Wileyfox ditches Cyanogen for "purer" Android.
We certainly hope you didn't purchase a Wileyfox smartphone specially for Cyanogen, because that's going extinct once the company seeds out its next software update.
In an email to Android Central, Wileyfox provided details on how it plans to proceed following the news of Cyanogen's untimely demise. The company promised a smooth transition via an upcoming over-the-air update for the entire Wileyfox product range. Wileyfox promised a "purer," "enhanced," Android experience.
The company continued with a recommendation for its existing users:
We strongly recommend that all current and future users accept the upcoming update request to ensure they are on-boarded for the future. This will include the ability to maintain the same experience as before and the added ability to partake in updates and upgrades to the software in the future.
We will continue to push this update to your device, and for new users we again recommend they download and install this update upon purchase.
Wileyfox added that once the transition has been successful, its first order of business will be bringing Android 7.0 Nougat to its entire device portfolio by the end of the first quarter next year.
Reader comments
Wileyfox ditching Cyanogen for an 'enhanced' Android experience
Wileyfox has to be sweating right now.
They are updating the software with what sounds like vanilla android. Why would they be sweating? This would be a welcome to people getting faster updates and ditch a sinking ship forked Android. Did you not read the article?
Sure, but up until now, they've ceded the responsibility of OS development to a trusted third party. This is a lot of new responsibility that WileyFox has to take on by itself now. Their margins must be razor thin, so are they equipped to handle that? It's not like deploying "stock Android" is as simple as compiling an AOSP build and dumping it on a phone. I'd be a little nervous if I were a customer.
Better they control then the lack thereof. They had to control firmware so it's not like they don't have a team to handle it. OnePlus survived and doing better without it. Again I don't see how they are going to be sweating this transition. It's clear they already have the OS ready for transition. They are even encouraging that people do it now and already have 7.0 ready for the pipework.
Because vanilla android isn't a real thing, and now they've got to build an OS with no real software experience. And their users are used to the software experience that cyanogen offered, the chances that they'll be able to match it for the first couple of years are incredibly slim.
They are running a pure Android. Even if they had CM they still needed to test it on the hardware and make sure their apps and everything ran smooth before release. How is this any different? They aren't building a TW or anything forked. Grab the AOSP modify what needs to run it. They already have the update ready so...
For previous users yes maybe they will. Again OnePlus survived and have done well. I'm sure they will survive as well.
Seems to be a positive move - have worked with these Guys so am not completely impartial - that said solution in place to support a great range of phones.
At least they are taking care of their customers, a few other company's could learn a thing or two.
I think they are doing it for themselves, not the customer. Their software partner that they relied on heavily is dead. They have to start working their own OS, or find another solution quickly. The customer may benefit, but I don't think it's being done "for" them at all.
AOSP with access to the Play Store. I'd love a high end phone that ships and is supported like that.
But you won't see it. Google doesn't allow that. They force anyone that want's access to the Play store to have a shitload of Google branded bloatware on their devices. Besides AOSP is getting more and more useless. Can't type, make calls or anything. Google is steadily moving all functioning parts of Android, the AOSP, to Google Apps. This forces companies to sell Google products. Google doesn't do '"can't" or "don't." Google, don't be evil...
Wow, that's quite the conspiracy! But, I'm pretty sure that the conglomerate of device manufacturers that back the AOSP support Google sweeping in to replace the featureless Android core apps that no one ever used with Googles services. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to never have to disable them in the first place, but average users would cry foul if the never-updated AOSP Email and Browser were pre installed over Googles Gmail and Chrome.
Why are they intending to release 7.0 when 7.1.x is already out?
Per the article linked at the area you are questioning...
They said, "Our plan is to bring our entire Wileyfox portfolio onto Android N, the latest version of Google Android's OS, in a timely manner".
Hopefully their software engineering department is up to the task of delivering on their promises. They have a small product portfolio, so I think they've got a shot at making good on a smooth transition to an in-house ASOP-based ROM, provided they make sure it doesn't brick devices or bork user data.
I never got why low to mid range phones needed a customized version of Android. It just seems counterproductive, especially if one wants to make money off of them. Vanilla Android doesn't cost more money since Google already did most of the heavy lifting. You don't have to waste resources on creating a customized experience. Updating would also be less difficult which would lead to the update being cheaper and faster to produce. The people who are buying these things don't care about how pretty the animation is, they just want the phone to work.
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Brilliant idea. I think most people want stock android phones instead of having half there memory taking up by apps you will never use. Samsung and the rest of the big companys preinstall there phones with bloatware as they are paid millions of dollars from the likes of skype etc.
True, but I've never seen Skype pre-installed on a Samsung. They tend to be bloated with Amazon apps and carrier apps.
Skype and Amazon are on my s7 edge . And a few microsoft apps and others. Which are all available on the play store if i wanted them.
I agree. I can't understand why the smaller manufacturers bother putting their own skin on a phone when they can save money and just put stock android on. Most phone buyers would still purchase their phones if it was running stock android. I can understand the large companies like Samsung wanting to put on their own skin and add features to differentiate their products, but from my experience, most users would be happy with stock as long as they can run Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. My work colleague has a Galaxy S3 for years and I told her that I wish my phone had a multi window mode likes hers had. She said she didn't know it could do that and wouldn't use it anyway.
I will wait for the next update and see whether i buy or not.
Wish I had known about these guys before. Would have loved to check out their phone.