Android Nougat based CM14 for Original Moto G (G1) boots up!

The original Moto G, released back in 2013, was a lovely device. It got Motorola some lifeblood it desperately needed, some strong foothold in the smartphone market. We won’t be surprised if some of you are still using/keeping it around, and we’re elated to share some good news with you today: the first Android Nougat ROM has booted successfully on the Moto G1.

That signals that active development to bring an AOSP based ROM for the original Moto G. To clear any doubts whatsoever, the codename of the device we’re talking about is falcon, as opposed to Moto G 2nd Gen (titan) and Moto G 3rd Gen (osprey). Then there are two 4G variants too (peregrine and thea). Speaking of which, we recently saw the Moto G LTE 2nd Gen (thea) running Android 7.0 build here.

We’re hopeful of quick release of CM14 or any other AOSP ROM for the Moto G3 (Osprey). Although, that device would be getting official Android 7.0 update from Motorola, like its successor, Moto G4 (and G4 Plus).

The CM14 ROM that has come to the fore today for Moto G1 (falcon), is a very experimental build, one that we won’t recommend you to install — however odd that may seem, because we too are complete flashaholic like you — unless you plan to revert back to good Marshmallow build within couple of hours, and know your way running through all of that (which basically includes creating a good TWRP backup first, then performing factory reset, installing 7.0 ROM, testing it, admiring it, realizing it’s pretty experimental, deciding to go back to Marshmallow, performing factory reset again, restoring the Marshmallow backup, and then, resting a bit).

If you wanna see Nougat in action, go ahead and give the alpha build of Moto G CM14 a trial run. Download the ROM from here. But be sure to create a TWRP backup, or have a firmware saved on your PC, to go back to Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow easily.

And know that with the current boot, even restarting the device isn’t possible as it will send you into bootloop, apart from the fact that stuff like Wi-Fi, camera, etc. and broken.

We’re these things will be fixed in a matter of time, but till that time, maybe patience if your friend.

Why no official Android Nougat update for Moto G?

As we have said it countless times before too, once the device becomes two generations old, manufacturers stop supporting it with latest Android OS version updates. And we can’t complain about it either, given the short age of smartphones. Even most users move to new devices in that period of time.

Moto G was released back in 2013, so its support was drop last year only when Marshmallow came around. So, there is no chance Motorola would make efforts to bring Nougat to the device. Anyway, we have custom ROM community to cheer on with!

Why Moto G CM14 for Nougat update?

Well, simply because there is no official Nougat update for the Moto G1, the not-so-official stream is the only way to taste the Nougat update for Moto G users.

There would be some AOSP based ROMs too, but CM14 is the best AOSP ROM around, one that serves as base for many other ROMs.

We expect the Moto G1 CM14 ROM to come out as a stable version — or good enough for daily usage — by the end of December. Let’s hope you celebrate the 2017 New Year while rocking Android 7.0 Nougat on your Moto G!