Android users the world over were treated to quite the change of pace last year when the folks from the newly formed Cyanogen Inc. and a spinoff from Oppo launched a new high-end phone with a mid-range price tag. One of the many questions to come from the launch of the OnePlus One was the availability of updates, and with the giant Material Design curve ball Google threw with Android 5.0 it was clear that even veteran software update teams were going to struggle with getting Lollipop on existing phones in a timely fashion. The OnePlus One is a little late to the party, but Android 5.0 — in the form of Cyanogen OS 12 — is finally on its way. This update brings all of the Lollipop goodness with a few extra Cyanogen bits tossed in, and the end result is a decent step forward for all OnePlus users. Verizon is offering the Pixel 4a for just $10/mo on new Unlimited lines

As has frequently been the case with Android 5.0 updates for most existing devices this year, the first thing you'll notice when the OnePlus One powers up with Cyanogen OS 12 is a whole lot of Lollipop — specifically Android 5.0.2. Cyanogen did a great job shifting their existing features so they work around Lollipop, instead of trying to create some weird mix of the two feature sets. The lockscreen gives priority to Lollipop notifications without sacrificing the music playback UI, the notification shade keeps the ability to pull down on the left and right hand sides to access notifications and quick settings but does so without interrupting the Lollipop shade format, and Cyanogen's own home screen and drawer settings are tucked away in a clever third drawer without interrupting the default Lollipop UI. It's exactly what we've come to expect from Cyanogen OS — Android with some extra bits sprinkled in all over the place. Cyanogen stuck with the default Interruptions system that Google introduced with 5.0, which means Mute is gone and None has taken its place. The volume controls from 5.0 are largely untouched, which is either a great thing or a terrible thing depending on your position on the subject. The same is true for Ambient display and Adaptive brightness, which are both new to the OnePlus One. Ambient display, while a cool feature in concept, is somewhat less impressive on an IPS LCD panel that has to fire up the entire display to show the greyscale lockscreen, especially when compared to the Amoled version of this feature on the Nexus 6. Meanwhile, Adaptive brightness is a hugely positive step above the auto brightness controls that existed in Cyanogen OS 12, and even includes a Sunlight enhancement option that cranks the LED backlight up well above its normal max brightness to compete with the sun.