In a Christmas Eve miracle, Cyanogen has announced it will ship the first Google-approved phone running a third-party version of Android.
The Oppo N1 claims to be the world's first Google compatibility test suite-certified CyanogenMod handset, and it plans to launch on December 24. The plucky smartphone comes running a rooted version of Android 4.2 called CyanogenMod 10.2.
Google gave the third-party phone its blessing to access the Play Store and take its apps out for a date. This means users will be able to download apps from the Store directly instead of having to sneak around and sideload the software.
Cyanogen, Cyanogen's parent company, said getting its version of the Oppo N1 through the certification process was an arduous task, but that's really not surprising. Previously, Google pulled Cyanogen's unofficial Android installer app after being on the Play Store for just 15 days.
Dare to root
Other then the hacked software, the Oppo N1 is equipped with some fairly decent internals including a 1.7 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor, Adreno 320 GPU and 2GB of RAM. The device is also fairly hefty with a 5.9-inch 1920 x 1080 resolution screen and a large 3,610 mAh battery.
One of the phone's more unique characteristics is its rotating 13MP camera, which can be flipped around as the device's back and front-facing snapper. Storage-wise the Oppo N1 will come in 16GB and 32GB varieties.
Oppo also seems to have made its handset ready to take on the mobile world circuit with GSM as well as WCDMA antennas that cover a wide range of cellular frequencies.
Cyanogen announced the CM-equipped handset will be available starting on December 24. There isn't any word of availability outside the US or how much it will cost, but a standard 16GB Oppo N1 model without the special software floats around the $599 (or £366/about AU$671) price range.
