The OnePlus One launched in June of 2014 into a cacophony of frenzied hype, fuelled by its scarcity (until recently, you needed an invitation to buy a One) and magnificent hardware for the money (a black 64GB, 5.5in OnePlus is now £268 - under half the price of most of its mainstream, SIM-free rivals).

But despite having a rabid fanbase and superb product to sell, the Chinese handset maker has managed to pack a ton of industry politics and wrangling into the 11 months that the One has been on sale.

Most of that wrangling has centered around its fraught relationship with Cyanogenmod, creators of the heavily tweaked version of Android that powered the One handset from the day of its release.

That public spat between OnePlus and Cyanogenmod has now ended in divorce. OnePlus has hired a crack Android team to create its own take on creating its own cut of the OS, and the first beta of their handiwork is now available - OxygenOS.

There is a catch, though: you need to be an experienced Android tinkerer to install Oxygen. If you think that unlocking your bootloader is something you’d do with your car, think twice before delving into Oxygen.

You can download the the new OS free from the OnePlus site, but you then need to manually flash it using TWRP recovery (find full instructions here). OnePlus claims that it’s working on easier ways for users to update their handsets from CM11S; they need to, and in a hurry.

But there is good news if you’re a OnePlus owner who doesn’t want to hack their device (with the accompanying risk that you end up with a £268 brick).

Despite the fall-out between the OnePlus and Cyanogenmod, an over-the-air update for the One is now available that takes it from CM11S (KitKit 4.4) to Cyanogenmod OS 12 (based on Lollipop 5.0.2). Just head to Software Update in Settings, and away you go.

Of course, if you are the type spends your days hot swapping Android ROMs, it now means you have a choice between OxygenOS and the new CM OS 12.

So now that you’re spoilt for choice, which way should you go? We’ve tried both takes on Lollipop on our 64GB Sandstone Black One in recent weeks, and here’s what we think...