18
Jan
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The CyanogenMod team recently teased us with a video of CM9 running on the Touchpad and now it looks like their efforts have culminated in the first Alpha ("Alpha 0") release of CM9 for the WebOS tablet.

The earlier CM7 Alpha 1 and Alpha 2 builds were quite buggy and not really ready for primetime use, but the latest CM9 release is a whole "*two* CyanogenMods better", bringing Ice Cream Sandwich goodness to the Touchpad. However, CM9 is still Alpha 0, which means "'zero hardware-accelerated video', 'zero camera', and 'zero support!'". In addition, the audio "is a mess", the microphone does not work, market filters prevent some apps from being installed, Titanium Backup crashes the kernel, some older hardware problems from CM7 still exist, and traditional storage mounting is not supported.

12
Jan
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If you happen to own an HP TouchPad and have been waiting patiently for a proper Android port, you'll be overjoyed to see a sneak peek of what CM9 brings to the table. If you recall our announcements for the CM7 Alpha 1 and Alpha 2 builds, you probably remember an overwhelming indication that neither build was all too stable, and running them was not for the faint of heart. Alpha 3 is a bit better, but still has a laundry list of issues. A lot of things don't work, or only work intermittently, which makes it very difficult to use for the average consumer.

12
Jan
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In the custom ROM world, there's one name that can't be denied or avoided: CyanogenMod. It's the reigning champ of all custom ROMs, and for good reason - it's amazing. The CM team is always finding ways to innovate and bring new features to stock Android, resurrect older devices, and remove manufacturer/carrier restraints from modern devices.

Apparently we're not the only ones who think so, either - CyanogenMod hit one million unique installs last night. Think about that for a second - one. million. And that doesn't even count all the users who choose to opt-out of CM's stat tracker (shame on you!).

01
Dec
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In a reassuring blog post, Cyanogen recently told readers that "things are slowly starting to come together," regarding progress on the hotly anticipated Cyanogenmod 9, which is based on Android 4.0.

The entry goes on to explain that the devices most likely to see CM9 first are those based on OMAP4, MSM8660/7X30, and Exynos chips, as well as a few Tegra 2 tablets (including the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and ASUS Transformer).

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That's the good news. The bad news is that owners of the OG Droid will be left in the cold, come CM9. The team is also facing challenges due to framework changes in Android 4.0 that "break compatibility with older proprietary camera and graphics drivers." Despite such setbacks, however, Cyanogen writes "I am confident that the team will be able to overcome these issues like we have in the past."

The progress update also promises shorter "spin-up time" when compiling Cyanogenmod from source, and a few other enhancements, including an overhauled music app, a brand new file manager, and a new launcher based on Ice Cream Sandwich.

21
Nov
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While we've seen the newest iteration of Android show its stuff on the phone, we've yet to see what the experience will be like on a tablet. That's all about to change, though, because Cyanogen himself posted the following on his Google+:

ICS on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is pretty great. Coming soon to a CM mirror near you :)

I, for one, am giddy with excitement about this; I've been looking forward to ICS on my Tab 10.1 for a while now. Of course, we all know the first rule of Cyanogenmod by now, so we'll just hang out on the sidelines and wait for this one to make its way to the mirror network.

15
Nov
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In case you were wondering or had any doubt at all, the CyanogenMod 9 wheels are now in motion (as promised), and in a few months (likely weeks for nightlies) delicious ICS will drip onto 68+ supported Android devices, some completely forgotten by carriers and manufacturers. If you ask me, that's the best thing that could happen to them anyway - what do carriers know about keeping their devices up-to-date with Android, right?

There's only one thing we can do now: wait [anxiously]. And don't forget the first rule of CM - do not ask for ETAs.

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Source: Twitter

Image credit: icecreamsandwichupdate

19
Oct
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At the end of today's Ice Cream Sandwich unveiling, we found out that the ICS SDK (API 14) was available immediately, but a much more important bit - the source code - was not mentioned at all. It didn't really come as a surprise - historically the source was released about a month after the SDK (with the exception of Honeycomb), but I'd like to clarify something right away for those confused between the SDK and the source code.

The SDK (software development kit), which includes the Android emulator, does not contain any source code whatsoever, which means any ROMs built from source, like CyanogenMod, will be waiting for said source to be released before we see any ICS releases.

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