CM Edition N1 Runs CyanogenMod Out Of The Box

You might recall awhile back, Chinese manufacturer Oppo promised a device that would run CyanogenMod out of the box and on Christmas Eve the company made good. Today, CyanogenMod announced that the CM Edition Oppo N1 has begun shipping out.

“It is Christmas Eve, and the official launch of the first ever phone to ship with CyanogenMod! The device is available now via OppoStyle and select re-sellers,” CyanogenMod wrote in a blog posting. “The CM Edition Oppo N1 is a milestone for us, and this launch is no minor achievement – it is the culmination of over fours years of work by CM contributors and developers around the world.”

While the Oppo N1 CyanogenMod Edition is certainly among the most apropos of handsets to gift to Android aficionados this holiday season, it will set you back a pretty penny—the phone retails at $599 and no carrier subsidies are available.

The CM Edition N1 is meant as a true tinkerer’s smartphone. In addition to shipping with CyanogenMod preinstalled, users will have access to the factory images for their device, so if a custom mod goes haywire, they can quickly and easily flash back to the phone’s stock settings and OS.

“We are going one step further. In addition to releasing the factory images – allowing N1 owners a safe return from their hacking hijinks – we are making available the accompanying source for not only the shipping 10.2 codebase, but the latest and greatest CM 11 code,” the company wrote.

Though many DIY-ers might point out that there’s little reason to purchase a special edition handset when it’s relatively easy to install CyanogenMod on most Android devices, it’s worth noting that the standard edition N1 seems to retail for $649, which is $50 more than the CM Edition.

In any case, the N1 is a nice phone and the CM Edition is a great example of smartphone mod’ing going mainstream.