Android One opens the floodgates for CyanogenMod on inexpensive smartphones

Gigaom

Android One, Google’s program to standardize and improve low-cost Android phones in markets like India, comes with a caveat that phones in its program must run a Google-approved, virtually unskinned version of Android. But an interesting side effect of reducing the number of differences between phones is that it becomes much easier for tinkerers to modify them, including installing open-source operating systems that Google does not control.

On Monday, CyanogenMod developers released a new ROM, or installation package, for its version of Android, which can be installed on the first batch of Android One devices — including the Spice Dream Uno, Karbonn Sparkle V, and Micromax Canvas A1. The ROM isn’t ready for daily use, as features like dual SIM support and Wi-Fi aren’t working yet, but you can expect the engaged CyanogenMod community to fix those problems fairly quickly.

One of the most important aspects of Android One is that it embraces low-cost MediaTek…

View original post 262 more words