OnePlus Oxygen OS to Launch February 12th

Embattled upstart OnePlus has announced the release date for its OxygenOS Android overlay: February 12th. The announcement came via OnePlus CEO Peter Lau’s Weibo page, where he posted an image of four individuals, one of whom is wearing a cowboy hat, basked in ethereal mystery, apparently poised to usher in this new era of Oxygen.

If you’ve only casually followed OnePlus’ history, you might recall that it has a partnership with Cyanogen, offering the popular CyanogenMod custom ROM as its baseline software on OnePlus devices, including the OnePlus One.

However, late last year, Indian manufacturer Micromax struck and exclusivity deal with Cyanogen, which called into question OnePlus’ ability to continue loading CyanogenMod for the Indian market.

Then, the OnePlus One was banned in India altogether before the judge reversed his decision because Micromax devices don’t compete in the same space as OnePlus devices. Or so he said.

Enter OxygenOS, OnePlus’ attempt at an Android ROM, and one that has come at a pretty impressive pace. Cyanogen has barely started releasing nightlies of CyanogenMod 12, but here we are, slated to see a Lollipop-based ROM from OnePlus in a matter of days, and OnePlus will continues its sojourn into the wilderness of the subcontinent.

Bear in mind that OxygenOS is primarily designed as a way to maintain OnePlus’ presence in India, so if you manage to nab a One, it’ll still come with CyanogenMod, but the famed ROM is slated to start including SwiftKey baked in, so you get a freebie. However, there’s no reason to assume OxygenOS won’t be made available as an option if you so seek.

OxygenOS promises a very flat, very Material Design experience, and we’re excited to see how it all plays out. Hopefully the great battle for India is behind us.

Source: Weibo
Via: PhoneArena

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