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Earlier today, some disappointing news came from Steve Kondik, CyanogenMod's founder and Cyanogen Inc.'s cofounder; because of Cyanogen Inc.'s failure, "(CyanogenMod) is very much affected." For the time being, though, CyanogenMod maintainers are still churning out new builds of CM14.1 (Android 7.1 Nougat) for many devices. We've got seven new devices with CyanogenMod 14.1 nightlies this time around (well, more like five, since two pairs of the devices are almost exactly the same).
The CyanogenMod Team continues to expand its list of officially-supported devices, and now the LG section of said list is longer by four entries. Yesterday the CM servers started spitting out nightly builds for the LG G3 S, the LG G3 Beat, The LG G2 Mini, and the LG Optimus L70 smartphones. All of them are CyanogenMod 13 (Android 6.0), and they're all available for download and flashing right now. At the time of writing three of them have two nightly builds, while the G2 Mini has only one.
If you like LG's style but aren't ready to pay for a top-of-the-line smartphone, AT&T and Sprint would like a word. Both of them have announced carrier-customized models of the LG G3 Vigor, which was launched this summer in international markets as the G3 Beat. The 5-inch phone is decidedly mid-range (stretching to low end for some specs), but it's got the same look and layout as the full-sized G3, complete with rear-mounted buttons. At least they didn't call it "mini."
The LG G3 Stylus is, frankly, LG's attempt to hit Samsung below the [pricing] belt for consumers in the market for a Note 4. The G3 Stylus, though, is a hell of lot cheaper, and for good reason: it's not a very impressive device. With a 5.5" qHD display and a quad-core Snapdragon 400 paired with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage, the G3 Stylus panders shamelessly to a price point, down to the capacitive rubber-tipped stylus that feels supremely disposable.
For the biggest of the big manufacturers, loaning out the name of your flagship model to smaller and cheaper phones is a no-brainer. You get potential customers who want the look and at least some of the features of the newest, coolest device, and you also get to reap the rewards of your brand marketing. So it is with Samsung and HTC's various "Mini" models, and now, LG's G3 Beat. Hey, at least they're not trying to call a 5-inch phone "mini."