[PREVIEW] Cyanogenmod 9

CYANOGENMOD 9 PREVIEW

PS: Initially i was thinking of a full review but later changed my mind and instead did a preview as CM9 is still in RC. A lot of stuff doesn't work. No benchmark score will be available as graphics driver is still in early stage. Testing is done on my LG Optimus One.

*koolmobile.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/CyanogenMod1.png

I know most of you guys here are still using stock rom or custom rom based on Android 2.3. As Android 4 (4.0.3 to be precise) has became stable enough for daily use (for Optimus One but still in first Beta stage), decided to take it for a spin and trust me, i was blown away. So here i am sharing my experience with everyone. Official rom based on Android 4.0 should be same with a few missing settings and a different launcher.

NEW LAUNCHER:

Homepage of ICS. Trebuchet launcher. Looks like the official launcher of Android 4 not only CM9 as the same launcher has been seen on Galaxy Nexus. Or maybe Trebuchet is an extended form of ICS launcher.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/Screenshot_2012-02-02-03-44-45.jpg

Navigate to other screen and you still have the search bar at top. This eats up some space but can't be removed, as of now. But all icons of the launcher can be replaced as user wants.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/Screenshot_2012-02-02-03-44-01.jpg

Another feature is folder system. Here you simply drag and drop apps to make a folder. It works much like Xperia 4 corner UI. Tap that folder to make it popup & show you all contents. Then select the app you want to run.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/snap20120202_164748.png*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/snap20120202_164844.png*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/snap20120202_164906.png

Moreover, when you drag an app to desktop it'll show you all possible positions where that app can be placed. Drop it over a widget & it'll move to its nearest free space.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/snap20120202_164821.png

The menu has been redesigned. You can't find any widget option if you long press on homescreen. Widget is now part of menu. You may ask why this move. Have anyone of you tried Beautiful Widgets? Its PITA to use. scroll & tap though a ton of screens just to get to your favorite widget. Now all you need to do is go to menu, scroll to widgets. Yes, widget is now part of menu but i have kept it as a separate tab to speed up navigation. The icon on the top right corner is market. Same is available as a dedicated app too in menu which you can drag to homescreen. Well, nothing much to see here. Let’s jump to Settings now.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/Screenshot_2012-01-29-01-41-52.jpg

REVAMPED SETTINGS:

The settings is now categorized into WIRELESS & NETWORKING, INTERFACE, DEVICE, PERSONAL and SYSTEM.

WIRELESS & NETWORKING:

Dedicated shortcut have been implemented for WiFi & Bluetooth but no such luck for Mobile Network option. Its still buried deep and you'll have to tap twice to access it. Everything is same here from Gingerbread.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/Screenshot_2012-02-02-03-47-10.jpg

Also a new feature is Data Usage, which again as you have already predicted doesn't work (YET).

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/Screenshot_2012-02-02-03-46-55.jpg

INTERFACE:

Launcher is the first option here but as CM9 is still WIP (work in progress), Dock and Icons can't be accessed.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/Screenshot_2012-02-02-03-47-30.jpg

Open Theme and you get a msg stating it is reserved for future implementation.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/Screenshot_2012-02-02-03-47-59.jpg

DEVICE:

Under Device is Sound. Not much difference from Android 2.3. Music Effects makes an entry here.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/Screenshot_2012-02-02-03-48-50.jpg

Sadly none of MusicFX or DSPManager work currently. Try to play a music file and most likely you'll get an error msg stating DSPManager or MusicFX has stopped working.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/Screenshot_2012-02-02-03-48-57.jpg

Display is same with the exception of Screen on/off animation and Rotation angle options being removed completely. I am not sure if these will be added later as there are no reserved tabs for it.

Storage is a new section. It shows Phone memory as well as memory card.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/Screenshot_2012-02-02-03-49-26.jpg

Looks like a bug but memory card legend didn't showed any space used by songs which in my case accounts for 1Gb.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/Screenshot_2012-02-02-03-50-01.jpg

Battery is nothing but the graph. Now as a separate option. Another welcome change :razz:

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/snap20120202_152932.jpg

Battery backup is ok for an Alpha rom. In my case data was continuously on so even 12hr backup will be enough.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/snap20120202_152938.jpg

Open Apps and you'll get only 3 option. Downloaded which consists of all user apps. ON SD Card which have the usual meaning. And Running for running apps. If you want to get a list of all apps, head to homescreen and press menu. You'll get manage apps option.

PERSONAL:

Under Personal is Profiles, Accounts & Sync, Location Services, Security, Language & input, Backup & reset. Other than Backup & reset all other options were available in previous version of Android too if i remember correctly.

Backup allows you to do a system backup of apps & messages most likely.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/Screenshot_2012-02-02-03-51-08.jpg

SYSTEM:

Here is a new option named Developer which consists of developer stuff.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/Screenshot_2012-02-02-03-51-31.jpg

Performance is same as GB. Just available as a different tab now as it was under Cyanogenmod Settings at CM7. Cyanogenmod Setting is completely removed from the latest CM build.

Lastly is about Phone which adds in something new: System Update. i check and was told system is upto date. This was expected as Optimus One is not on the CM9 list as it is not supported officially.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/Screenshot_2012-02-02-03-45-36.jpg*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/Screenshot_2012-02-02-03-45-48.jpg

PHONERY:

UI as well as functionality of Contacts, Phone, Browser, Message, Lock Screen, etc are all changed from Gingerbread.

CONTACTS:

When i first opened contacts, i was a bit confused if i mistakenly have opened Skype (though it was not installed). Some will like the new colour scheme of Contacts whereas some will hate it (me). Overall, i expected a transparent kind of UI.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/Screenshot_2012-02-02-03-53-44.jpg

PHONE:

Noticed something in Contacts? No phone option. Yes, to access dial pad you need to open DIAL PAD. as simple as that. BUT you can open contacts from dial pad. Moreover it got the black theme from dialpad, not the blue theme from contacts i.e. there is 2 ways to access contacts with different theme. Like all other peoples even i wonder what was going though Cyanogen DEVs (or maybe its Google's idea) when they created phone & contact apps.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/Screenshot_2012-02-02-03-58-08.jpg

The incoming call & outgoing call UI is redesigned too. Looks damn sexy :-D

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/snap20120202_152821.jpg*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/snap20120202_152748.jpg

MESSAGE:

Frankly, i wasn't expecting a different UI here also. But at least looks better than Contacts. No more bluish stuff.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/Screenshot_2012-02-02-03-52-15.jpg

Press the left bottom icon to start messaging. err, yes the keypad is misplaced. Skype solves it though.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/Screenshot_2012-02-02-03-52-42.jpg

BROWSER:

With ICS comes a new Browser with slightly different UI. I haven't dug deep to check whats new. But at least the settings have more options to mess with.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/Screenshot_2012-01-29-01-46-24-1.jpg

And after a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time (since Android 2.2 i guess), Google finally implemented a better tab browsing technique. But still can't even get close to Opera Mini's tab browsing.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/snap20120202_190115.png

ANDRO-MEDIA:

CAMERA:

yes it doesn't work yet. DEVs are hard at work & a fix is expected in a month time, maybe more.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/Screenshot_2012-01-29-01-45-30.jpg

PS: Camera is not available on LG Optimus One only. Other mobiles should have working camera.

MUSIC:

Music Player is Google Music hence no screenshots. If you want to try, get it from market. CM9 music is available but have to be installed by user.

LOCKSCREEN:

I know lockscreen is not part of multimedia but the lockscreen music player shortcut does qualify so far as the best i have seen :razz:

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/Screenshot_2012-02-02-03-57-05.jpg

MOVIE STUDIO:

Yet to explore this in details but looks like a video player. Will add something later. For now just check the screenshot.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/Screenshot_2012-02-02-03-42-06.jpg

UMS:

UMS or USB Mass Storage. This exist as a separate app. No longer part of settings as in previous versions. Like it or not, this is here to stay.

*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/Screenshot_2012-02-02-03-43-30.jpg

CONCLUSION:

Google has really upped the Android standard with Android 4.0 IceCream Sandwich. Cyanogen team has done an impressive job of making the already best mobile OS a even better one. Finally, its the hard working DEVs of XDA that have made it possible for us to enjoy ICS on unsupported mobiles.

Do share your views on this preview of CYANOGENMOD 9 :smile:

This preview is more detailed than mos reviews. Great stuff!

nice nice nice.......now after hearing so much i mean seeing soo much i cant wait to install this so so SEXY thing on mine. tHANk yOu. Thiss is so damn COolllll.

Thanks for the preview bro... Looks good.

The permanent Google search bar is a problem for phones with small screen like the O1. I bet CM9 would shine on more powerful hardware...

Cheers!

Awesome preview, bro.

Krow said:
This preview is more detailed than mos reviews. Great stuff!

thanks.

royal.tarun said:
nice nice nice.......now after hearing so much i mean seeing soo much i cant wait to install this so so SEXY thing on mine. tHANk yOu. Thiss is so damn COolllll.

just install ICS. you'll love it. initially it'll be slow. keep using it. flash latest kernel by paolo.

AndroidFan said:
Thanks for the preview bro... Looks good.

The permanent Google search bar is a problem for phones with small screen like the O1. I bet CM9 would shine on more powerful hardware...

Cheers!

yup. powerful h/w + ICS = bomb. but our mobile even with a weak processor have really good DEVs. other mobiles are stuck in Alpha. we are riding Beta2. Nothing to Beta 2 in 30days only.

i'll test Beta2 tonight. i'll update the preview accordingly.

Skud said:
Awesome preview, bro.

thanks

Brilliant mate.

The UI looks fresh .

Which phone you have ?

Very nice review mate!
Answer one question honestly please!
Do you find it any better than GB?
(Not talking about looks but only functionality)

xtremevicky said:
Brilliant mate.

The UI looks fresh .

Which phone you have ?

thanks. LG Optimus One.

red dragon said:
Very nice review mate!
Answer one question honestly please!
Do you find it any better than GB?
(Not talking about looks but only functionality)

If going only for functionality, there are places where ICS sucks. and some where ICS scores over GB.

Where ICS looses:
1. Search Bar on ever page.
2. Menu is made 2 times longer with ton of options.
3. Homescreen tap have only wallpaper as option.
4. Answering call using that ring unlock doesn't always works as expected.
5. Changing tab in stock browser is slow as well as sluggish.

Where ICS wins:
1. Mobile is really smooth.
2. Battery backup has increased.
3. All useless menu options are pushed down (this is for CM9 only i guess).
4. Menu is redesigned so its easier to figure out what option is under which tag.
5. Browser has improved (heard this. yet to use stock browser)

This is how i'll sum up ICS with its pros and cons. mobile is still buggy. if you transfer anything to memory card, unless restarted it won't show up. when restarted, mobile switches to 3G on its own. internal memory takes a huge hit cause of the rom's size. So it won't be fair to compare ICS to Gingerbread directly as GB is stable whereas Android 4.0 is yet to see market in most parts of the world :smile:

Battery back up increased!?
I was on CM9,battery was terrible!

red dragon said:
Battery back up increased!?
I was on CM9,battery was terrible!

mine has increased. the graph i posted. usually i end up with 20-25% battery when i was using gingerbread.

very nice review mate. i too am eagerly waiting a stable working cm9 for my blade. do keep us updated with the beta reviews and experience.

N

red dragon said:
Battery back up increased!?
I was on CM9,battery was terrible!

I moved from MIUI to CM and battery life is just superb.

pratzgh1 said:
very nice review mate. i too am eagerly waiting a stable working cm9 for my blade.

I am on the same boat.

N

@SAM : Is this official CM ROM ? I cant find it for SGS.
Can you post link from where you got this ROM ?

This is CM9 port for LG P500.

Check on CyanogenMod site whether CM9 is available for your device. If not then check XDA for your device to see if any development is going on for porting CM9.

Has any1 installed ICS on GALAXY S2? any bugs?? i also want to try ICS on my S2 but afraid of bugs.

N

so this is not pure CM mod ROM but just the port ..

Any idea when CM9 is coming out ?

Look it's not like that. CM doesn't supports all the phones. So CM9 is out for many devices (Not all the devices).

To developers over XDA are trying hard to port that for our phone too.

So in that view there is really no diff. (Except official support)

Great preview Sam!

Although I would love to know more about the Data Usage app once it starts working with the final release!

impressive !!!
thanks for the effort......., i'm eagerly waiting for the feature i liked most in ICS i.e 'Face Unlock' :wink:

pratzgh1 said:
very nice review mate. i too am eagerly waiting a stable working cm9 for my blade. do keep us updated with the beta reviews and experience.

sure

noob said:
I moved from MIUI to CM and battery life is just superb.

i have used MIUI themed rom. many apps were ported. rom felt bloated

fun2sh said:
Has any1 installed ICS on GALAXY S2? any bugs?? i also want to try ICS on my S2 but afraid of bugs.

someone here installed and later complained about IMEI no getting messed up with some generic one.

noob said:
so this is not pure CM mod ROM but just the port ..
Any idea when CM9 is coming out ?

Later this month as most supported mobiles are working fine with CM9.

krishnandu.sarkar said:
To developers over XDA are trying hard to port that for our phone too.

i don't think port is the right word to describe it. DEVs compied it from sources. not making a ZTE Blade rom work on Optimus One. so this shouldn't be called a port?

TheLetterD said:
Great preview Sam!
Although I would love to know more about the Data Usage app once it starts working with the final release!

yesterday flashed a new update but it looks more like a maintenance release as things that previously didn't work are still the same. this data usage graph still shows 0 amount used.

ofabhishek said:
impressive !!!
thanks for the effort......., i'm eagerly waiting for the feature i liked most in ICS i.e 'Face Unlock'

i wonder if the back camera can be used for the same :wink:

if nothing else i can brag that i own a better mobile than my friends :-D

Great Review ! Thanks for updating us on this. Good to hear on smooth browsing and nice battery backup. If your model supported camera, you would have said about face unlock. Thanks again !! :smile:

fun2sh said:
Has any1 installed ICS on GALAXY S2? any bugs?? i also want to try ICS on my S2 but afraid of bugs.

I was on CM9 for a long time on GS2,but switched today to the latesr Samsung leak(just like CM9,it is beta)
The latest leak is pretty stable,no FC till now;1080p youtube video runs perfect.
Wifi not dropping,pretty good 3g signal(had to add apn manually)
can switch between 3g and 2g.
Sygic working fine(absolute must for me)
FM working;have not tested the camera.

Not working for me-the inbuilt default mail client is not giving push notification.

So far best leak,pretty much stable for daily use.
Will tweak the voltage setting now and try to get Siyah woeking with it.

Overall satisfied;much more functional than the beta CM9 with a decent launcher than Apex.

Go ahead try it!!
Highly Recommended!!

Samsung beaten Cyanogen team in update. EPIC WIN :grin:

Actually this was expected as Steve now works for Samsung.

PS: LG too need to hire some experienced DEV. Koushik maybe.

PurusH said:
Great Review ! Thanks for updating us on this. Good to hear on smooth browsing and nice battery backup. If your model supported camera, you would have said about face unlock. Thanks again !!

face unlock option should be part of lockscreen right? lockscreen tab is just there as reserve. inside there is nothing

Sam said:
Samsung beaten Cyanogen team in update. EPIC WIN

Actually this was expected as Steve now works for Samsung.

PS: LG too need to hire some experienced DEV. Koushik maybe.

face unlock option should be part of lockscreen right? lockscreen tab is just there as reserve. inside there is nothing

How does Samsung beat Cyanogen Team in update? what update hav they provided?

did u mean ICS??

yup. in ICS update for S2. as Cyanogen as well as Samsung, both are in development stage but a new update was released today for S2.

Actually there should not be any rivalry between them.

Both have their share of flaws.
Samsung has to stick to their TW,
Cyanogen will never be able to take the full advantage of HW.

Personally I prefer Sammy ROMs over CM.

Any news of ICS update of Galaxy R?

Sam said:
yup. in ICS update for S2. as Cyanogen as well as Samsung, both are in development stage but a new update was released today for S2.

from where to get that leaked version? and wats the latest version no. ?

Build: I9100XXLPB
Download

It looks like a teaser trailer for all those who still use stock ROM!

But nice efforts Sammy!

Btw, the search bar on every page is a big let down in CM9, since I don't feel the need of having it on even a SINGLE screen. Reason? Since O1 has a dedicated button to search! It's not available in higher ends phones such as Neo V!

What teaser trailer,it is far better than CM9 as of now.
Using it since morning...not a single FC.
Though Sygic has started misbehaving...but Google map is working(but it is far worse than Sygic)

red dragon said:
What teaser trailer,it is far better than CM9 as of now.

I meant, To tease the ones, who are still on stock ROM!

red dragon said:
What teaser trailer,it is far better than CM9 as of now.

Really now, if you don't understand what someone has posted try and read it again.

Hey sam, can you post scores for antutu, quadrant and neocore score for stock rom and cm9...?
Wanna see the performance upgrade...

I know that you have written that graphic driver are still in work but still i cant stop myself from asking you that...

ok tested using neocore & antutu. won't be posting these on the first page as these benchmarks doesn't have any relation to ICS.

Stock speed (600Mhz) vs Overclocked (768Mhz):

NEOCORE:
*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/mobile%20benchmark/IMG_3563.jpg
*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/mobile%20benchmark/IMG_3565.jpg

ANTUTU:
*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/mobile%20benchmark/Screenshot_2012-02-05-02-13-12.png
*i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/kaushiksam/ICS%20P500/mobile%20benchmark/Screenshot_2012-02-05-02-22-06.png

using a test kernel with new drivers. performance should increase a lot. expecting 70 @ Neocore & 2.3k at Antutu.

What! So CM9 doesn't support show me! :lol:

Btw, that's some good benchmarks! :shock:

Great result, hardware acc. really increased 2d graphics score...

what version of latest cm9 is currently available for cm9.
can anyone give the link??

Vyom said:
What! So CM9 doesn't support show me!

sorry didn't got what you intended to say :-?

Vyom said:
Btw, that's some good benchmarks!

pramudit said:
Great result, hardware acc. really increased 2d graphics score...

score is same as Gingerbread. will need to test angry birds to know if there is any improvement. though old hardware, new driver. unlikely there will be any bump in real life performance.

tousif said:
what version of latest cm9 is currently available for cm9.
can anyone give the link??

usually latest version is available. Android 4.0.3. check respective section in XDA. they should have links to official download site.

btw a very good review of cm9..

thanks