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