It may have taken the company a week longer than promised but OnePlus has finally released OxygenOS, the forked version of Android that the Chinese startup has been working on as a replacement for CyanogenMod on the OnePlus One. Originally promised before March 31, the company failed to meet the promised deadline, but at least the wait is finally over, now we just need to wait for the latest version of CyanogenMod.
OnePlus needed an extra week to deliver it, but its new Oxygen operating system is now available for download. “Our goal for OxygenOS is to provide faster, more meaningful updates and a better-integrated range of services for every OnePlus user,” said OnePlus’ Carl Pei in a blog post. Pei emphasized the back to basics philosophy of the project, that values “performance and battery life over gimmicks and bloated features.” The initial version of Oxygen OS looks to be very close to stock Android, both aesthetically and from a functionality point of view. However, there are a number of features that the OnePlus team added in order to enhance the user experience. Oxygen OS carries over gesture support, first available on Oppo’s Color OS and adopted on Cyanogen OS 11s. You can draw various gestures on the screen of the OnePlus One (even with the screen turned off) and quickly launch apps like the flashlight or camera.