As you may have heard, CyanogenMod is working hard on bringing CM 12.1 to devices in the near future. The development team already has the ROM working on a select number of devices with a few bugs, but it should be ready for nightly release soon. CyanogenMod has just outlined all of the new features that will be available with the newest release. Let’s take a look at some of the notable changes.

For starters, CyanogenMod’s Trebuchet launcher can now toggle between the normal page layout in the application drawer and a new vertical layout, which incorporates a ‘quick scrubber’ to help you find your app much more quickly. To tinker with the new setting, long-press on the Trebuchet launcher and slide the panel up to get more information.

The Settings menu is getting a few improvements to help you find the setting you’re looking for. The CM team has re-added the top level on/off switches to Wireless settings (WiFi, BT, etc), which eliminates one click to toggle the setting. Here are a few more details straight from CyanogenMod:

Next, we sacrificed the length of the Settings dashboard (the main view you see when you open settings) for elevating features out of submenus – providing new more discrete groups, even separating Notification Management from features that affect the Notification Drawer (similarly for Security and Lock screen settings).

Next up is a new feature called LiveDisplay, CM’s new goto method for calibrating your smartphone’s display. Incorporating the popular CM 7 feature RenderFX and older features like sunrise enhancement, LiveDisplay will be able to adjust color temperature, automate effective times, screen color, color calibration and help with power consumption.

Last but not least, CM has added in an Ambient Display feature, similar to what we’ve seen on the Moto X family of devices. Obviously this feature will be dependent on the smartphone’s hardware, but it will allow compatible devices to show notifications that ‘breathe’ on the screen with minimal power consumption. CM explains:

Coupled with double-tap to wake and lift to wake capabilities, 12/12.1 now makes it even easier to digest your content at-a-glance, and decide if notifications are worth your time.

CyanogenMod comments that CM 12 is nearing its proper release, scheduled to go live sometime this month. After CM 12 has been fully released, modders can look forward to the non-nightly release of CM 12.1. There are a few more details in this announcement, so if you’re interested in learning more, I’d urge you to head to the source link below for more information.