OnePlus, the Chinese company which is currently in a court battle with Micromax over operating system build, has released its custom software for the One smartphone. This is not the final build of the OnePlus custom ROM, but a preview of the software. In a blog post, OnePlus wrote that it is an early version of the software and “contains no extras beyond the stock features of AOSP Lollipop.” The company added: “It’s the base that we will continue to build upon, improve, and customize as we stabilize core functionalities on the latest firmware updates.”
The final software version by the company will be “customizable yet bloat-free, with stock-Android-like simplicity by default,” according to the post.
Those who want to try the software on their OnePlus One units can click here for instructions and download files. The company has warned users that: “While flashing custom ROMs is covered by warranty, any issues that result from doing so are not. Proceed at your own risk.”
OnePlus is expected to release the final version of the custom ROM in the next couple of months to all users via an over-the-air update. The Chinese startup was forced to build a customized version of Android in-house due to an ongoing dispute with Micromax. According to the Indian brand, it holds the exclusive rights to the Cyanogen software in India, meaning that OnePlus One units (which are also powered by Cyanogen software) cannot be sold here.
The Delhi high court in December banned OnePlus from selling smartphones in India, but later repealed the ban as OnePlus contended that Micromax does not have exclusive rights to the software version that its One smartphone uses.
The high court bench in a statement said, “In view of the facts noted by us hereinabove, it would not be a case to grant an ad-interim injunction, for the reason we were informed that mobile devices launched in India by Micromax are sold at around Rs 8,000 per piece and that by OnePlus at around Rs 22,000 per piece. The consumer of one product is mid-segment and of the other is high-end and thus prima-facie neither competes nor eats into territory of other. We dispose of the appeal setting aside the impugned order dated December 16, 2014, simultaneously restoring with a direction that within two weeks from today reply to application as also the written statement shall be filed not only by OnePlus but even by Cyanogen.”
Nevertheless, OnePlus went ahead build a custom version of Android to continue selling its phones in India without any dispute. It is not yet known whether the company will use its own software it sells globally or not.
