Atinm, the developer responsible for maintaining CyanogenMod on the Samsung Vibrant and Captivate, recently received a free Galaxy S 2 to develop for. (click to see our hands-on). Don't adjust your screens, you read it right the first time: Samsung gave a phone to a CyanogenMod developer because they want them to work with it.
It seems that Samsung is starting to see the value of having an active development community on their devices, becoming the latest manufacturer to start working with these developers instead of against them. This doesn't mean Samsung will do this with every device, remember Carrier's have a big say in how locked down they want their devices to be, but it's great to see these first few positive steps from one of the world's largest Android manufacturers.
No official word on when nightlies for the Galaxy S 2 will start pushing out (let alone a stable release), but Atinm mentioned that serious development should start tonight.
Via: [Twitter]
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33 Comments
That is awesome news
This is why Samsung is my favorite Android phone manufacturer.
Props to Samsung...
Will be getting this phone over the Evo 3D when it comes to Sprint.
This makes me want to buy another Samsung phone. Great decision. Hopefully the carriers in the US won't be unawesome about this when it comes here.
Dang, I wish they would have given them a Charge..
Awesome!!!!!!!!!!! I was planning on getting this phone and this seals the deal.
SWEET!!
is it going to have the samsung touch wiz
Yes, by default. But at least we know that Samsung won't try hard to keep you from some of that delicious CyMod or stock Android.
Massive props to Samsung for this. I like this a lot!
This is awesome. Much respect to Samsung. I am seriously considering getting the Galaxy S2 (or whatever Samsung phone is out when I'm eligible for an upgrade).
Wow, I NEVER would've expected this from Samsung. If anything, I could see HTC doing this.
Still, good news for devs.
Sammy was always pretty good about allowing mods. My Moment was skinned & Rommed to the gills, and I had to send it in for a bad lcd screen, and they didn't blink in fixing it. I know they had to power it on at least once to look at it.
Yes.. im going to use my upgrade for this
We bitched, Samsung listened. They're just a little quieter about it, apparently.
Still waiting for a SGS2 announcement on T Mobile USA.
Well I'll be damned. Samsung....you all have just solidified my Galaxy S II purchase as soon as it drops for Verizon. Finally the OEM's are catching on to the power of openness.
Don't get your hopes up. Verizon's CDMA phones are an entirely different beast. We still don't have a fully working CM6 release on the Fascinate despite 2.2 code being available.
Sammy giving a CM dev a GSM phone won't do anything for us on Verizon. Here's to hoping Sammy passes out the Verizon version as well but you won't catch me holding my breath...
If I had any doubt about switching to a samsung device... its gone now!
After the Froyo debacle with the USA Galaxy S phones, specifically my Epic 4G, I had all but sworn off Samsung. With moves like this, the bastards are going to make me have to reconsider!
Heck yea! Between this and HTC's announcement I've gone from 'only ever buying Nexus phones' to 'yay, I have options again'!
If the SGSII comes to Verizon, I'm all over that, period. I'll get it on launch day, just like my Nexus S.
There aren't enough LIKE buttons in the world for this article.
Thumbs Up! Plus 1! 4 Stars! Like!
Wow, this is awesome news. I've been solely holding out for the next Nexus iteration but I might seriously consider the SGS2 if Samsung keeps this up. I would love a world where OEM's compete for love from the Android Dev community by offering more and more access to the software.
What about the development for the Vibrant and Captivate? These nightlies are not exactly up to snuff.
They are nightlies. I'm not concerned. You should have seen the original pre-official nightlies. Those were a trip. They will continue to get better. If you want a fully up to snuff experience, don't get nightlies.
Well, I'm definitely tapping the brakes on that EVO 3D purchase now...
Give us CDMAers some love too Samsung!
I'm interested to see what Moto does tomorrow, but I have a feeling whatever it is will be locked up tighter than my parent's liquor cabinet when they used to go out of town back when I was in high school.
Now, if we only had a US release date for the Attain/Function/Within...
Is this the point where Android becomes what most thought it was meant to be. Manufacturers unlocking bootloaders, encouraging community development... I love it!!!! WWDC who??? Android ftw...
It is good to see that Samsung is starting to embrace the Android Developer community. One of the good things about Android is the amount of passion its community of developers bring to the OS. While other manufacturers have gone out to lock these devs out, it's nice to see that Samsung is taking a different, more welcoming approach.
If you guys like this, show it with your wallet! Samsung is really trying to get everything right with the Galaxy S II and they left it open and are encouraging development/hacking. If it doesn't sell well, they may not be so inclined to do this next time. If it does sell well, other manufacturers may take notice and follow suit!
Epic FUCKING epic!
Thank you Samsung. You are now official on my love list! :D