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Nextbit Robin support ends July 31, but the phone might still be worth buying

by Brad Linder 3 Comments on Nextbit Robin support ends July 31, but the phone might still be worth buying

The Nextbit Robin smartphone launched in early 2016, offering a distinctive design, an unusual method for leveraging cloud storage, and specs that are very similar to what you get from a Google Nexus 5X (give or take). At the time the phone sold for about $400. These days you can often find it on sale […]

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Paranoid Android update brings “accidental touch” protection, support for more devices

by Brad Linder Comments Off on Paranoid Android update brings “accidental touch” protection, support for more devices

It looks like that new build of Paranoid Android that was released in May wasn’t a one-off. After years of lying mostly dormant, the once-popular custom ROM is back with another new build. Paranoid Android 2017 Release 2 brings a handful of new features, support for additional devices, and some bug fixes, including an updated […]

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Paranoid Android is back with an Android 7.1.2 ROM

by Brad Linder 3 Comments on Paranoid Android is back with an Android 7.1.2 ROM

Once upon a time the Paranoid Android team of developers were responsible for some of the most innovative custom ROMs for smartphones. The team reinvented Android navigation buttons with Pie controls, offered a multi-window mode years before Google officially supported the feature, reimagined multitasking on Android devices, and started (and killed) a bunch of other projects […]

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Project Halium aims to create unified base for Linux-based smartphone operating systems

by Brad Linder 3 Comments on Project Halium aims to create unified base for Linux-based smartphone operating systems

People have been building and installing custom ROMs on Android phones for almost as long as there have been Android phones. But over the past few years we’ve also seen the rise of GNU/Linux-based operating systems including Ubuntu Touch, Sailfish OS, Mer, and Plasma Mobile that are capable of running on hardware that would normally […]

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Official LineageOS builds now available for select phones (CyanogenMod evolved)

by Brad Linder Comments Off on Official LineageOS builds now available for select phones (CyanogenMod evolved)

The former developers of the popular CyanogenMod software for smartphones and other devices have been migrating to a new project called LineageOS for the past few weeks. Now they’ve released the first official builds of LineageOS. It’s already available for download for a small set of phone, and eventually there will be official builds for more […]

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CyanogenMod successor LineageOS to support 80+ devices with weekly releases

by Brad Linder Comments Off on CyanogenMod successor LineageOS to support 80+ devices with weekly releases

The former developers of CyanogenMod are getting ready to start releasing their new Android-based operating system called LineageOS. There are already a number of unofficial builds, and more than 50,000 devices are running some of those builds. But soon you’ll be able to get official versions of LineageOS for more than 80 different phones and […]

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LineageOS development begins, picking up the pieces of CyanogenMod

by Brad Linder 8 Comments on LineageOS development begins, picking up the pieces of CyanogenMod

Shortly after announcing that it was getting out of the smartphone operating system game, Cyanogen Inc pulled the plug on some of the key resources used by the developers of the open-source, community-based CyanogenMod operating system. As promised, those CyanogenMod developers are continuing to work on their popular custom version of Android. But it has […]

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CyanogenMod is dead… but Lineage will pick up where CM leaves off

by Brad Linder Comments Off on CyanogenMod is dead… but Lineage will pick up where CM leaves off

Hot on the heels of news that Cyanogen OS is effectively dying at the end of the year, the developers of the open source CyanogenMod operating system have announced the end of that project as well… kind of. The team plans to fork the existing CyanogenMod code, eliminate reliance of Cyanogen services, make some other […]

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RIP Cyanogen OS: Company to shut down services, end nightly builds by Dec 31st

by Brad Linder Comments Off on RIP Cyanogen OS: Company to shut down services, end nightly builds by Dec 31st

Don’t like the version of Android that comes on your phone or tablet? In many cases you can replace it with a custom ROM, which is typically a modified version of Android built by volunteers. For years, the developers of CyanogenMod have offered a popular, open-source, community-developed version of Android for dozens of phones, tablets, and […]

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CyanogenMod 14.1 development begins, based on Android 7.1 (CM14 won’t be officially released)

by Brad Linder Comments Off on CyanogenMod 14.1 development begins, based on Android 7.1 (CM14 won’t be officially released)

The developers behind CyanogenMod have scrapped plans to nightly builds of their Android 7.0-based operating system… because they’ve begun development of a version based on Android 7.1 instead. In other words, the next version of the operating system will be called CyanogenMod 14.1 rather than CyanogenMod 14. It’ll incorporate the latest updates to Google’s operating system […]

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Sony adds Xperia X Compact to its Open Device Program (with support for Android Open Source Project builds)

by Brad Linder Comments Off on Sony adds Xperia X Compact to its Open Device Program (with support for Android Open Source Project builds)

Developers have been building custom firmware for Android phones for almost as long as there have been Android phones. But it’s easier to do that for some phones than others. Google Nexus phones, for instance, just about always have unlockable bootloaders. Many other phones… do not. For the past few years Sony has been offering tools […]