Cyanogen Starts Rolling Out Cortana India Update to OnePlus One Users

Cyanogen last week started rolling out new features from Microsoft's Cortana voice-based virtual assistant for the OnePlus One users running Cyanogen OS 13.1 in India. The company says that the 'Cortana India update' will automatically start rolling out to the OnePlus One users when it is connected to a Wi-Fi.

Unlike Cortana for Android, the version Cyanogen uses is deeply integrated into the OS which means OnePlus One users can get things done by their voice commands. Some of the functions that the Cortana can do without need of a touch are to set an alarm, turn on or off Wi-Fi connectivity.

To recall, the Cortana integration was made available to the OnePlus One back in January with Cyanogen OS 12.1.1, after being promised in September last year. It was then only made available to users in the US and China, similar to the how the Cortana for Android app was rolled out.

"We're happy to announce that we're launching Cortana in India on Cyanogen OS first. OnePlus One owners running 13.1 in India can now take advantage of all of the awesome features available from Cortana," said Cyanogen team in a blog post.

Apart from the regular Cortana features, Cyanogen has also enabled added the new Cortana mod for Camera and Lock Screen - made available to users in other regions with Cyanogen OS 13.1 and the Mod support it introduced in June. This allows users to give commands voice commands for taking a selfie or start searching right from the lock screen.

In separate news, OnePlus has confirmed that it is merging the Oxygen OS and the Hydrogen OS for future devices. OnePlus revealed the plans to XDA Developers and claimed that the merger will enable in faster updates. The company said that it will merge the OxygenOS and HydrogenOS teams to "work as one unified team on this one combined platform."

The OnePlus team said, "The main benefit of combining our team resources is to speed up software updates. We know we have some room to continue improving there, and this is an important step in the right direction."