Back at the start of December Oppo announced the Oppo N1 which comes with an option to flash/install CyanogenMod custom ROM on it. At the time they also said that there will be a version released running CyanogeMod out of the box at a later date. It seems that later date is Christmas Eve.
Just one day after announcing they had secured an extra $23 million USD in investments in their company more good news is outed, this time by Oppo. Via their twitter account Oppo announced that the CyanogenMod phone is coming on December 24:
The #OPPON1 is the world’s first Google CTS-Certified @CyanogenMod phone! Available on 12/24. http://t.co/RefQDR6pnA pic.twitter.com/qKCjVpHlWE
— OPPO (@oppo) December 20, 2013
Cyanogen himself commented via his Google+ page stating that it will be a limited run so those who are interested should jump in quick.
https://plus.google.com/100275307499530023476/posts/fwFsT5JDs4Y
Details on the CyanogenMod special edition N1 are scarce but it is expected to be based on the N1 already released, running CyanogenMod 10.2 which is Android 4.3. This is the version that has “has officially passed Google’s CTS and CDD certification programs” and thus the only CM version to be able to officially carry the Google Apps out of the box. While it is disappointing it is not releasing with 4.4 the Cyanogen Inc. developers are hard at work getting 4.4 stable and I doubt it will be long before that is available as an OTA update or a download from the Oppo website.
If you are interested in the CyanogenMod Oppo N1 head over to the link in the Oppo tweet and select where to purchase from, either OppoStyle or Mobicity. The Oppo N1 (CyanogenMod Version) Mobicity have listed is a different picture to that tweeted by Oppo and we have yet to hear back from them so it is unclear whether this is the special edition run or just a standard N1 running CyanogenMod. We suggest you clear this up with them before ordering. Mobicity have it listed for $649 and have some specs for the device. As I said though it is unknown if this is the special edition device or not. One thing known though is that it is a 3G only device which is very disappointing but expected as very few phones coming out of China have LTE versions.
2013 has been a big year for Cyanogen Inc. and I at first was extremely sceptical and a bit annoyed with the path they were taking but I see it as a big step forward in the Android ecosystem. A video they posted on YouTube shows all the usual features associated with CyanogenMod custom rom running smoothly on the N1 and has me excited to see where it takes us, the Android community.
I for one can see it being a very popular device so if you want one you’d better jump in quick. Will you be purchasing it? How do you think it stacks up against the $449 Nexus 5?
