film series, and Peter Weller, the original RoboCop himself, returns to voice the titular character.

My Friendly Neighborhood

Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can play on July 17.

Something’s going on with everyone’s favorite Saturday morning puppet show, and it’s up to you to figure out what in this survival horror game. You’ll solve puzzles and use tools and improvised weapons to fend off your multicolored foes. So if you have anything against Barney or Big Bird, you can take out your feelings on them with this game. 

Back to the Dawn

Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can play on July 18. 

This game is like if the series Prison Break took place in the Zootopia universe. You’ll play as either a fox named Thomas or a black panther named Bob as they try to navigate the prison system and escape with their lives. With multiple escape routes and over 100 quests you can complete, you can replay this game numerous times and have a different experience each time.

Abiotic Factor

Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can play on July 22.

Science meets violence in this 1990s-inspired sci-fi survival game. You and up to five other players can choose your areas of expertise, build your scientist and explore a massive, top-secret underground complex filled with artifacts and supernatural horrors that could tear you limb from limb. And remember, safety, security and secrecy are of the utmost importance… usually. 

Wheel World

Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can play on July 23.

If you want to take a nice, relaxing bike ride, this game is for you. Previously known as Ghost Bike, this game puts you behind the handlebars of one of the last ghost bikes around. These bikes can traverse between the lands of the living and the dead. You can explore these lands at your leisure while you race other riders and upgrade your ride with treasures you find along the way.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers

Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can play on July 24.

This souls-like RPG is set during the final days of the Ming Dynasty. You play as an amnesiac pirate warrior named Wuchang on a quest to uncover the truth behind a world full of chaos. You’ll fight monstrous creatures in forgotten temples and overgrown ruins, unlock new weapons and master devastating techniques in order to bring peace to yourself and others. 

Grounded 2 (game preview)

Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can play on July 29.

You’ve been shrunk to the size of an ant — again — and you’ll have to survive the dangerous, miniature world. You’ll fight spiders and wasps, craft weapons and homes and even ride on your own insect friends to get around. You’ll unravel new mysteries along the way, but be careful. Something else is out there, and it hasn’t forgotten about you. 

Farming Simulator 25

Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass and Game Pass Standard subscribers can play on Aug. 1.

Farming isn’t always as simple as games like Stardew Valley might make it out to be, but it can still be very rewarding. If you want a taste of what goes into building and maintaining your own farm, give Farming Simulator 25 a try. You’ll grow diverse crops, raise different animals and with the weather-changing, ground-deforming atmosphere, you’ll face all kinds of challenges along the way. 

Games leaving Game Pass on July 31

While Microsoft is adding those games to Game Pass soon, it’s also removing three other games on July 31. So you still have some time to finish your campaign or complete any side quests before you have to buy these games separately.

Gigantic: Rampage Edition
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
Turnip Boy Robs a Bank

For more on Xbox, discover other games available on Game Pass now, read our hands-on review of the gaming service and learn which Game Pass plan is right for you. You can also check out what to know about upcoming Xbox game price hikes.

In 1981’s Donkey Kong, the «jumpman» characters chased a humongous gorilla through a construction site to rescue a damsel in distress. The video game is now best remembered as the introduction of jumping and the introduction of a lovable plumber named Mario, who would go on to make billions of dollars in the Super Mario Bros franchise.

Despite Donkey Kong being a popular playable character in games like Mario Party, Super Smash Bros., and Mario Kart, the villain-turned-goofy ape has arguably never quite gotten his own time to shine. The new, explosively popular Nintendo Switch 2 is changing that: DK is the headliner of Donkey Kong Bananza, which goes on sale July 17 and is only available on the Switch 2. (You can pre-order it now at Best Buy.)

CNET’s Scott Stein says Bananza is the Switch 2’s «new must-get game» – «full of its own styles and surprises that are utterly fresh.»

Explore an enormous world fueled by the Switch 2’s graphics

Donkey Kong can run, jump, and climb through a world of vibrant colors and creatures that are impressively realized in 4K on the Nintendo Switch 2. The character himself gets an upgrade with expressive eyes and textured hair. And he’ll sound familiar to anyone who watched The Super Mario Bros. Movie, as he’s once again voiced by Seth Rogen.

Since Banaza was made by the minds behind Super Mario Odyssey, an immensely enjoyable Mario title that revealed we were all hungry to see a T-Rex with a mustache and a tiny red cap, exploring the map is vital to the gameplay. You can wander endlessly through levels, collecting Banandium gems and competing in ancient ruin challenges. (If you haven’t noticed, there are a lot of banana references in this game). For gamers overwhelmed by too many options and not enough directions, maps and arrows can guide you and bypass some of the wanderlust.

Donkey Kong likes punching, and so do we

Of course, this wouldn’t be a Donkey Kong game without showcasing his mighty fists. Donkey Kong can punch in any direction and destroy almost anything, unearthing treasures and paths hidden under the surface of walls and the ground. Make no mistake: this is where the fun is. It’s like a classic Nintendo brawling game. Or a room that you have the green light to demolish before renovating.

The punching isn’t just pure chaos. Donkey Kong can dig tunnels to get somewhere or find hidden bananas, which means hours of gameplay for the obsessive completists among us. You also often have to use debris to solve a puzzle, throw at a bad guy, or as a tool to get through the level. It’s a high level of game design that uses «voxels» – which are kind of like big pixels, so that the scattering of debris feels real in Donkey Kong’s world.

Play as a damsel no longer in distress

Pauline, the original damsel in distress in the 1981 game, returned in Odyssey as the mayor of New Donk City. In Bananza, she’s in her teens and sits on Donkey Kong’s shoulder as his sidekick. (Apologies to the much-maligned character Diddy Kong, you were a real one.) Pauline is a singer whose melodious voice can transform Donkey Kong into a more powerful ape. Read: he can now punch through more things. He can also transform into a muscular speedy zebra or a beefy flying ostrich.

The game also features a nifty two-player co-op mode, so a friend can use the Switch 2 Joy-Con’s mouse-like pointer feature to control Pauline. She shoots words at enemies (yes, actual words like Wow! Yeah! Ha!). The targeting is reminiscent of classic shooters like GoldenEye, a fun bonus for a Donkey Kong game. But it also underscores how Donkey Kong lives in a world with real people – and gives Bananza a surprisingly human touch.

Pre-order Donkey Kong Bananza now at Best Buy

Donkey Kong Bananza retails for $70 and releases on July 17. Preorder it today at Best Buy and get ready to throw some punches.