What is CyanogenMod and why is it good for you
Share:
You see, the Android platform is open source – it was made to be tinkered with, optimized, and redistributed freely. Unfortunately, carriers do not think the same way and have long imposed certain restrictions upon the smartphones that they sell. Sure enough, the tireless hoards of Android enthusiasts have already found workarounds to these restrictions, and obtaining absolute access to an Android device is now possible through a process called rooting.
Rooting is what allows users to easily replace the smartphone's stock firmware with a different one. Ever since the process was discovered, developers have been making their own custom ROMs and distributing them throughout the Android community. Nevertheless, CyanogenMod has undoubtedly become the most popular one of them with over 200,000 active users and support for over 30 different devices.
CyanogenMod's main purpose is to make your smartphone a better, faster, and more versatile device. First of all, it delivers a pure Android experience with none of the bloatware, skins, and UI customizations that most manufactures tend to ship their devices with. That noticeably improves the smartphone's overall performance, responsiveness, and battery life. Second of all, CyanogenMod is always built on top of Android's latest version, which means that you get the most up-to-date software experience even if your smartphone's manufacturer has not released an update yet. Furthermore, you get support for FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and USB tethering, continuous autofocus while shooting videos, and a special incognito mode for the times when you want your browsing history to remain unrecorded. The list of improvements and customization options just keeps on going, and new features are being added quite often.
 |  |  |  |  |
Home screen | DSP equilizer | Theme chooser | Incognito mode | Cyanogenmod settings |
However, there is always one little thing that needs to be pointed out – tinkering with the smartphone's firmware is not 100 percent fool-proof. There is always the slight risk of ending up with a bricked device if something goes wrong, so everybody who is brave enough to install CyanogenMod onto their smartphone is advised to be extra cautious.
Feel free to check out CyanogenMod's official web page.
Share:
HTC Puccini might be almost ready for mass production 
When is big just too big? 
-
Make your own funny GIF animations using Cinemagraph and a Nokia Lumia
-
Stay tuned for our coverage of Samsung's Galaxy & ATIV event today
-
Screenshots from Sony Xperia ZU prototype confirm specs
-
Microsoft and Nokia reportedly end merger negotiations
-
First phone with flexible screen coming by the end of the year
-
Huawei Ascend D2 surprisingly scores as best 1080p LCD display, beats HTC One, Sony Xperia Z
38 Comments
9. realism121 posted on 26 May 2011, 10:23 3
queerbait?! seriously? what year is it and what grade are you in?
12. Normil posted on 26 May 2011, 11:01 3
Its 2011 and Im in 10th Duh! Earth to Realism get with the times!
32. AndroidTroll posted on 26 May 2011, 20:47 1
I lold hard at this banter!! The word queerbait should make a comeback!
3. bling bling (unregistered) posted on 26 May 2011, 09:29 2
thanks cyanogen 7 for freeing me and making my htc desire the desire of my heart
6. Sniggly posted on 26 May 2011, 09:50 2
Looks fun. However, I'm okay with my stock X. You guys need a better editor.
27. Lucas777 posted on 26 May 2011, 18:31 0
do u have ur x rooted? does rooting do anything else for u besides allow stuff like cyanogen?
29. vantenkiest posted on 26 May 2011, 19:38 0
yes it allows you to set your scp clock speed it allows you access to system files and to modify pretty much the entire android experiance.. roms are the most common way of playing with it.
30. vantenkiest posted on 26 May 2011, 19:39 0
I have my Ally Rooted with the Velocity rom however if this was available to me i would install it immediately
40. Lucas777 posted on 26 May 2011, 23:43 0
ya i get roms and overclocking... but is there other stuff? when i rooted my captivate i didnt change anything except bypass the att restrictions...
41. MrFantasma posted on 27 May 2011, 02:43 0
what do you want? I mean removing restrictions alone should be a good reason. anyway when i rooted my captivate and installed a good ROM it made the sensors work better and also i added the lagfix made my captivate blazing fast!
45. protozeloz posted on 27 May 2011, 07:12 0
with rooted phones you can
-Sideload apps (att)
-Control the clock speed on the processor
-enable a certain market (US android market for me)
-remove bloataware and crapaware
-tether for free
-install custom room (in care you aren't that good ad modifying your stuff)
-choose the screen density
- its all Ive used so far, but you can go search the android market for applications that usse root to do stuff
46. protozeloz posted on 27 May 2011, 07:13 0
ohh and calibrate your battery according to an app (like not haven't it turned off at 5%)
49. Lucas777 posted on 27 May 2011, 17:19 0
okay thanks... that was what i was looking for.. and y afor above i did the lagfix too... that was nice
50. protozeloz posted on 27 May 2011, 19:46 0
I usually dont use cyanogen even if is pretty good and has some nice stuff, I just like rooting my phone and removing some of the stuff I don't want and manage my processor clock to save power, I can tweak my phone to work pretty smooth by changing a few things, but its a nice addition to anyone who wants to mess around with their phones more than that....
31. rebith75 (unregistered) posted on 26 May 2011, 20:21 2
....classic dumb consumer, "okay" with Blur, feel sorry for this guy
54. iHateCrapple posted on 28 May 2011, 18:49 0
Or maybe he's not a complete dork and doesnt have time or patience for it...? Maybe?
10. seeds posted on 26 May 2011, 10:33 1
my favourit custom rom
celan, simple, very customized, free & very speedy server to download LOL
13. jskrenes posted on 26 May 2011, 11:02 0
I have it on my Viewsonic G Tab, and it's amazing.
14. shawndog1 posted on 26 May 2011, 11:44 0
Thank ill wait till my contract is up before experimenting with things like this . It is tempting though .
33. AndroidTroll posted on 26 May 2011, 20:52 0
You can always unroot and bring it back to stock in case you need to send it in for warranty repair. It's an easy process that takes about 10 minutes.
17. oddmanout posted on 26 May 2011, 12:17 0
cyanogen is great but i cant help but be an htc sense guy after 3.0... the lock screen is genius. and the rom is actually pretty fluid considering sense 3.0 was made for dual core processors
23. cmfan (unregistered) posted on 26 May 2011, 13:46 1
Been running cm since the first release on my G1. Now still going strong on my nexus one. Even tried the nightlies for a while. Greatest rom ever.
24. Cherish (unregistered) posted on 26 May 2011, 14:42 0
Love Love Love CyanogenMOD 7 made my phone even more awesome then it was before..Im sporting the Mytouch 4G with 2.3.3. thanks to Cyanogen MOD 4G ..ohhhh i love my phone 1000 times more now
25. Temoparyuser (unregistered) posted on 26 May 2011, 16:43 0
How do I get this mod, and will it work on my Droid X2. I have not modified any phone yet, however I am interested... I also do not really have a computer... Do I need one for this process?
47. DC (unregistered) posted on 27 May 2011, 11:00 0
I'm with you. I am interested too for my infuse.
51. vantenkiest posted on 27 May 2011, 21:03 0
it needs to have a port to lg ally :P its the worst phone i have around.. but i bet this would make it awesome
and run better Velocity doesnt cut it.
55. omalley (unregistered) posted on 30 May 2011, 16:18 0
the best thing about Cyanogenmod is their support for Ad-hoc networks :)
56. skystars posted on 29 Mar 2013, 18:13 0
Lovely! What I noticed is there is no place on thier webpage that
instructs you how to remove this Cyanogen Mod software. i
would like to remove the stuff from my phone
57. skystars posted on 29 Mar 2013, 18:14 0
HAVE AN HTC MY TOUCH AND WANT TO
RETURN IT TO ITS FACTORY CONFIGURATION
