The original Motorola DROID might be the single most recognized and influential Android phone of them all, due in no small part of Motorola’s anti-iPhone marketing campaign. Millions of DROIDs (and Motorola Milestones, the international variant) are still running around, and ROM flashers who still use their 2009 models were probably a little peeved when the CyanogenMod team dropped official support for the phone from CM9 Ice Cream Sandwich. Of course, you can’t keep a good ROM developer down: XDA member “kfazz” has created a pre-alpha build of Ice Cream Sandwich for the DROID and posted it for download.

Before you flash, consider the full meaning of the term “pre-alpha”. The build is based on the open source code from CyanogenMod 9, but large portions of the phone’s core functionality still aren’t working. Performance is generally slow, and things like the camera and elements of the UI are not working. But considering how much effort has been put in, this “kang” shows promise – the DROID may never run Ice Cream Sandwich as fast or smooth as the Galaxy Nexus, but it could certainly hold its own eventually.

As usual, and especially with experimental ROMs like this, make sure your current system is backed up before flashing. Considering that most of the early buyers of Verizon’s DROID are now eligible for a two-year update, you might just want to save up for the Galaxy Nexus, or wait for an Ice Cream Sandwich phone that emulates the DROID’s sliding QWERTY format. Something similar may be revealed at the upcoming CES or Mobile World Congress shows.

[via Talk Android]