Not to be completely left out of the spotlight during Mobile World Congress, Cyanogen Inc. has a few announcements to make. Firstly, the logo and website you knew are now gone, replaced by something with a bit of a sci-fi vibe. More importantly, the company has partnered with Qualcomm to make it easier for Cyanogen OS to find its way onto more devices.
As for the new "brand identity," you can see the logo above. There's also a completely redesigned website at cyngn.com. It might take a little while to update for everyone, but you'll (eventually) see that old theme is gone, as is the little hexagon logo the company has been using for the last year or so. The new brand identity (PR speak for logo, design, and whatnot) is, according to Cyanogen, based on the openness of Android, and the benefit that brings to consumers, developers, and hardware makers.
Okay, that's all well and good, but what about this Qualcomm deal? Cyanogen OS features and UI elements will be supported by an upcoming release of the Qualcomm Reference Design (QRD). That means a lot more to OEMs than it does to you and me, but the gist of it is that device makers will be able to implement Cyanogen OS much faster and more easily on devices powered by certain Snapdragon chips. Which ones? The Snapdragon 200, 400, and 600 series.
Cyanogen Inc. sees this as a way to get its custom version of Android on more devices in the mid-range. In the future, the Qualcomm partnership will also offer developers additional functionality on Cyanogen OS devices, but this version of the QRD is all about expanding device support. This isn't the end of Cyanogen's close partnerships with OEMs to make flagship Cyanogen devices, though. The company plans to do both to increase it's presence in the mobile device ecosystem.
The new QRD with Cyanogen support is expected to roll out in the April timeframe.
PRESS RELEASE
Cyanogen and Qualcomm Collaborate to Raise the Bar on User Experience
Cyanogen, Powers New Offering for Snapdragon Processors
Palo Alto, CA. — March 2, 2014 — At Mobile World Congress today, Cyanogen Inc. and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, announced details of a collaboration that will provide support for the best features and UI enhancements of the Cyanogen Operating System on certain Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ processors. This will be available for the upcoming release of Qualcomm Reference Design (QRD) planned for April.
Cyanogen is widely known through the industry for its commercially distributed Cyanogen OS and the CyanogenMod community distribution. Through the enhanced solution, Cyanogen brings a number of feature-rich enhancements, including a new launcher and personal information management apps across dialer, messaging, contacts, and calendar. The Cyanogen OS experience arrives on the most current Android™ 5.0 Lollipop release, and will be available to device makers globally.
“We’re delighted to collaborate with Qualcomm on their QRD program,” said Kirt McMaster, CEO, Cyanogen Inc. “We’re addressing the needs of device makers in developed and developing markets looking for a truly differentiated software experience that matter to consumers.”
The features and UI enhancements will be available from Cyanogen Inc. for Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ processors in the 200, 400 and 600 series, bringing the Cyanogen experience across multiple device tiers. Additionally, Cyanogen features such as the new Launcher will also be available for the QRD program across these tiers of Snapdragon processors. The QRD program is designed to streamline the rapid introduction of devices at lower development costs — drawing on the technical innovation and product quality that have made Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. an industry leader.
“We chose to work with Cyanogen based on their deep Android expertise and innovative approach to enhancing smartphone software,” said Jason Bremner, SVP of Product Management, Qualcomm Technologies . ”By collaborating with Cyanogen, we are able to offer unique experiences to users of Snapdragon based devices."
Through this ongoing collaboration, Cyanogen will be adding exciting new features and services in future releases as the company continues to drive advancements in mobile computing across a range of devices that incorporate Snapdragon processors.
Source: Cyanogen Inc.