Ola S1 Pro Move OS 3 review – proximity unlock, calling support, hypercharging support, and more

• The Ola S1 Pro received the Move OS 3 a few weeks ago, bringing a slew of new features.
• The highlights of the update include support for its hypercharge network, proximity unlock, and more.
• Here’s my review of the new features introduced by Ola Electric with the Move OS 3 update.

Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Electric has become one of the top EV makers in the country and is dominating the electric scooter market. The company recently rolled out the Move OS 3 update, introducing several new features and bringing hyper charging support to its scooters.

The Move OS 3 is the company’s latest software update to the operating system that powers the company’s electric scooters. It comes with several new features and improvements, including crucial ones like support for Ola’s hyper charger network, multiple profiles, Bluetooth calling, sound customizations which the company calls ‘Moods’, and more.

I have been using the Ola S1 Pro with the latest Move OS 3 for a few weeks now and here is my review of the newly introduced features.

Hypercharge support

One of the highlights of the Move OS 3 update is the introduction of hypercharging. Ola has installed hyperchargers at its experience centers and two scooters can be charged at once.

The company has claimed that a 15-minute charge at its hypercharger can give the scooter a 50 km of range. We tested the hypercharger in Hyderabad and found that the charging is close to the company's claims. We did notice that the charging gets a little slower as the battery crosses 70%.

The introduction of hyperchargers is a good move as it helps in reducing range anxiety, and you don’t have to worry about running out of juice. The company currently has over 200 experience centers across the country, a lot of which have hyperchargers installed.

Moods

Ola has added themes to it, which the company has dubbed “Moods.” The original theme has been named “Eclipse.”

In addition to this, the company now offers “Bolt”, which has a modern and futuristic look to it, and “Vintage”, which as the name suggests gives it a retro look. All three themes have their own signature sound and dark and light modes.

I liked the Bolt theme, as it looks a bit modern, which an EV should look like. However, I did not like the sounds currently offered with any of the themes and preferred to drive with the sound turned off.

Call support

Another interesting feature introduced with the Move OS 3 is the ability to answer calls on the scooter. The calls can be answered and rejected using the volume buttons and the scooter is equipped with a speaker and a microphone for you to talk.

In my experience, the calls worked well on empty roads and roads with moving traffic. If you are in a noisy place, the other person may have some trouble understanding what you are saying. Overall, the feature works well and is something I use during my daily commute.

Party mode

Since its launch, one of the features that separated the Ola S1 Pro from its peers was the ability to play music. Now, Ola has introduced a new feature, “party mode.” In this, the lights on the scooter blink when you play music, giving you a disco vibe. Note that this only works when the scooter is parked and will not work while driving it.

While this is not a major feature, and you may just use it once or twice, it is a nice feature.

Proximity unlock

Another interesting feature that Move OS 3 has introduced is proximity unlock. Basically, this allows your smartphone to act as a key and the scooter is unlocked whenever you come close to it, allowing you to ride it without having to unlock it yourself. Similarly, the scooter is locked when you move away from it.

In my experience, there were some issues initially with proximity unlock as sometimes the scooter failed to unlock. While the scooter now locks and unlocks as I come near it or move away from it, there were a few instances when it took some time. The feature is still in Beta so we expect the feature to become better once the company finishes the beta.

Hill hold

The Ola S1 Pro has finally received hill-hold support. This is useful when you have stopped your vehicle on an incline. The feature is still in Beta so we expect it to improve once a stable version is rolled out. During my testing, I found that the feature does not always work, and even when it does, it works only for a few seconds.

Profiles

As the Ola S1 Pro does not come with a physical key, you may not want to share your passcode or login details with everyone. If you wish to lend your scooter to someone temporarily, you can use the new profiles feature added by the company. It allows you to share access to the scooter with others; all you have to do is enter their name and phone number.

The app gives them their passcode, allowing them to unlock the scooter easily. You can revoke access to others’ right from the app.

In my experience, the feature works well, and setting up a new rider takes less than a minute.

Overall, Move OS 3 has introduced some good features which improve the user experience. Features like proximity unlock and hill hold need to be improved a bit to make them more useful.

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