OnePlus, the Chinese firm are continuing their efforts in developing their own operating system OxygenOS based off Android. Now, since these are community builds, none of them have jumped to Nougat as of yet which is pretty fair since it takes a lot of time for partners to actually bring out a stable release.
OnePlus pushed out another OxygenOS community build to its OnePlus 3 and OnePlus X smartphones today. However, the update doesn't upgrade either of the handsets to Android 7.0 Nougat, but the builds do come packed with some new features that customers are sure to find useful. The OnePlus 3's latest version of OxygenOS has been bumped up to 3.5.2.
This rather large 1.3GB update introduces a "kill all background processes" button in the recent menu, additional directions for first fingerprint configuration, Battery Saver mode optimizations and enhancements, reintroduces the contacts widget in the launcher, and brings an enhanced incoming call notification UI, among a few other changes.
The OnePlus X is now on version 3.1.1, which includes the ability to move apps to a microSD card, improves touch responsiveness, better HFR settings for video capture, and September's Android security patches, along with a few bug fixes here and there. This update is a tad smaller at 761MB in size.
The company will be paying close attention to user feedback for some of the more obvious UI changes in Oxygen. Obviously moving towards a more skinned UI and away from AOSP won't make some purists happy, and for those, XDA suggests turning to community alternatives like "stock" ROMs and CyanogenMod, both easily installed thanks to an unlocked bootloader.
"With the community build we are experimenting with new ideas and features, and then using the feedback from our community to refine... In fact, the next versions of the community build will address a lot of the feedback we have already received." OnePlus social media correspondent said.
OnePlus needed to streamline its efforts to improve update support and frequency, a major source of complaints recently. They also need the help of its users to figure out which features add to the experience, and which features detract and they are actively working through this feedback. It's a great start though.
OxygenOS 3.5 maintains many of it's AOSP roots while injecting a little of its own look and feel.OnePlus is also reportedly to merge OxygenOS and HydrogenOS to solve their problems in updates and also is an alternative to Nexus style OTA updates.
