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CyanogenMod 9 State Of The Union Address: Device Support, Drivers and Pitfalls

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For some Android users out there, if it wasn’t for CyanogenMod — they probably wouldn’t even own an Android device. Well, TeamDouche and friends have graciously provided an update for the everyone in the Android modding community, giving us some insight on the progress of CyanogenMod, as well as newly and upcoming supported devices, and some pitfalls the team has been facing.

When it comes to roadblocks, CM has been hit with a big one, dealing specifically with closed-source device drivers. If you were hoping you local “dev” would get that camera app working in the Ice Cream Sandwich ROM you’re running, it might be awhile. We’re all at the mercy of OEM’s who will have to release them in a devkit or new device release.

Officially, CM9 (a modified Android 4.0 ROM) is supported on devices like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, HP TouchPad and Motorola Xoom. New devices being added to the fold are Samsung devices using Exynos processors, with Qualcomm MSM 8660 and 7×30 chipsets in the near future. Where things become a little more uncertain is when dealing with devices powered by the aging 1st gen Snapdragon processor, but CM would like to remind everyone that when dealing with the Android community, workarounds can usually be found for these types of things.

The ultimate goal of CyanogenMod is to create a seamless, near-stock, Android experience for users that’s makes them feel as if their device should have shipped with the ROM out of the box. Where normally the CM team is able to beat OEM’s to the punch when dealing with firmware updates — Android 4.0 in this case — it seems at the soonest, you can expect a fully working and stable CM9 ROM on your device is around the same time manufacturers officially update their devices.

In the meantime, if you appreciate CyanogenMod and the hard work their team puts into bringing the stock Android experience to your Sensified/TouchWizzed/Blurred out device and others like it, feel free to hit the source link for more info on progress, as well as a donation link.

[CyanogenMod]

Chris Chavez
I've been obsessed with consumer technology for about as long as I can remember, be it video games, photography, or mobile devices. If you can plug it in, I have to own it. Preparing for the day when Android finally becomes self-aware and I get to welcome our new robot overlords.

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11 Comments

  1. Cyanogenmod is for many devices quite simply the best custom ROM out there.

    Keep up the good work guys.  Fingers crossed for (official) HTC Desire support! I say (official) since the mod community can usually find a way :)

  2. Who are these OEMs?  Can we dig a little deeper here?  I’d love a FB/Twitter campaign nudging these guys into releasing some source.

  3. Wow every tablet has Cyanogen 9 except my G Slate… and it’s NOT a bad tablet.  The IPS screen on it is shexxy.  Plus the 8.9 inch size is perfect for typing while holding it vertically.

  4. We have devs working on a CM9 port for the Nook Tablet since it shipped with a very badly botched version of GB which just sucks big time.

  5. OG Droid or it never happened.

  6. @James Bell: umm…HTC, Samsung, Motorola, LG, etc……

  7. Dragonzkiller is currently working on CM9 for the Droid X2. He already released CM7 for it. But, he is definitely running into issues as well as outlined in this article. He does have WiFi working apparently which is great, but right now, he is having issues with the gallery app FCing on him.

    If anyone can lend some help to him, tweet him at @dragonzkiller

  8. We need the RIL for both the Charge and Stratosphere LTE radios!!!

  9. OEMs are the phone manufacturers, no digging needed

  10. those crafty manufacturers, Sure they’ll unlock the bootloader, but we aren’t going to release drivers for the hardware!

  11. i’m using CM9 for XT701 right now and the camera, youtube are the ones that aren’t working. but because of how great the ROM is, Im still using it for every day use. Plus, I don’t have data, so I use my phone differently.

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