Another Android contender enters the ring — the OO N1 from CyanogenMod

BY GreenBot Staff

Published 20 Dec 2013

Sick of Samsung, , Motorola, the rest of the Android device offerings from the usual suspects? oking for something a little more exciting, a bit more open, with an entirely different Android experience that you’re used to? You’ll have that chance next week when the CyanogenMod version of OO’s N1 (shown above) officially goes on sale.

Months ago, we reported that Cyanogen had not only announced that it was going corporate, but that it partnered up with OO Digital to distribute its custom, “enhanced” version of Android on specific hardware.

According to the manufacturer’s official Twitter account, the special version of the OO N1 will go on sale starting on tmas Eve. The phone will feature specialized CyanogenMod bring on its chassis some impressive specifications, including a 1.7 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, a 3610 mAh battery pack, a 1080p screen, a 360-rotating 13Mcamera.

approval

Cyanogen’s Abhisek Devkota noted in the CyanogenMod-Dev Group that the OO N1 only recently received ’s official seal of approval.

“th the certification process complete, we can not only say that we built the Android OS that users ( we) want to use, but that through it all, the code, fixes, enhancementsl, features you all have taken the time to do are solid,” he wrote.

That’s actually a fairly huge milestone for Cyanogen, as not only approved the first Android phone that comes pre-loaded with a modified ROM, but one that features ’s signature application suite—not even Amazon’s seriously forked Kindle Fire OS can lay claim to that. It’s also interesting to note that while users have been able to root their Android hsets on their own install CyanogenMod for years, this is the first time that a company is selling a “finished” product directly to consumers.

The announcement of the OO N1 also comes hot on the heels of yesterday’s news that Cyanogen raised an additional $23 million in funding. The company currently has 22 employees, but plans to hire at least 60 over the next year as it plans to go mainstream. “Because consumers are clamoring for increased personalization customization options, the Android open-source community has been happily taking up the task of fulfilling that dem,” Andreessen Horowitz, an investor, told the es. “ believe that [CyanogenMod] has the opportunity to become one of the world’s largest mobile operating systems.”

The OO N1 will come in 16GB 32GB flavors for $599 $649, respectively, though it will be sold on a limited run.