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LineageOS 17.1 adds support for OnePlus Nord, 2013 Nexus 7, and more
The Android 10-based custom ROM rolls out to more devices
LineageOS is the most popular custom ROM around, and for good reason. It has extended the life of many phones and tablets that would have otherwise been abandoned, and even for phones still receiving software updates from the original manufacturer, Lineage can sometimes work better than the stock software. Since our last roundup, LineageOS 17.1 has arrived on eight more devices, including the OnePlus Nord and 2013 Google Nexus 7.
LineageOS is the most popular custom ROM out there, boasting official support for dozens of phones and tablets. The project is best known for breathing new life into older devices, and since we last covered Lineage, builds have become available for nine more phones — including some old favorites.
A group of security researchers has discovered an exploit that lets Bluetooth and USB accessories wreak all sorts of havoc on multiple Android smartphones. In both cases, the door of entry was the cellphone modem, or baseband, which is found inside all smartphones.
It has been a little while since we've checked in on LineageOS, the super-popular custom ROM that brings new versions of Android to old phones. Last time we covered the project, it fixed an issue that prevented Xiaomi device support, and LineageOS hasn't skipped a beat since then.
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.
CyanogenMod has seen better days as an organization, but the team behind the open-source Android custom ROM doesn't seem to be slowing down its prodigious output. In the last week new nightly builds have been added for no less than ten new phones and tablets, including notable models from Motorola, Samsung, OnePlus, and Amazon. All of them now have CM 14.1 (based on Android 7.1.1 AOSP code) builds available.
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.
It's no secret why CyanogenMod is the most popular custom ROM out there; not only does it support a metric crapload of Android devices, but it also keeps them going far past their primes. The latest devices to get support for CM14.1 (Android 7.1 Nougat) nightlies include two variants of the Galaxy S III, the second-generation Moto X, a few Oppo devices, two versions of the HTC One Max, two Xiaomi phones, and more.
The Galaxy S III, first released back in 2012, only has official software support up to Android 4.3. No matter: the folks at the CyanogenMod development team are keeping the device alive long after Samsung threw in the towel. Today the AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint variants of the GSIII all get their very first nightly ROM builds for CyanogenMod 13, which is based on Android 6.0. You can find them at the d2att, d2tmo, and d2spr listings on the CM download page, respectively.
While the legal battle between Samsung and Apple has mostly winded down, there are still some legal loose ends that need to be tied up. US District Judge Lucy Koh on Monday ordered a sales ban of several Samsung phones in the US, stemming from a 2014 ruling that found Samsung did infringe on several Apple patented features. You can probably put down your pitchforks, though. The phones included in the ban are ancient and aren't even sold anymore.
A few years ago, the Samsung Galaxy S III was everywhere. It didn't have the build quality of an iPhone, but the screen was bigger, and Android apps were really coming into their own. The phone began its life running Ice Cream Sandwich, and most variants stopped at Jelly Bean with no hope of ever getting Lollipop.
If you have one of three Samsung devices on Sprint, you might just have an over-the-air update waiting for you in your Settings menu. But don't get too excited: not a one of them brings a new version of Android, or even more than one or two new visible features. The Galaxy S III and Galaxy S5 Sport (AKA the S5 Active) phones and the Galaxy Tab 4 (the 7-inch version) all have tiny additions to their software going out today.
Update: Let us not forget the Galaxy Tab S 8.4. AT&T has updated that device this week as well, bumping it up to KOT49H.T707AUCU1ANJ5 after a 32MB download. As for the changes, they're a yawn.
Samsung has been on a KitKat spree lately, and it has just about covered most of its popular devices from the last two(ish) years with the update. Today, Verizon updated its support docs for the Galaxy SIII, which indicates that the update is on its way in the coming days, as well.
Update: KitKat is also rolling out to Canadian variants of the Galaxy S III running on Bell, Rogers, and TELUS. They are joined by the Galaxy Note II on all of the country's major carriers. The goods are going out over the air, but you can get them via Samsung Kies as well.
The Galaxy S5 may be the latest thing out, but a quarter-bajillion people around the world are still walking around with the Galaxy S III, and it benefits us all if they're running current software. An update bringing KitKat to the Sprint version of the handset started rolling out earlier this month, and now it's US Cellular's turn. The carrier has announced an OTA that should bump the device up to Android 4.4.2 via version R530UVXCND4.
The Galaxy S5 runs Android 4.4 out of the box, and most of the US and international versions of the Galaxy S4 have been given the KitKat update as well, but millions of owners of the Samsung Galaxy S III from 2012 are still sitting on an outdated version of Android. Sprint seems to be the first US carrier to alleviate that: this support page says the update for the S III is going out starting today.
Samsung has been very cautious in rolling out its KitKat update thus far, with even most Galaxy S4 owners still waiting around on Jelly Bean. This doesn't even take into account all the millions of other Galaxy smartphones and tablets that often take a backseat to the company's flagship. Yet Samsung has now provided a list of all the devices it intends to bump up to Android 4.4.2 before it's all said and done.
Most custom ROMs require separate builds for separate carrier variants - one for an international model, one for an AT&T model, one for a Verizon model, and so on. CyanogenMod is trying to consolidate some of its most popular builds so that a single ROM ZIP file will work across several various device variants. Last month the CM team combined three HTC One builds, and today they're doing the same for Samsung's Galaxy S III, Galaxy S4, and Galaxy Note 3.
Typically Christmas day is a slow one for technology news, but apparently the good folks at the Android Open Kang Project have dragged their coding machines in front of the open fire. Today AOKP has posted the first nightly builds of Android 4.4.2, granting deliciously fresh custom ROMs to all the good little girls and boys. And all the bad ones too, I suppose.