Cyanogen, Inc., the company formed from CyanogenMod’s core developers, have announced their latest “commercial” endeavor. Following the Nextbit Baton app and service and the partnership with India’s Micromax, Cyanogen is revealing its Themes app that will let users of smartphones running Cyanogen OS customize their device to their heart’s content and their artistic tastes. There is also the new Themes Studio for uploading and publishing themes to grow a theming community around the Android-based operating system.
The ability to theme Cyanogen OS, or to be more precise, the open source CyanogenMod, isn’t completely new. A new theme engine was introduced earlier this year and in line with CyanogenMod 11S‘ debut on the OnePlus One. Unlike most theming systems, Cyanogen’s engine lets you change almost every aspect of your device’s appearance, even fonts and the boot animation. Cyanogen’s Theme app offers similar functionality but will have special treatment on the commercial OS.
The new Themes app will be pre-installed on Cyanogen OS devices. The first such device to be revealed is one that will be bearing the new online brand “YU” from YU Televentures, a subsidiary of Micromax. Cyanogen and Micromax earlier announced a partnership that will put Cyanogen OS as the default Android experience on the OEM’s upcoming devices. Cyanogen promises to reveal more details next month.
Cyanogen is also announcing a Themes Design Challenge which seeks to pool together the best designs and designers in the market. The challenge will utilize both the new Themes app and the newly launched Theme Studio website to showcase Cyanogen’s new theming system. The top three themes will be announced in December and will be awarded Cyanogen branded gear as well as a choice between two devices, which have yet to be revealed next month as well.
SOURCE: Cyanogen
