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I think it’s safe to say most Android fans are salivating over the release of Android 5.0 Lollipop. But unless you have a Nexus device — or a rooted device — you wont be seeing it for at least a good few months. Enter Sony who is borderline trolling the Android community be uploading this video of the Sony Xperia Z3 running stock Android 5.0 Lollipop built from AOSP.
The purest form of Android, you wont even find any Google apps on this bad boy. Instead, it’s more a less a proof of concept, just a test to show what stock Lollipop would look like on the Xperia Z3 (and making us curse the Android gods for not launching an Xperia Nexus device). For brave souls looking to get this up and running on their unlocked Xperia devices, you can head to Sony Developer World for more info.
Sony also revealed an exclusive pilot program they’re launching in Sweden called 3Beta. The program looks to give willing participants the chance to test drive Sony’s version of Android 5.0 Lollipop (with Sony’s usual UI skin, of course). Sony hopes to gain as much feedback as they can, ensuring the release is as bug-free as possible before they commence the Lollipop rollout next year. FOr more info
The premise is pretty simple – gather as much early feedback as humanly possible in order to make the Sony User Experience on Android Lollipop as good as it possibly can be, before commercial rollout early next year. If there’s enough interest, Sony even says they could bring the program to other markets as well.
http://i.imgur.com/AoG7QJH.jpg
Wow.. so before it can even do voice over data for US users it gets L working. Nice order of things.
Don’t get the point of doing something like this.
Internally Sony has to get the basic Android version working on the phones they want to update, every time a big new Android version is released. From there they start to test if every adjustment/program they created works and what not, and what should be adjusted therefore.
So if you already got this working, it’s of great marketing value to release this version. You create a lot of good will and help the custom rom scene. History has shown that it helps to create a good image of a company, and hard-core users are more likely to recommend a brand they like to family/friends.
So with little effort, they already have it, and it is probably not officially “supported” by Sony. Because of potential warranty issue’s, but the quality of the code and documentation is pretty high so even with little support it is of much use. The community can figure it out themselves.
I want it! Now!