This is the dedicated article for CyanogenMod for the Nexus One. This is one of the most popular ROMs for this phone, as well as one of the most popular ROMs for all of the Android devices so far, that Cyanogen currently supports. Let’s jump into the features of CyanogenMod now!

Features of Nexus One CyanogenMOD

• Does NOT need to be used with any Google applications making this 100% AOSP
• Kernel 2.6.34
• ADWLauncher is the default launcher
• Bug fixes and tweaks
• OpenVPN integration
• Full color trackball notifications
• complete Music app overhaul
• New Apps2SD method (create ext4 partition and enable in Settings > Applications)
• 360 degree auto-orientation (enable in settings)
• Built-in Bluetooth and USB tethering
• Graphical Enhancements
• ARM NEON Optimizations
• All available locales included
• Customizable Nexus Live Wallpapers
• Includes busybox, htop, nano, powertop and other engineering command line utilities
• Huge collection of audio and ringtones
• FLAC Audio support
• Phone Enhancements
• Massive APN List
• Contacts Enhancements
• Desk Clock tweaks – longer auto-silence and require unlock option
• MMS Enhancements
• Zipalign-on-install when installing apps

Now, if you’re looking at this article for CyanogenMOD for Nexus One, you are probably already rooted and have a recovery image installed. If not, please head on over to the How to Root Nexus One article, to root your phone and get that taken care of. Don’t worry, we’ll still be here when you get back, and it’ll be easy because there’s a link at the bottom of that article linking to this one!

If you’re already rooted and have a recovery image installed, you might want to update your radio, which is what communicates with and polls the cell towers for signal, with the one that is preferred nationwide by N1 users. Here’s the radio file: radio-4.06.00.12_7. Put this radio file onto the root of your SD card, meaning not inside of a folder or anything. Then, download update-cm-5.0.8-N1-signed and place it onto your SD card as well.

Now, to install this ROM.

1. reboot your phone into recovery.
2. Then do a nandroid backup.
3. Update your Radio to the new radio.img you loaded onto the SD card, file name radio-4.06.00.12_7.img
4. Once that radio image updates completely, go back into recovery.
5. Flash the update-cm-5.0.8-N1-signed.zip using the Flash Update.zip utility in recovery.
6. Reboot your phone into normal mode. The phone will take a while for first boot, because cache and data have to be written to the newly flashed ROM.

This guide will explain to you how to root the HTC Nexus One. By rooting your Nexus One, you’ll be able to access all of the files on your phone, which can become a big help to you in the future when you want to modify or change something about your phone, or when you want to install one of them cool-sounding apps that are in the market, that say ‘root users only’ or something of that nature.  There are a few things you need to know before rooting your N1:

• this will void your warranty
• we do not take any responsibility for any problems you cause to your phone
• factory reset of your phone will happen during the process, so save what you need now.

Now that we have that out fo the way, let’s jump into getting root access on your Nexus One.

First off, you will need to download a set of files, containing fast boot and adb files, which you will need later. You can download that zipped folder here: fastboot_adb.

Once you download that file, extract it on your desktop, so you have a folder called ‘tools’ with some stuff inside of it.

Open that folder, hold down the ‘Shift’ key, and right click anywhere inside of that folder, and click on ‘Open Command Prompt Here’ or in Windows 7, ‘Open command window here’.

While it’s connected to your computer thru USB, Turn your Nexus One off, then press and hold the ‘Home’ and trackball at the same time to access the boot loader that’s on the phone.

Type the following command into the command prompt to make sure your phone is connected and recognized:

fastboot.exe devices

Once your phone’s information pops up, that means your phone is connected and recognized, and you’re ready to proceed.

Type into the command prompt, this command:

fastboot.exe oem unlock

Follow the on-screen instructions.

Now, flash the recovery console. Download recovery-RA-nexus-v1.7.0.1.img and move it to the tools folder on your desktop. Then, enter the following commands:

fastboot.exe flash recovery recovery-RA-nexus-v1.7.0.1.img

Recovery should now flash to your phone. For future reference, make note that to boot into recovery, you press and hold Volume Down while holding the Power button as well. This will load the recovery menu for you.

Once you’ve flashed the recovery image, please turn your phone off. Then, boot back into the bootloader by pressing and holding the trackball and power button, then press the power button to get into the bootloader. Use the volume keys to navigate to recovery, then hit the power button to get into the recovery console.

That’s it! You’ve rooted your phone. Now, the first thing you’ll probably want to do is get a custom ROM onto your phone. The most popular ROM is CyanogenMod for the Nexus One, so follow the preceding link to head on over to the CyanogenMOD for Nexus One article now!