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Based on internal documents from T-Mobile given to Android Police, some older devices, including the OnePlus One, Xperia Z3 series, and Nexus 9, will be unable to connect to the company's network beginning on January 29th. 19 devices, including phones, tablets, and even cameras, are named by the document. Affected customers will be notified by SMS beginning on December 28th, and will be able to upgrade to one of four phones for free.
LineageOS now officially supports OnePlus 7T Pro, Xiaomi Mi 9T, and more phones
Several models have also been updated from Android 9 to 10
LineageOS is the most popular custom ROM around, bringing new versions of Android to abandoned phones, and a stock-like experience (with or without Google software) to newer devices. The project has mainly been working on support for Google Pixel phones lately, but now a handful of other devices have joined the official build roster.
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.
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.
One of the best parts of LineageOS (and its predecessor, CyanogenMod) is that it can breathe life into older devices. Some phones and tablets can end up with several more years of Android updates thanks to the ROM community. Since we last looked at LineageOS, a whopping 10 more devices have been added, most of which are a few years old at this point.
After updating more recent flagship devices to Marshmallow in March, Sony commenced its Marshmallow rollout for other phones and tablets in its range earlier this month, including the Xperia Z2, the Z3, and the Z3 Compact. Now the Japanese consumer electronics company is updating more of the Xperia line to Marshmallow, including the Z2 Tablet, the Xperia Z3 Dual, and other Z2/Z3 variants from around the world.
I'm not going to mince words here: if you don't have a Nexus phone, odds are pretty good that you aren't running Android 6.0. The best that you can say of most manufacturers when it comes to this software cycle is that maybe they're kinda-sorta trying to update last year's flagship phones. Sony has been a little better than most in that regard - they've already updated several phones and tablets from the Z4 and Z5 series, and now even older models are getting in on the action. According to XperiaBlog, the Xperia Z2, Xperia Z3, and Xperia Z3 Compact are being updated to Android 6.0 starting today.
Few Android OEMs take their updates as seriously and as extensively as Sony does, and Marshmallow is no exception. Ever since the source code for Android 6.0.0 was released by Google, the company revealed which devices in its portfolio will get it (hint: they go as far back as the Xperia Z2), released AOSP binaries for a slew of devices including its new Xperia Z5 and Z5 Compact, and announced concept Marshmallow builds for the Z3 and Z3 Compact that are open for 10,000 testers. Now these builds are starting to roll to users who signed up for them and you have more opportunities to try them out if you own a compatible smartphone.
Sony began tinkering with a cleaner build of Android 5.1 earlier this year with the help of a few hundred beta testers in Sweden. The so-called Sony Concept for Android program is moving forward today with an expansion to more markets and a bump up to Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Slots are limited (increased from last time), and it's not available in all regions. For once, it's the US that's getting left out.
Google has shown off what's in Android 6.0. Factory images and over-the-air updates are popping up for Nexus devices. That means the time is ripe for smartphone makers to announce when they're going to bring Marshmallow to their devices.
Sony doesn't have a huge presence in the US despite making a boatload of phones. Still, if you've got one, odds are good that you'll be seeing an Android 5.1 update in the coming months. The update will hit all Z series devices and a few of the mid-range models too.
Most over-the-air updates include a few bug fixes, maybe a new bloatware app or two, and are thus not really worth getting excited over. Not so for the latest addition to T-Mobile's customized version of the Sony Xperia Z3. In addition to the long-awaited upgrade to Android 5.0, today's update flips a software switch that enables access to band 12, the 700MHz spectrum that T-Mobile began using for LTE earlier this year. If the prospect of wider, faster LTE for your phone doesn't make you excited for an update, I don't know what will.
To address several relatively minor problems and requests, Sony's Xperia Z2 and Z3 devices will be getting an update to their firmware. They will remain on 5.0 Lollipop, which speaks to the fact that these are mostly optimizations rather than wholesale changes. The headlining feature is probably the fact that the app switcher now has a close all button, but there are some other goodies as well.
Earlier this month, a tweet from T-Mobile's official Twitter account said that the Sony Xperia Z3 was no longer available from the carrier, and the phone was nowhere to be found on its website. Instead, searches redirected to refurbished Sony devices. This news came less than half a year after the phone's October release.
Sony has spent the past few weeks pushing Android 5.0 out to its plethora of Xperia devices, starting with the Z3 series and continuing on to the Z2. Now Lollipop is going out to the Z1, Z1 Compact, and Z Ultra, as well as the Z3 Dual.
As previously announced, Sony has started pushing Android Lollipop out to Xperia Z2 and Z2 tablet devices all over the world. These updates are going out in phases and vary according to your region and carrier, so you still may have to exercise patience a bit longer.
It would seem Sony is still engaged in the bizarre ritual of releasing a slightly tweaked version of its flagship smartphone every six months or so. The alleged Xperia Z4 has leaked repeatedly in recent days, and now it looks like T-Mobile might know something we don't. The carrier won't sell you a Z3 anymore, because apparently that phone is yesterday's news.