[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] sidnoit22:
Open source projects follow a pretty standard pattern in my experience. If the project becomes popular, it grows at a breakneck pace. New features, bug fixes, and more are suggested and submitted daily. Eventually, you have to say no to a couple of things. Once enough things are said no to, those who come up with those ideas move on to the next logical thing, which is to take your ideals and your creativity and make your own version of that project. Soon, you’ve got a hundred flavors of Linux and a few hundred thousand people with their own opinions as to why theirs is better than yours.

It turns out, Android isn’t all that different at its core from this description. One such example of this is the Android Open Source Project based distribution of CyanogenMod. The CyanogenMod team is a group of developers, hackers, themers, and more who have all come together to adjust Android to their ideals. This week marks the next version of their distribution, CyanogenMod 7.1.

CyanogenMod is currently the only distribution of Android that supports nearly 70 devices with the same version of Android. Many devices that have been abandoned by the manufacturers, or have been waiting far too long for an update to the next version, are supported equally by the CyanogenMod developer team. New Android phones are typically supported fully within a month or two of the release of the phone.

What’s the cost for CyanogenMod 7 over what is on your phone when it comes out of the box? It varies. For some, it could cost you your warranty. For others, it might just cost a little bit of time to figure out how to install the OS on their phone. One things is certain, if you are even remotely interested in tinkering with your phone and getting the best experience Android can offer, you might want to consider CyanogenMod 7.1.

Customization

From the beginning, the CyanogenMod distribution has been all about customization: Make your phone your own, using the tools that have been in Android the whole time, but were redacted or omitted at the cost of user friendliness.

While it’s cool to be able to set a custom wallpaper for your phone, or custom ringtone and notification tones, that level of customization seems slightly empty when you can’t control how your lockscreen looks, or the incoming call screen. Maybe you’d prefer your lockscreen to offer you more features, such as the ability to launch an app right from the lockscreen. Visually, nearly every element on the screen is completely customize-able. In fact, there’s a theme engine built into CyanogenMod that is filled with themes you can apply to change the color, effect, and style of buttons, battery, icons, and anything else you can find on your phone.

The customization doesn’t stop at visual elements, either. You can kill the shutter sound on the camera app, allow a friend to browse the web on your phone in a Chrome style “Incognito Mode”, or set your phone to stop ringing after a preset time. The experience is the same across all of the devices they support, including things like tapping the screen to focus the camera or being able to connect a Bluetooth mouse to the device.

Settings allow you to revoke permissions from an app you have installed from the market, meaning you can disable any app’s ability to access your location, access to your contacts, or anything else you’d like. Many of these features you see scattered across the existing Android devices, but there’s only one place you find all of these features together.

New Lockscreen

CyanogenMod offers several different kinds of lockscreens for you to choose from, most of which are enhanced versions of screens that have been found on other devices. CyanogenMod 7.1, however, offers a new lockscreen that allows you to set apps to your lockscreen to launch when you drag the bottom ring to the app. This is similar to what has been seen in the recent lockscreen found in HTC’s custom distribution of Android. Unlike HTC’s attempt, however, this version allows for more apps and a higher level of customization. Additionally, this lockscreen is available on all CyanogenMod 7.1 devices, where the HTC lockscreen is only available on select devices running Android 2.3.4.

Final Thoughts

This is not for everyone. There’s a pretty steep learning curve between stock Android and CyanogenMod, and an even steeper learning curve between one of the heavily themed versions and CM7.1.

CyanogenMod is not a small project anymore. With support from Sony Ericsson, recognition from many Googlers currently working on Android, and devices in the UK like the GeeksPhone line of devices shipping with the ability to easily put CM7.1 on it, the once small collaboration of like minded geeks has grown into a complete distribution of Android with a team of over a hundred different contributors to the project.

Recently, several pivotal members of the CyanogenMod team spoke at a developer panel during the 2011 Big Android BBQ about the project and its future.

Source:

http://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/cyanogenmod-7-1-now-available-for-ultimate-android-customization-20111012/