New Phone Maker OnePlus Partners with CyanogenMod

By Kevin Parrish
published

Is it a match made in Heaven?

Start-up phone maker OnePlus confirmed during CES 2014 that its very first phone will ship with CyanogenMod. The CyanoGenMod team is developing a custom version of the software with special features and tweaks, and is also working in tandem with OnePlus so that the entire project offers the best software with the best hardware.

"What's coming is one of the most popular mobile operating systems specifically developed for the best hardware, with a unique twist," states OnePlus' Pete Lau. "The smartphone industry is ripe for disruption, and 2014 should prove to be a huge year for the future of the market."

CyanogenMod is a customized, aftermarket firmware distribution for several Android devices. The platform is based on the Android Open Source Project, and offers a variety of features and enhancements that are not present on versions of Android used by vendors and carriers. This build is highly optimized and is capable of pushing the phone much harder than the retail builds of Android.

"Upon hearing Pete's vision for OnePlus, it was clear we had found the right partner," said Cyanogen Inc. CTO, Steve Kondik. "By combining our software expertise with Pete's background in hardware and design, we'll develop a phone that will exceed both of our expectations."

OnePlus is a start-up phone maker that's currently designing its first smartphone, OnePlus One. What makes this situation unique is that OnePlus is asking for consumer input. The company wants to make the perfect smartphone, and knows it's not going to happen unless the actual consumer is involved. Pete Lau, the start-up's CEO, was formerly an executive at Oppo, the company that produced the Oppo N1 (shown above), its flagship smartphone. This device also featured the CyanogenMod OS.

"In the next few months we want to know your views on AMOLED vs IPS screens, 8974AB vs 8974AC processors, and your views on external memory and battery life," Pete Lau writes in a forum post. "Hardware development used to be inaccessible to the average consumer, but now we are inviting you to participate in these decisions."

The OnePlus One phone is expected to become available in the first half of 2014.

Kevin Parrish
4 Comments Comment from the forums
  • masmotors
    the cpu number the 8974ab vs 8974ac is redicules to state now who will even know the difference i have no idea whick is best ab or ac ????????????
    Reply
  • Kelthar
    the cpu number the 8974ab vs 8974ac is redicules to state now who will even know the difference i have no idea whick is best ab or ac ????????????
    The company is obviously requesting opinions from everyone, from tech junkies to regular users who can provide different views. The 8974AC is expected to be better than the 8974AB, but it'll probably cost more and have higher battery consumption. If it keeps the previous standards with previous AA/AB/AC, then AC will have higher clockrate on CPU, GPU and RAM. I think it's great that a company is actually requesting input from its future users.
    Reply
  • RealBeast
    I've been researching for the last week after an incident with a malware infested link my wife found on facebook. Even with Kaspersky configured to be as strict and secure as possible, the malware had no issue getting in and establishing itself. From my personal experience, as great as Kaspersky appears to do in every lab test, it seems to fail more often than not in real world usage.
    The weakest link is the user, no software will save you from clicking on bad links -- I'd button down her security a little more with a hosts file from HERE if that's an issue.
    Reply
  • phoghat
    12416245 said:
    Is it a match made in Heaven?

    New Phone Maker OnePlus Partners with CyanogenMod : Read more

    "The smartphone industry is ripe for disruption"
    Man, is THAT ever the truth
    Reply