Sony adds more Qualcomm powered Xperia devices to AOSP program

The subject of manufacturer skins such as Touchwiz and Sense has always been a topic of debate, with public opinion on their existence and usefulness ranging from “great!” all the way down to “pure and utter blasphemy!”. While the debate about how much control manufacturers should/should not have over Android is sure to rage on, Sony recently made a move that pure AOSP and Sony enthusiasts are likely to appreciate, by adding new Qualcomm devices to their open device project.

Sony announced via their developer blog that the  Xperia T3 and E3, both Qualcomm powered handsets, have been added to their AOSP program. They also made some changes to the source code for the Xperia T2 Ultra and the M2, meaning that developers can now create pure AOSP builds for all Sony Qualcomm powered devices from 2014.

Developers that are eager to get started can head on over to Sony’s AOSP section (found here) and can grab the appropriate KitKat binaries here.  Those binaries are compatible for the following devices:

• Xperia E3
• Xperia T3
• Xperia T2 Ultra
• Xperia M2

Anyone downloading the binaries should be aware that this newly released software is not ready for the prime time as an out of the box daily driver, as the modem and the camera aren’t activated.

It’s fair to mention that while Sony did state that “all Qualcomm®-based Xperia devices” were now supported in their announcement, one user noted that the Xperia E1 isn’t on the list despite the fact that it’s also powered by Qualcomm and was released in 2014 (January). We haven’t received any details as to why it didn’t appear on the list, but we will update this article with any additional comments or updates from Sony.

With the recent devices added to the AOSP program, and a new video from Sony detailing how to unlock an Xperia bootloader, could it be that Sony’s mentality is changing in regards to the user experience they want available on their devices? 0