Google has released Gingerbread 2.3 version of Android OS back in December and the last stable iteration has come out on February 24. It is called Android 2.3.4. despite that it takes companies such as HTC, Samsung and especially LG a long time to transition from Froyo Android 2.2 to Gingerbread 2.3.

As many people don't like to wait, there is an unofficial alternative called Cyanogenmod that will let you install unofficial modded version of Cyanogen Android 2.3.4 and for most phones it works like a charm. It currently supports 28 devices, three tablets and 25 phones.

We have recently played with Optimus 2X that we reviewed a few days ago, and after we finished the official part we have decided to give Android 2.3.4 a try. There are three categories of ROMs, most desirable are stable ones, runner ups are called experimental mods and the last category is nightly builds. Stable ones are recommended and most desirable, and they work like a charm and nightly are good for people who like constant changes as in some cases they come up every single day.

To make things easier there is an app that does most of the flashing work for you, but of course, the first step is to root your phone, as the ROM Manager app needs root access to work. Flashing is as easy as downloading the most recent build on your SD card, the app reboots your phone and installs the mod. If you are lucky and all goes well, it just starts Android 2.3.4 and in our case everything works except the Youtube application.

In our case CyanogenMOo in recent nightly build makes all games work well, benchmark scores are more less the same like with the official Froyo, but we believe that the phone works snappier and better and the battery is better than with the previous 2.2 official ROM. Youtube crashes but it works from browser but the Android browser and Firefox 5 beta work just fine, along with. All games continue to work well, if not slightly better. Overall you see the system being a bit more responsive, overall better.

There is quite some reading that you need to do before you do the first ROM upgrade but if you want Android 2.3.4 and are tired of waiting for the official one to pop, just go to www.cyanogenmod.com do some how-to reading, and if you dare, do it. Things can go wrong, but it’s up to you to figure out if it’s worth it.