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LineageOS is the most popular custom Android ROM, with around two million active installations worldwide. The project recently dropped support for 30 unmaintained phones and tablets, but more devices have now been added in their place. Some of the latest additions and upgrades include the Mi Note 3, Xperia XA2 Ultra, LeEco Le 2, and Xperia Z.
CyanogenMod 13 is the latest version of the popular open source custom ROM. It delivers Android Marshmallow to hundreds of devices, many with no hope of ever receiving an official update. On other hardware, CyanogenMod offers a chance to remove heavy skins and enjoy a mostly stock Android experience. The latest wave of devices receiving version 13 represents both types.
Sony is continuing its odd support for modifications and software based on Android's open source core. Today they're releasing a collection of flashable recovery partitions for some phones - technically these count as "custom" recoveries, but they're based on AOSP, and therefore pretty close to what you'd find on Nexus devices. Sony's intro video does state that the recovery can restore data, flash custom ROMs, and boot to multiple ROMs, something that most stock recoveries can't handle.
Xperia owners, watch out. Lollipops are raining from the sky and smashing straight into your screens. If you welcome this phenomenon, don't do anything. These lollipops have heat-seeking sensors and will find your devices wherever they lay. If you prefer KitKat, you can swat the intruders away, but you'll never get to experience the future changes in store for your Android device.
Owners of the Xperia T, TX, and V had a little hope before today that their beloved devices would see some of that KitKat goodness, but now their hopes lay dashed to bits at the feet of Sony's heartless engineers. These devices won't be making the jump to Android 4.4 KitKat, but will continue to live on with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean.
Sony has announced an impending software update for the Xperia T2 Ultra and the T2 Ultra Dual that will deliver Android 4.4 to both devices. The update contains the changes introduced by KitKat, but it also tosses in a number of Sony-exclusive touches.
The mid-range market continues to expand into larger and larger handsets, and Sony doesn't want to be left behind. To that end, they've announced the Xperia T3, a 5.3-inch Android phone with an awesome industrial design, but internals that will leave hardware buffs wanting more. The star of the show is an all-steel body that's admirably thin at just 7mm. It will be available globally in late July.
Sony's typically quick about releasing the open source underpinnings of its devices. After having announced the Xperia T2 Ultra earlier this year, the company has now made the kernel files for the device available for download. The company's offering these files up for three variants of the device, the D5303, D5322, and XM50h. The software version for the first model is 19.0.1.A.0.207, while the latter two fall under 19.0.D.0.253.
Let's forget about KitKat for a moment. A large number of Android devices out there still need an update to the latest version of Jelly Bean, and while many of them will never receive such an OTA, four of Sony's handsets are receiving one this week. The company is rolling out an update to the Xperia T, TX, SP, and V.
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.
OmniROM has only existed for a few weeks, but it's already gaining traction with certain groups (you know who you are). The first nightly builds of OmniROM based on Android 4.4 supported 15 devices, and today brings six more to the fold.
Whenever there is a new version of Android, everyone starts wondering when (and if) their phones will be updated. Sony is getting out in front of the questions by clarifying its plans for a number of phones and tablets. The updates will start flowing soon, but not for all devices.
Ice Cream Sandwich may have been good enough for James Bond, but the Android die-hards who nabbed Sony's Xperia TL on AT&T want more. And by "more," we mean "an update to a newer version of Android." Fortunately, that's finally available.
AT&T started pushing Jelly Bean (4.1.2) to its variant of the Xperia T (the TL) earlier this month, but Rogers apparently wasn't far behind. The Canadian carrier just made the update available to its Xperia T, which should bring all the same goodies that the AT&T and International versions already have. Namely:
Way back in December 2011, Sony began releasing 'alpha' developer ROMs for some of its phones being upgraded to Android 4.0. Then it released beta ROMs that did slightly more stuff. Now it's done the same with Android 4.1 for the Xperia T.
Amazon just did some price slashing on a scale we rarely see, cutting costs for all sorts of new smartphones across the board. Hit up the list to see what's up for grabs. All of these deals are for both new customers and upgrades.
If you head on over to Amazon Wireless this morning, you'll find the Xperia TL has had its price dropped to a mere penny on contract (new subscribers or upgrades).
The Xperia T and TX, the latter of which I quite recently reviewed, are slated to receive an over-the-air update globally in the next week* (*unless you're on AT&T, in which case the ETA is: haha, good luck), and it's packed with features. Features that do things. Here's the breakdown.
If you're not much a classic car nut, and you were to walk up to a stylish little 1968 Opel GT, like this one, you'd probably think "Wow, is that... Italian? It must be fast (for its age)."