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.
Another feature is the improved quick settings, which lets you reorder settings tiles and choose the ones you want to see. This feature seems to be inspired by Paranoid Android, and that should be no surprise, given that many of the key people behind PA are now contributing to Oxygen OS.
Oxygen OS also comes with a file manager, a welcome addition for any power user, as well as the ability to customize lockscreen wallpapers and switch between capacitive and on-screen navigation keys.
Oxygen OS is now available for download from OnePlus, with full installation instructions available. If you want to help, you can provide feedback by downloading and installing this special app. Note that updating to Oxygen OS from Cyanogen requires wiping the system and flashing manually, though OnePlus says an automated method is in the pipeline.
