OnePlus One Cyanogen OS 12 Update Rollout Paused to Add 'Ok OnePlus' Feature

OnePlus on Monday had a lot up its sleeves starting off with the announcement regarding that the '2014 flagship killer' smartphone would now be available without invites 'forever', apart from announcing large discounts on its accessories for a limited time. The company even dropped a hint to the OnePlus One's successor phone, the OnePlus 2, which it claimed will be released in third quarter.

Carl Pei, Co-Founder and Head of Global, OnePlus on Monday on Twitter also said that the CM12S update rollout had been paused due to the addition of the "Ok OnePlus" feature, which was due to be released as far back as June last year. It will now be included with the Android 5.0 Lollipop-based Cyanogen OS 12 (CM12S) update. To recall, the Lollipop-based Cyanogen OS 12 (CM12S) update started rolling out to the OnePlus One last week over-the-air (OTA), ahead of Micromax's Yu Yureka.

Pei said on Twitter, "OTA rollout was paused due to new "Ok OnePlus" feature being added. Should resume mid week."

He also clarified that the 'Ok OnePlus' feature will be available with the CM12S update only and not the company's OxygenOS, adding that users who have already updated to CM12S will receive the Ok OnePlus feature in a separate OTA update. The conversation (screenshot below) was however deleted by Pei soon after, leading to speculation that the OTA update might resume later than promised. Other speculation revolves around Cyanogen working on another update to fix a Google Play services 'wakelock' issue causing battery drain on CM12S handsets, an issue that is expected to be fixed in an upcoming update.

The 'Ok OnePlus' feature is meant to work the same as the 'Ok Google' hotword detection feature, however, also brings lock screen or off-screen detection of the hotword. The 'Ok Google' off-screen hotword detection feature has been promised by Cyanogen for a while, and was expected to be made available with CM12S - but wasn't, much to the chagrin of users.

In the meanwhile, after Monday's announcement, One smartphone will be available exclusively via Amazon India without any invites. As before, the 16GB Silk White OnePlus One (Review | Pictures) will come at Rs. 18,999, while the 64GB Sandstone Black variant at Rs. 21,999.

The company further to sweeten the deal for interested consumers also announced an add-on offer for India valid till Thursday. Under the promotional offer, consumers can get flat 50 percent discount on accessories along with the purchase of the OnePlus One smartphone in the limited period.