Wileyfox Drops CyanogenMod, LineageOS May Wait In The Wings
According to an email sent by Wileyfox this week, their first smartphone will be updated away from CyanogenMod this week. Despite this – somehow – Wileyfox Account Executive Michelle Johal suggests that "all user's experience will remain unchanged." Johal went on to say, "This was expected and we are confident with the smooth transition planned in an upcoming over-the-air update for the entire Wileyfox product range that will migrate away from Cyanogen's refocus strategy, and on to a purer Android experience – enhanced."
Wileyfox has one smartphone on the market thus far which runs Cyanogen OS firmware. In the very near future, a software update will be sent from Wileyfox which will do away with Cyanogen-made firmware (and any software connected to it). It would SEEM that Wileyfox are doing some of their own upgrades from here on out instead of working with the Cyanogen Inc. development crew.
That would be the only way forward from this point, anyhow, since Cyanogen – the brand – is no longer working on CyanogenMod or Cyanogen OS. All Wileyfox smartphone users should download and load the update as it appears sent from Wileyfox in the very near future. Straight from Johal (speaking for Wileyfox) is the following recommendation for Wileyfox users:
"We strongly recommend that all current and future users accept the upcoming update request to ensure they are on-boarded for the future," said Johal. "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."
It's also suggested by Johal that "once this transition is implemented and users accept this upcoming update," the company will be focusing on the next update. That next update will including bringing Android Nougat 7.0 to their entire portfolio "beginning as early as February" and to the "entire portfolio" by the end of the first quarter of the year.
What we'd be interested to see here is whether Wileyfox works with the open source community to implement LineageOS software in the future. We'll be watching!