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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.
Sony was one of the first OEMs to focus on designing water-resistant phones, but they weren't always resistant enough. Consumers were brushed off by Sony when their water-resistant phones and tablets showed evidence of water damage. Now, there's a class action lawsuit wrapping up that could result in affected Sony owners getting a 50% refund on their devices.
When it comes to software updates, Sony is on the job. The company is always one of the first to release updates for its recent flagship devices and is great at updating even relatively older-generation devices quickly too. Take the Xperia Z3 Plus, Z4 Tablet, and Z5 family which were announced sometime between May 2015 and September 2015, making them nearly 2 years old. They got the update to Android Nougat 7.0 back in February and they're now following the footsteps of the XZ and X Performance and getting upped to the more recent Android 7.1.1.
With Android 7.0 now officially rolling out to devices, you might wonder which non-Nexus phones will see the update some day. Sony has released a list of devices it intends to update to Nougat at some point in the not too distant future. The gist: if you've got a Sony phone from 2015 or 2016, you'll probably get the Nougat update.
Sony is sometimes a little slow to release new devices everywhere, but at least its Android update schedule is on par with other OEMs. That is to say, it's annoyingly slow, but not unusually so. The Z5, Z4 Tablet, and Z3+ are all getting Android 6.0 right now, but as usual, it's a staged rollout that will vary by country.
Few would be surprised to hear that the Xperia Z5, Sony's latest flagship, would eventually get Android 6.0. The question is when that update will arrive.
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 is ahead of most other OEMs when it comes to its support of open source. It contributes significantly to AOSP and even releases binaries for many of its devices so developers can build AOSP ROMs for them. Today, Sony is announcing support for the first three 64-bit devices in the Open Device project.
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Sony has updated the product page for its Xperia Z4 Tablet in the UK, and it's not the good kind of update. The date listed for the product to start shipping has been changed from today to June 17th. Nice last minute switcheroo there, Sony.
Sony's mobile division may be spiraling into oblivion, but that isn't stopping the company from dropping new hardware at Mobile World Congress. First up is the really hot Xperia Z4 Tablet, a very light and thin 10.1" tablet.
Anyone eager to see what Sony has planned for the Xperia Z4 Tablet won't have much longer to wait. According to XperiaBlog, Sony has let slip its plans to show off the tablet on March 3rd. That date lines up with a certain Mobile World Congress taking place at the time where a bunch of other manufacturers will also be showing off their upcoming products.