CyanogenMod 7.1 RC1 is released — in between all the solid rumors of new Galaxy S 2 with 1.4GHz processor and NFC chips and one even better – the next Nexus phone, the Samsung-made Google Nexus Prime. But as for our existing android phones, nothing could better an upgrade to lovely custom ROM, CyanogenMod — which just saw its version 7.1 RC1 hit the downloads section.

We’re excited, for sure and know that you’re too. But you’re curious what are the changelog, right? Which features got added and what makes it from 7.0 to 7.1, etc. stuff. So, here’s the changelog which points out all new features of CyanogenMod 7.1 — if you haven’t used a CyanogenMod custom ROM earlier, you would know now what you’re missing. Though, it’s sad that these super custom ROMs — CyanogenMod and MIUI — aren’t available for every android buddy.

New Features in CyanogenMod 7.1 RC1 (labeled by the CM team as 7.1.0 pre):

  1. Common: Android 2.3.4 (Google)
  2. Common: Bluetooth mouse support – Scott Brady
  3. Common: Improve notification swipe-to-clear – Evan Charlton
  4. Common: Improve album-artist support in media scanner – Paul Crovella
  5. Common: Profile improvements and bugfixes – Martin Long
  6. Common: RTL text improvements – Eyad Aboulouz, Eran Mizrahi
  7. Common: Wake on volume key option – Sven Dawitz
  8. Common: Support for revoking application permissions – Plamen K. Kosseff
  9. Common: Latest Superuser app – ChainsDD
  10. Common: Control brightness by sliding on statusbar – Danesh M
  11. Common: Add “copy all” to context menu – Danesh M
  12. Common: Lockscreen haptic and statusbar indicators toggle – Danesh M
  13. Common: Nicer timepicker/datepicker – Jiri Tyr
  14. Common: Configuration 0/90/180/270 rotation – Jonas Larsson, Scott Brady
  15. Common: DSP Manager bugfixes and improvements – Antti S Lankila
  16. Common: Support for launching apps via gestures in the background – Jiri Tyr
  17. Common: Option to hide hold button during call – Roberto Leinardi
  18. Common: Allow using wildcards for call blacklisting – Nihanth Subramanya
  19. Common: Option to allow in-call lockscreen to match main lockscren – Sven Dawitz
  20. Common: Option to notify about incoming call only in background when screen is on – Pavel Kucera
  21. Common: ADWLauncher- Transitions, catalog improvements, bugfixes – John Van Etten
  22. Common: Optional GMT correction for SMS/MMS timestamps – Terry Hau
  23. Common: Add FM Seek for TI devices – KalimochoAz
  24. Common: Add FM support for SI4708 devices (Blade, V9, Racer) – Stéphane Konstantaropoulos
  25. Common: Add FM seek implementation to FM application – Tom Giordano
  26. Click, Motorola: Speed up photo recording – Emilio López
  27. Click, Motorola: Add Geolocation to photo app – KalimochoAz
  28. Vision/Glacier/Ace/Speedy/Vivo: 2.6.35 kernel and updated userspace
  29. Buzz: 2.6.35 kernel – Arne Coucheron

(Those labeled ‘common’ are the features which every phone with CyanogenMod will get in its CM7 builds, while those with specific names, like ‘click – motorola’, would be an addition to common features in the CM7 build of that particular phone.)

The features I am most excited about are at these nos. above: 3, 5, 7, 8, 10 (belongs to Samsung’s TouchWiz custom UI), 11, 15, 16 (great!), 19 (innovative), and 21 — but that’s not to say other features are not-so-cool. The whole CyanogenMod and the its idea is a definite cool in the android world filled with so much and manys.

List out your favorite features — ones you’re dying for — in the comments below.