I just got a new OnePlus One running Cyanogenmod 11 (Android 4.4.4).
After the first start, when I entered my Gmail address, all the contacts synced from Gmail to the phone and it seemed like all the contacts from my old phone are on my new phone and usable.
After a few days of texting and calling with some of my contacts, I received a text from another contact I knew was saved, but my SMS app only showed the number (not the saved name). I tried to look the contact up in the Contacts app and could not find it. When looking it up in the Phone app I found it (with photo and everything) and in Gmail contacts it also was there.
The strangest thing was: when I opened the contact via the phone app there was a button saying "add to contacts" which I pressed and since then this contact is also findable in the Contacts app but there was no change in Gmail contacts.
Does anyone have an answer for that strange behaviour?