CyanogenMod 13 is based off of Android 6.0 Marshmallow, and only recently started getting some stable builds for some devices. CyanogenMod has been around for most of the time Android has been around. It started out with Steve Kondik building a custom ROM for his Android smartphone, because he didn’t like what he had. And since then, CyanogenMod has grown into a huge community and a company in Cyanogen Inc. CyanogenMod remains the open source version with Cyanogen OS being made for smartphone makers like ZUK, OnePlus and many others.
With CyanogenMod 13, you are able to flash a custom ROM onto your smartphone and get AOSP on your device. Many times, CyanogenMod will support your smartphone or tablet, well beyond what the manufacturer will. Which is why it’s so popular. Speaking of supporting a device beyond the time the manufacturer does, a pretty surprising device got support for CyanogenMod 13 nightlies today, and that’s the Motorola Photon Q. Yes, the nearly four-year-old smartphone that was exclusive to Sprint, is getting Android 6.0 Marshmallow. With its 1GB of RAM, and the Snapdragon S4 processor (that should take you back). The Photon Q launched on Android 4.0 Ice Cream and got its last update from Motorola on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. Definitely nice seeing it get Android 6.0 Marshmallow, even if it is an unstable nightly.
There are some other Motorola smartphones getting support for CyanogenMod 13 Nightlies today, which includes the Moto G 2015, Moto E LTE 2015 and the Moto X Play. All of which were announced in 2015. It’s especially nice to see the Moto E LTE 2015 getting CyanogenMod 13 considering Motorola decided it wouldn’t be updating it in the US. A bit unfortunate for those that bought the device, considering it’s not even a year old yet. Nice to see these four getting some Marshmallow love.
All four of these devices have nightlies for CyanogenMod 13 available on CyanogenMod’s website. You’ll want to download the nightly and make sure you download the latest Gapps too – or you’ll end up without any Google services. You’ll also want to be sure you are rooted, otherwise, you won’t be able to flash CyanogenMod 13 onto your device. And as you’d expect, this does void your warranty.