It has been just over a year since Cyanogen Inc. shut its doors. While this meant the death of CyanogenMod, luckily the community would once again come together to back another Android project, LineageOS. The community driven project extends the life of some older handsets as well as offering a less 'walled garden' approach to Android.
Since its initial release, the OS has branched out to offer support for over a hundred devices and is still being improved and updated on a regular basis. The team has now officially announced the LineageOS 15.1 update with an Android 8.1 base, following its announcement back in December, and made it available to a select number of devices.
As far as new features go, you can now set custom accent colors, and change between a light and dark mode, which is something that Google is yet to implement. The new 'Automagic' feature will change themes automatically based on the accent of your current wallpaper, similar to the software feature available on Google Pixel devices.
The 'Trebuchet' launcher that was previously included with CyanogenMod, and now LineageOS, is also getting a major update. It now supports icon packs and adaptive icons (à la Nova Launcher), and removes some redundant features, you can also change what icon shape is used.
Finally, the 15.1 update adds a native QR code scanner to the Camera app, which is yet again another feature Google should be eyeing to add to Android natively.
Supported Devices
LineageOS 15.1 nighties will begin rolling out on Monday (February 26), and the official 15.1 builds are becoming available from today, so check the page for your device below to see if it's available to download.
The first batch of 15.1 devices are as follows:
- Google Nexus 5X – Download Page – Changelog
- Google Nexus 6P – Download Page – Changelog
- LeEco Le Pro 3 – Download Page – Changelog
- OnePlus 3/3T – Download Page – Changelog
- OnePlus 5 – Download Page – Changelog
- OnePlus 5T – Download Page – Changelog
- Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 Wi-Fi (2016) – Download Page – Changelog
- Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 Wi-Fi (2016) – Download Page – Changelog
- Xiaomi Mi 5 – Download Page – Changelog
- Xiaomi Mi 5s – Download Page – Changelog
- Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus – Download Page – Changelog
XDA Developers has even put together a video highlighting the features of LineageOS 15.1, so if you are rocking one of the supported devices that can upgrade to it right now, you should check out the video first. For everyone else, you'll have to wait as your handset becomes eligible for the update.
Source: Lineage (15.1 Changelog) via XDA Developers
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