Given the short time the T-Mobile G2 has been rooted, it really didn’t take all that long to actually see CyanogenMod hit the handset. Last night, the most popular Android ROM was released by its venerable developer, and is now available for your installing pleasure on your T-Mobile G2 or HTC Desire Z.
CyanogenMod is based on of AOSP (Android Open Source Project), is super optimized, and offers many more customization options than you’d find on a regular stock Android device. Since this is based on the Android source code, don’t expect to see any HTC Sense widgets on board, but the launcher used in CyanogenMod, ADW Launcher, which is also open-source, allows for scrollable widgets. This will allow those who’d like some Sense-like functions while retaining a mostly stock look.
This is the first release candidate (RC) for the handset, but they should still be good enough for day-to-day use. That said, some features aren’t yet available, but will be baked into later builds of the ROM. Right now, Quick Keys are not working, WiFi stutters sometimes, and the Bluetooth Voice Dialer will crash. So, while it’s not perfect, it’s still very usable for an RC1 release. You can also stay updated with ROM Manager, which will allow you to find updates to your ROM without manually downloading it from a site.
Desire Z users will be happy to know that CyanogenMod is also available for them as well. After all, the T-Mobile G2 and the HTC Desire Z are the same phone with different system partitions, so we imagine that it wasn’t hard to port CM6.1 over to the DZ. Expect to see more features on their way as time goes on. I know it’s not available in any way yet, but we can (in)patiently await a Gingerbread-based CyanogenMod once the source is released.
If you’ve never used CyanogenMod before, we suggest you give it a try. While it may look similar to stock Android, its much better, and will allow you to take control of your phone like never before.
[Via: XDA-Developers]