Like every Nexus One proud owner, I’ve been waiting for Gingerbread, Android 2.3, for a while. Even if Google said several times that the N1 would get an OTA update offering Gingerbread, the N1 still didn’t receive anything, as the Nexus S is running Android 2.3.+. Anyway, I decided this week to get Gingerbread by myself. So I unlocked the bootloader of my phone, and then flashed a recovery image (if you guys don’t know how to do that, here is a great tutorial), to finally being able to flash Cyanogen Mod 7, the last version, the ReleaseCandidate of the CM7 version (check this website for the lastest version).

Gingerbread:

This new version of Android is quite appealing, it is way faster than Froyo, for every task: apps are running faster, network is snappier, everything is great. Using Talk is now better than ever, Gmail too, the apps that I’m using are now really snappy, I’m quite amazed how much Google made Gingerbread snappier – especially since Froyo was already such an improvement compare to 2.1. The new black appearance is way prettier than the grey environment of Froyo. There are also some very nice features like the new copy and paste system, or the new keyboard (that I really like!). Overall, this is not a minor update, like 2.2 was really better than 2.1, Gingerbread is an amazing revamped Android version. Unfortunately, I still am using a Task killer, maybe Gingerbread won’t need this with a device using 1 GB of RAM, but I’m not sure. I don’t think Google fixed the Multitasking and unpleasant RAM management problems linked to Android.  I just can’t wait to see what Honeycomb for smartphones will bring! But for now, Gingerbread is really enjoyable.

Cyanogen:

I have to say that I hesitated between flashing a beta stock Android 2.3 Rom and the CM7 RC1. I chose the CM7RC1 since I read that this last RC1 version was extremely stable, the stock 2.3 rom is still under construction… Since my N1 is a work device, I couldn’t afford to try an unstable Rom or neither install 20 roms to see which one is the best. Anyway, I’m not disappointed by this CM7 RC1 version. I got only one crash for 4 days, no unstable apps behaviors, everything is fine. And I recognize that the built in CM7 tweaks – like LED notifications personalization, widgets, lockscreen and themes personalization, … – are really great. CM lets you manage almost everything. I must admit that I don’t use half of the options that this Rom offers, but it is always nice to have the choice.