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We give a lot of credit to the Android mod and root community for the hard work they put into cracking devices, unlocking features, and developing new Android firmware for every handset imaginable, but lest you forget, they are no small community indeed. As a testament to that fact, the CyangonMod 7 release candidate 2, which just went up for download yesterday, has reached a combined 150,000 downloads among its various versions.
It brings a bit more punch to the notion that hardware manufacturers might want to think twice about the measures they take to keep developers from gaining access to modifying the software of Android handsets. After all, it is a large market of people who may otherwise avoid purchasing that shiny new handset, especially if it comes with a hard to crack bootloader. We’re sure the two sides will continue to butt heads, but keep fighting the good fight Cyanogen and all those who root.
[via CM]
Now why are manufacturers still using skins on Android again?????
it sounds like a lot but there are more than twice that many new android phones activated every day. we’re still by far the minority.
if i buy a PC, im free to run whatever I want on it, (if the hardware supports it) Windows, Linux, OSX, etc…SAME THING should apply to smart phones, just make the hardware and stick the stock android OS, let me upgrade at my own peril or wait for OTA updates.
Any fancy UI’s for specific phones can be simply restricted apps on the android market…motorola im lookin at you
Loaded the latest Cyanogen 7 nightly on my Evo last night. I am very impressed by the quality.
Amen to Abe! That is the only reason why i havent bought a motorola phone. Custom skins should only be an option at initial setup. After that let the modders have it. After all I didnt buy a computer with linux already installed. I would never have gotten what i wanted. So many great phones wasted by locked skins.
No RC for the GSM Hero? Any ideas why GSM Hero gets no love, but CDMA Hero does?
Jim, check out Elelinux’s ROM for the Hero. It’s 7 RC2 based :)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=932377
I just flashed RC2 on my Nexus S last night. Although since there are problems with it making Voodoo sound force close. So I went back to nightly #11
Best thing i ever did with my N1 was put Cyanogenmod on it. I wont be buying any phone in the future that I’m not able to run it on. If that means not having the the phone I’d like to have most then so be it… CM user experience is FAR better than stock!!
@Abe. Right on!
I’m rooted on my Dinc. I have Rom manager, but haven’t ever flashed any roms. How easy is it to return to stock rooted, if I flash a Rom?
@Samuel Maskell – This is ONE ROM, there’s numerous more out there for EACH device. Not everyone uses Cyanogen Mod. If each device had 100,000 people on a custom ROM, imagine the total now. Yes, still the minority, that well never not be true as long as Android stays “hip”, but that’s not the point. The majority either don’t know how to, or don’t care. So what’s it matter if their bootloader is locked or encrypted? It doesn’t.
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@abe – Just to let you know, you can not install OSX on a PC just because you want to — legally. You can do it, but it’s illegal. Apple doesn’t like it and has sued two companies for selling hardware with MAC installed on it that I know of.
@Zack, i think that is more of the point, seperate hardware and software, if something is incompatible then fine, thats understandable but to simply say NO because apple has a grudge against anything they DON’T make doesn’t mean everyone should be forced to buy EVERYTHING from them just because they want one thing from them. if i want OSX, does that mean i should be FORCED to buy their insanely priced hardware too? NO i can buy a 700 monster rig PC that beats out a 2000 mac anyday, and i should be able to run OSX if i want to.
same thing applies with phones, we SHOULD be able to do what we want with it after we buy it. it is OUR hardware, no longer belongs to the manufacturer, so why are they allowed to take measures to stop us from using what we have rightfully purchased? give me a warning that says if i mess it up doing anything “mod” like then it voids my warranty, im fine with that, but just blocking me all together is not cool.
I was running CM7 RC1 on my MT4G for about three weeks. Just flashed CM7 RC2. Had looping CM7 startup screen problems immediately after flashing. But on a reboot, everything works like a charm. CMMod guys are awesome. profiles has been added, kind of similar to MY Modes from MT4G. The app drawer dismissal also has a 3d animation effect. Loving it so far.
For you guys who are running CM7 RC2. Does Skype work for you?
had RC1 on my droid incredible everything force closed. RC2 is AWESOME no force closes runs super smooth. cant wait 4 a stable honeycomb port :)
They only have CM versions for phones that the devs actually have and use—if the phone wasn’t a good seller, odds are that there aren’t guys coding for it.
htc dream?
@Covert_Death
you are contradicting yourself when you talk about rightfully purchasing the hardware and wanting to do whatever you want. You did purchase OSX from Apple so what gives you the right to install it on your PC? You can whine and complain about Apple software being exclusive to their hardware, but in the end, Apple made the software they have the right to put it on any hardware they want to. If they choose not to put it on PC then you have to learn to live without it. If you choose to do it illegally, then go ahead but stop bitching about how life isnt fair
I meant you didnt purchase OSX. my bad
I only buy phones supported by cm.
@Covert_Death – Not sure, but I think you took what I said the wrong way. I by no means meant the manufactures should lock the hard/software. I was saying that whether they did or not, it’s not going to change the amount of people who are going to root and mod the phones. The same amount of people will, because the phone being unlocked does not equal the owner knowing what the heck to do with it. The only thing that WOULD change is MORE people BUYING YOUR PRODUCT, you would not loose sales because of this.
And for the people that say, “Oh well, they then have to warranty the phone if you brick it.” NO, they really wouldn’t, if, just like a PC or MAC or anything else of the like, they give you the tools to fix it. There’s no reason we shouldn’t be able to just get the tool/program, the same thing they use to flash the phone in the first place to fix our own phone. Then they wouldn’t have to deal with it. Simple as that, simple as pie.
It doesn’t even make sense the amount of control they want to keep to themselves; it’s to the point where it’s just for the sake of having control, not that it makes any logical sense.
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And with Apple/Mac software, I’m not saying that’s right either. It sucks, believe me, I do understand that. One one hand you have Microsoft that “licenses” it’s software to you to use, but limits it, however they couldn’t care less what the heck you install it on. You could install Vista on your Phone, Robot, Car, Pen, etc, for all they care as long as you bought the license. Then you have Apple that sells it’s software for $30, but you can’t install it on anything ‘legally’ except for their branded hardware.
Control for the sake of control.
Now 150000 people can download dewonkifier to fix the ‘wonks,’ what the regular user would call ‘ dropped calls’ Only true cm fans would get excited over a ‘ release candidate’ that drops calls.
It’s like you never heard of beta testing before?
@Zack: First of all Apple wants to make money. And OS X is what makes (most I suppose) buy a Mac. If they offer it on other hardware, who would pay such a premium for their computers? Sucks for the consumer, good for Apple.
Also, OS X really is just written for a few computers. There are just no drivers for other hardware, and supporting other hardware would give it problems. OS X isn’t that great, it is not secure at all, and it runs well because it only has to support a few GPUs, a few mainboards, etc., and can be intensively tested on this hardware and be optimized for it. Windows is the much more impressive OS. It has to run on any hardware, it has to withstand a shitstorm of attacks… and it still does pretty well.
Oh, and screw Cyanogen for not supporting my Magic anymore. :D I can understand his thinking, and it’s not like that there are other options, but it was nice to have CM. You just knew you’d get one of the best ROMs, without having to bother and tinker all the time. Now I’m having some regrets for having chosen Gingeryoshi, COS-DS seems to be pretty nice too AND has USB tethering and much faster updates. But then again that will be lacking too… oh I miss the CM days.
Installing OSX on a regular PC was an example but not really the point. Apple chooses to lockdown their software to their hardware, that’s fine, I have no problem with that. But a mac is just a glorified (overpriced) PC, I can take a mac and run windows, linux, chrome OS, etc…
The hardware is mine-I purchased it, I did NOT lease it, im free to do what I want with it, Android is a freely distributed OS, I have my Droid running ChevyNo1’s GB rom (based of CM) and im loving it. If I brick my phone, then its on me, If I waited for moto to update my OS OTA I would still be at, what is it now, 2.2?
Let the modding community work their magic, 90% of users will never mod their phones, but those of us that want to should be allowed, moto has nothing to lose if they refuse to replace rooted phones, and im fine with that. Xoom has an unlocked bootloader, this is a product I would buy, because I know the community would continue to support it a year from now, the same cannot be said for moto’s locked phones…
Ok so this is weird! I flashed CM7 RC2 via Rom Manager on a rooted Evo and It could not access my SD card? It said upon boot that there was an fault with SD and I may need to format the card. I looked in settings and the card was unmounted. So I mounted it and tried to run My Backup Pro to restore apps and data. It would start to process then give me an SD card error. When I tried to access anything off of the SD like photos or anything (I had to use Astro) it only loaded photos through astro image viewer, gallery wouldn’t open?
Any ideas?
@Kelly
This was an issue on RC2 for my incredible. they are essentially the same phone and make of CM7. Download the latest nightly and it will resolve the issue. At the time of writing this there is no official nightly for the inc that fixes this. However other ROM compilers have used the latest build changes to make an unofficial fixed ROM. So the fix is in CM7 already, but there might not be a released nightly for the EVO yet. When/if there is flash it and your SDcard issue will go away.
Just rooted and installed it on my droid incredible! Runs so amazing without all the htc sense crapware on it… It looks better with all the cyanogen animations and the battery lasts longer! Couldn’t be happier right now. =D
Flashed RC2 onto my N1 and the soft touch home key wont work. Trying a reflash if it doesn’t work I may have to go back to RC1