BARCELONA, SPAIN – Cyanogen Inc. unveiled at the Mobile World Congress an integrated mobile platform that will change the way people interact with their smartphone devices, calling the new technology as the start of a post-app era.

The new platform “MOD” will allow users and developers to enjoy at more experiences built natively into the mobile operating system, since they can install a variety of mods to amplify the functionality of their devices, said the company in a press release Monday.

Cyanogen says that currently only a selected group of apps can be natively integrated to the OS. With the implementation of mods, developers can take their apps to its maximum potential by creating a deeper integration with the OS.

Cyanogen Inc. unveiled an integrated mobile platform that will change the way people interact with their smartphone devices. Photo credit: Android Beat
Cyanogen Inc. unveiled an integrated mobile platform that will change the way people interact with their smartphone devices. Photo credit: Android Beat

“Thinner bezel, better biometrics, faster processors… changes never cease, yet many people are still bored with their devices. Why is this? We think people are intuitively looking for a more natural way to interact with them”said Kirt McMaster, CEO & Co-Founder of Cyanogen.

It is expected that by 2020 Android will have more users than Facebook and iOS combined, with more than 4 billion users around the world. McMaster said that Cyanogen wants to enable people to do practically everything, but current apps can be “boring and single-minded”. As a response, mods will create a new vision and new innovative features.

During the Cyanogen’s presentation at the Mobile World Conference, Microsoft executives said that the company has teamed up with Cyanogen to provide new great digital experiences to customers across all of their devices. Peggy Johnson, Executive Vice President of Business Development at Microsoft, said that MOD reinvents productivity of Android, and Microsoft wants to enhance its services in the platform.

New platform, same apps, more functionality

With MOD, users are able to make Skype calls directly from their phone’s dialer, and Microsoft’s Cortana offers hands-free multitasking, including voice-activated selfies. Moreover, Instagram’s Hyperlapse can be integrated as a mode in the native camera, allowing users to shoot hyperlapses.

Other interesting integrations were mentioned, such as having OneNote entry points in the OS dialer, browser, email and calendar, in order to quickly create new notes. Also, a TrueCaller mod can identify spam calls and block them.

Social networks were not left behind; users can have “social lock screens” and see publications such as Instagram photos on their lock screens. That being said, other thousands of new possibilities are open for users and developers. MOD platform will be launched next month with the Cyanogen OS 13 update based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

Source: Cyanogen