The highly anticipated OnePlus One smartphone will launch with a brand new Android KitKat-based CyanogenMod version on board – dubbed CyanogenMod 11S or CM 11S – which is a brand new release of the popular custom Android ROM, having been specifically polished for the first OnePlus phone. CyanogenMod and OnePlus hosted a special San Francisco event on Tuesday to announce the handset and its main features, Android Central reports.
The special CM 11S ROM apparently has three main “pillars” including the redesigned camera app, a new theme engine and a new Gallery app that matured from beta to a complete version. CM 11S also offers other features and tweaks and, overall, isn’t a “radical departure” from previous CyanogenMod versions in terms of design.
The new camera interface “no longer looks like something that was potentially tacked together from other pieces, and instead looks like it was designed with usability and functionality in mind,” the publication notes. The camera ditches radial menus, featuring manual controls and settings that can be easily accessed and switched around for a better camera experience.
The Gallery app will now put photos “front and center,” grouping them by location and time into appropriate albums. Support for social media sharing and Dropbox backup is also included.
Finally, the themes engine has been completely rewritten, with five months of design work going into the project. The result is a “svelte customization suite that makes it easier than ever to change the look and feel of your CM device,” according to Android Central. OnePlus One users will be able to easily change the theme of their devices, and activate only those elements and effects they want to apply.
In addition to being the default operating system on the OnePlus One, CM 11S will also be available to other devices that already run CM11 in the future, although it’s not clear when that will happen.
A hands-on video with the OnePlus One showing some of its software features follows below.
