Here we can see “OxygenOS vs Cyanogenmod”
What is the difference between Cyanogen OS 12.1 and OxygenOS?
At first glance, both operating systems look similar, staying fairly loyal to the stock Android Lollipop interface. But dig a touch deeper, and therefore the differences between the 2 start to point out.
Cyanogen OS 12 is all about customization, letting you tweak everything from the navigation buttons and battery icons to the settings and standing bar. It is also full of many downloadable themes, making Cyanogen appear as if a different OS within seconds.
OxygenOS may be a bit more ‘stock’ and is not as customizable as Cyanogen. While it’s a variety of Lollipop and OnePlus wallpapers, it isn’t designed to be tweaked the maximum amount as Cyanogen, so it could also be more suitable for casual users. It does have a fast Settings menu, where you’ll rearrange the buttons however you please, which may be a nice touch, but certainly won’t be enough to satisfy the more tinker OnePlus One owners out there.
OxygenOS 2.0 brought additional options, like support for custom icon packs and customizable color schemes, including Dark Mode, which was sadly far away from Android Marshmallow. These are all steps in the right direction, but OxygenOS remains a long way behind Cyanogen.
Cyanogen OS has some pretty powerful apps onboard, including Cyanogen Mail, the audio-enhancement app Audio Maxx, and its camera app, capable of 4k recordings and RAW photos. OxygenOS has none of those features, though this is often to be expected from a newcomer. Both of the operating systems accompany the standard array of Google apps.
CyanogenMod Vs. OxygenOS
Open Source Vs. Closed
CyanogenMod got its start as an open-source custom build of Android. Anyone could see its ASCII text file, modify it, fork it, or improve it (and many developers did).
Then Cyanogen went legit. Steve Kondik started a corporation, which has always been open about its desire to form closed-source, paid-for services. The system components of CyanogenMod, however, remain free and open source.
OxygenOS, against this, is entirely closed-source. What you get from OnePlus is what you’ll use on their phones.
The difference might sound minute to people that aren’t FOSS geeks, but it’ll become critical over time. Open source means users can change the software to run more to their liking. That’s how we got CyanogenMod in the first place.
It means the community can’t fork OxygenOS to form a far better version within the sort of a custom ROM. Users can do root-level fixes and use Xposed, but not fork the software.
Customized Vs. Simple
For software built for a phone bought almost exclusively by techies, OxygenOS is fairly simple. It feels far more like stock Android than any custom ROM.
It ships with vanilla AOSP, gApps, and a touch of basic customization. Not a lot, though, and not anywhere on the brink of an equivalent level on CyanogenMod.
CM12 is predicated on Lollipop and is that the best version of CyanogenMod yet. It’s fast, stable, and filled with customization. Every little thing that bothers you’ll be changed within the CM settings. People care in varying amounts about whether or not they can customize their phone… but if you purchased a OnePlus One, you almost certainly care tons and know CyanogenMod is far better at this type of thing. They still have the simplest implementation of system-wide themes in Android.
Customization Vs. Interesting Gimmicks
CyanogenMod offers fewer software services, putting most of its strength into system-level customization. However, if you get CM, you’ll enjoy stuff like the CM file picker and secure texting with other CyanogenMod users.
OnePlus put a couple of interesting gimmicks into OxygenOS. There’s a double-tap to wake, which is usually appreciated.
You can also do gestures like drawing a circle to open the camera or a “v” toggle the flashlight. Neither of those is particularly reliable.
Speed Vs. Speed
In terms of performance, the two seem to be equal. TechInAsia benchmarked both OSes and located CyanogenMod just barely edged out OxygenOS.
This is to be expected. Same hardware, similar software that differs only in some implementation and customization.
