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LineageOS 17.1 adds official support for OnePlus 2, Moto X Play, and other phones
Android 10 on phones from 2015
LineageOS is the most popular custom ROM around, and version 17.1 is based on the newest Android 10 release. The Lineage project has been slowly updating older devices to 17.1, and in the time since our previous coverage, even more devices have arrived in the official roster.
LineageOS is one of the most popular custom ROMs available, with somewhere around two million active installations. It typically takes a while for the project to update to newer versions of Android, since development is largely done by maintainers in their spare time. Six months after the public release of Android 9 Pie, it looks like LineageOS is about ready to make the jump — but not before dropping older devices.
Back in 2015, Motorola released the Moto X Play, a 5.5" phone with a massive 3,630mAh battery. In the United States, the phone was called the DROID Maxx 2, and was a Verizon exclusive. Over the past month, Android 7.1.1 has slowly been rolling out to the X Play in some regions, with the phone previously running Android 6.0. An update is planned for the Maxx 2, but it hasn't been released yet.
Got an old phone that the manufacturer or carrier has stopped pushing updates to? Chances are, there's a CyanogenMod ROM that will breathe life back into it. This week, CM maintainers have brought CyanogenMod 14.1, which is based on Android 7.1.1 Nougat, to the AT&T and T-Mobile versions of the Samsung Galaxy S III, the LTE model of the second-generation Moto E, the Moto X Play, and more.
Motorola picked a pretty busy day to release its list of phones that are slated to be upgraded to Android 7.0 - make of that what you will. After previously confirming that the new Moto Z , Moto Z Droid, and Moto G4 lines would be upgraded to Nougat "starting in Q4," a more complete list was published to the company blog today. The list is fairly predictable, with some notable exceptions.
Motorola was the first major smartphone maker to start putting its stock apps in the Play Store. Before that, OEMs would only update those apps as part of an OTA update. It sounds positively barbaric by today's standards. Motorola isn't done yet, though. Just today it added its stock file manager to the Play Store. You won't see much in the way of improvements this time, but who knows what the future could bring?
It's been a little over a month since Motorola began seeding a much-appreciated Android 6.0 software update to its mid-range model for 2015, the Moto X Play (codenamed Lux), at least in Brazil and India. And you know what that means: the required open source kernel files aren't far behind. Those files are now available on GitHub for anyone who wants a crack at them.
There's a version of the latest Moto X that we here in the States can only get in the form of the DROID MAXX 2. The Moto X Play, as it's called, offers a weaker processor but increased battery life compared to the Moto X Pure Edition. Owners in Brazil and India have reached out to us with word that Android 6.0 is now rolling out to their devices.
Do you know what appears when your phone boots up? Nexus devices have this spunky way of showing off the Android logo. Other manufacturers have their own way of introducing their brand. Motorola tends to get particularly creative. Turning on a Moto E feels a lot like watching the launch trailer.
When Motorola unveiled this year's flagship Moto X, it didn't stop at just one device. Here in the states, we have just the Moto X Pure Edition. But in certain other countries, you can also get the Moto X Play. This is a less expensive phone with significantly more battery life and a smaller screen. Now Motorola has made the kernel source code for this device available on GitHub. Tinker away, tinkering types.
Just last weekend we heard some rather convincing (but unconfirmed) rumors that the reason the Moto X Play was conspicuously absent from Motorola's US store was that Verizon's long-standing relationship with the manufacturer would result in an exclusive phone. Today we've been sent some photos that look like the real deal: a mid-range phone that mostly matches the Moto X Play, but with Verizon and DROID branding. Say hello to the Motorola XT1565, presumably coming to market as the DROID Maxx 2.
Google and the various major Android device vendors and carriers are scrambling to patch the recently-discovered Stagefright exploit, a weakness in Android's multimedia processing that can allow remote access via a simple MMS message. Google has already begun patching Nexus devices, and Samsung is working its way through its extensive product range starting with flagships. Yesterday Motorola released its plans to update its phones.
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- This Motorola blog post has more details about the Moto X Play's availability, and confirms that there will be no US release.
The Moto X Style isn't the only new flagship that Motorola revealed at its press conference this morning. The new Moto X Play is basically a "Maxx" version of the phone, with a smaller 1080p screen, but a gigantic 3630mAh battery (plus Turbo charging) for what Motorola calls "48 hours of mixed use." The price will reflect the slightly lower specs, since Motorola claims that this phone will be "$300-400 cheaper" than flagship phones from the competition.