Nokia Lumia 525 owners do not usually brag about their phones, as the 4-inch smartphone sports largely unimpressive specs, but they soon might have a reason to.
The device rolled out in 2014 and did not receive an official update to Windows 10 Mobile, but thanks to the efforts of a crafty modder, Android 6.0 Marshmallow can run on the modest smartphone.
You read that right: a clever "hacker" accomplished the daunting task of loading a CyanogenMod 13 build on the dated Lumia 525, and judging by the proof-of-concept video, the result is pretty promising.
This is far from being the first time someone has attempted to bring Android to Lumia phones, but it is a premiere in its success.
Triszka Balázs is the coder who brought the idea to reality, and he affirms that should all go according to plan, the internet might see the source code published next weekend.
His enthusiasm was short-lived, however, as he later on commented on an XDA Developers forum that "Lumia 525's eMMC died." This means that some more tweaking is required before the release goes live.
At the moment of writing, the CyanogenMod ROM was stably running on the Lumia 525, but the developer says that he has plans to bring it to the Lumia 520 handset, too.
Those who have started daydreaming of a fully operational Android 6.0 Marshmallow on the much-commended Lumia 950 should know that the exploit required for the custom ROM to work only works on Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 devices. Balázs mentions that the ROM could be tweaked to run on various different devices, but points out that a sizeable amount of work is needed to make that happen.
XDA Developers posted a MOD Message asking forum members to stop asking when the exploit will land on their gadgets.
"Until those directly involved in this solution have said otherwise, [Lumia 520 and 525] will be supported," the message reads.
However, take heed that Balázs' achievement, albeit only shown in a proof-of-concept video at the moment, is crucial to further developments.
It should be noted that a number of essential features will be missing from the custom ROM, the most noteworthy exceptions being modem and Wi-Fi, while the display might need a bit of calibration to get the touch input at accurate levels.
Take a look at the videos below to see how the Android-loaded Lumia 525 works, as well as the obligatory AnTuTu test.
