12.1

Two '12.1' stories April 2014 - June 2015

Cyanogen OS 12.1 coming to OnePlus One soon, but OxygenOS w/ Android 5.1 will have to wait for OnePlus 2

Cyanogen, along with announcing a couple of contests aimed at finding 3 people to give exclusive early access to the OnePlus 2, has this morning taken to its forum to give us an update on the current state of software for the OnePlus One and the OnePlus 2. The company says that Cyanogen OS 12.1, updated with Android 5.1 Lollipop is on the way and should arrive soon:

CM12.1, updated to 5.1, is on its way. We have a preview build that’s undergoing factory testing and google certification. You will have it soon.

Sadly, though, if you were hoping for the Android 5.1 updated version of OxygenOS, it looks like you’re going to have to wait for the OnePlus 2. It will be coming to the OnePlus One, however—just after it comes to the OnePlus 2 later this fall. A new build of OxygenOS will be landing soon with touchscreen fixes (also included in the above COS release).

…we won’t have an OTA for the community build of OxygenOS we released back in April for the OnePlus One until after the OnePlus 2 release. We will put up a new build very soon with the touchscreen fix for those of you who are experiencing this problem but we won’t have an official update until we have the resources to do a proper job.

While the company has been talking about the OnePlus 2 a lot this week, we still don’t really know anything about the upcoming handset. That said, the two contests that OnePlus announced today suggest that we might be hearing about the phone sooner than expected, so be sure to keep an ear out for the announcement—with OnePlus, we know it’s going to be teased (a lot).

Android 4.4 KitKat for Google Glass now available

Google has released KitKat for Glass, following the announcement of the update yesterday. Included in this update are various tweaks to improve battery life and performance, as well as various new features. Notably, Google removed video calls in this update, though other additions to Hangouts were made, such as the ability to send photos.

The KitKat update — known as XE 16 — requires XE 12.1 to be installed, so you’ll have to install both to get the sweet KitKat features. The update rolls out even as Google today offered Glass to anyone interested in shelling out $1,500.

The consumer version of Glass is expected to be released later this year, and the KitKat update is a major step towards bringing the platform in line with Google’s Android efforts. Further announcements are expected at Google I/O 2014.