OnePlus One Lollipop Updates Delayed, Firm Says 'Game Changer' a Drone

OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei and representative David during an 'Ask Me (Almost) Anything' session on Reddit revealed that the Lollipop-based Cyanogen OS (CM12S) and OxygenOS builds despite being ready will not be rolled out on time due to certification issues. The same AMAA also saw the company reveal what the new "game changer" it had teased earlier this month was - a drone called DR-1.

The Chinese manufacturer had earlier this month confirmed that the Lollipop-based Cyanogen OS build would be released on or before March 30 as an OTA update, while the OxygenOS build will be released on or before March 27 as a ROM download. It had promised it would give away five phones for free if it didn't meet the deadlines.

The representative said the five phones it had promised to give away are ready. "We have the five phones ready. Again, both releases are ready (I'm using CM 12S, Carl is using OxygenOS as daily drivers) and it's just certification taking a bit longer," he said, clearly confirming the delay.

As for the "game changer", OnePlus had started dropping hints about an upcoming device at the beginning of this month. The company even teased its "game changer" in a forum post along with images that tipped many that it might be a gaming device.

OnePlus however seems to have bigger plans, with David on the AMA saying, "It's a drone, the DR-1 and we will start selling it next month." Though the OnePlus official was very clear in his post about the "game changer" device being a drone, there is considerable speculation that the Chinese startup may be being disingenuous right now, and may not actually launch a drone. We will have to still wait till next month whether the statement turns out to be true or if David was just trolling Reddit AMA users. It would be also interesting to see how the company places the drone in its product portfolio.

Additionally, OnePlus shared another teaser image of the upcoming "game changer" on its official post. The image shows a rather bulky device covered with a red piece of cloth. The forum post said, "The OneGameChanger is almost here. Here's a new hint."

Part of the AMA, David also answered a user complaint about after sales service for the OnePlus One in India. The user said, "There are a lot of complaints/issues in India regarding OPO's service.People here are waiting more than 15 days (even 30) & still not repaired.Some are even thinking of approaching consumer court. Makes me really nervous about you after sales support." To this, David responded, "We are working on improving our service in India, we are aware that is not up to the standards, but Vikas (India GM) and the people responsible for our Customer Support are working around the clock to get this issue solved ASAP."

In the meanwhile, OnePlus on its forum has provided more details about the delayed updates, with Helen, the Head of Mobile (Product) saying, "The ROM is fully functional and we have quite a few people in the office running it on their own devices without any issues. The delay is caused by extra quality control. We want to make sure that OxygenOS passes Google certification, that all future updates can be OTA'ed properly, and that users from all over the world are able to use OxygenOS in the language of their choice."

Helen added, "Most of you are probably also wondering when CM12 will be available. While we don't have a lot of influence over CM's release schedule nor development progress, we've been providing resources and scheduling test cycles to help with this last stretch. Together, we're working to deliver CM12 to you as soon as possible."

She further said that until OxygenOS is officially released, the company will share its progress with users. "Every day, no matter how big or small the news is, this post will be updated with information in order to give you more visibility into the process," she said.

Finally, the five forum members who were randomly selected to receive the promised free OnePlus One 64GB handsets were also announced.