Like most big companies that produce Android phones and tablets, Sony tends to load up its phones with its own custom version of Google’s operating system. But unlike most phone companies, Sony also runs an open source project that provides the tools developers and users may need to install stock Android software on some devices.

Now Sony has announced that the Xperia Z3+ and Xperia Z4 Tablet have been added to the Open Device project, which makes them the first devices with 64-bit ARMv8 chips to be part of the project.

sony z3 plus aosp

Sony provides tools necessary to let users build Android M, Lollipop, or KitKat for a number of devices, along with proprietary binaries for hardware that might not otherwise be supported.

The company also says that AOSP builds of Android may not be as stables as the software that ships with these phones, requires unlocking the bootloader on your devices, and generally could cause problems — so this stuff is for advanced users only.

Still, Sony is one of the only phone makers that doesn’t just allow users to install custom firmware on their phones, but actually encourages it (to some extent). It’s nice to see the tradition continue with the company’s latest products.

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,545 other subscribers

2 replies on “Xperia Z3+ and Xperia Z4 Tablet join Sony’s open source project”

  1. Kind of ironic to see this coming from a company that loves to introduce its own proprietary formats over the standards — memory stick, UMD, etc. Welcome, nonetheless.

Comments are closed.