Today we added Xperia Tablet Z to our Android™ Open Source Project (AOSP) for Xperia™ devices. Xperia Tablet Z follows in the footsteps of Xperia Z and Xperia S, which are open for developers to explore. Learn how to participate and get the latest technical status in the full post.
![Xperia™ Tablet Z added to the AOSP for Xperia™ project on GitHub [open source]](http://img.youtube.com/vi/16WZOqgFBI8/0.jpg)
One of our most popular services here at Developer World is the flash tool for Xperia devices, which lets you flash Sony software on a device with unlocked boot loader. This is convenient if you want to go from a custom ROM to generic Sony software. We’ve now added software for several more models, most recently Xperia go, Xperia ray and Xperia neo V. At the moment, we support 13 different models, including Xperia Z and Xperia T. Check out the list of supported devices or click the read more link below for more information!
A while ago, the Sony Xperia™ News room shared an update on our plans to upgrade certain Xperia™ devices to Jelly Bean. Since then we have received quite a few requests from the Android™ developer community to release an earlier version of the Jelly Bean (JB) software for the developers. This way, advanced developers could try it out and evaluate it, in a similar way to how we did it last year with the ICS alpha release. Please note that there are several limitations to this alpha software, for instance the UI look and feel is not updated to final Sony Jelly Bean software. Read more after the jump!
![Jelly Bean available for custom ROM developers [alpha ROM]](http://developer-static.se-mc.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/01/Xperia_T_JB_alpha-220x128.jpg)
Today, we release a beta version of our new flash tool for Xperia devices, which enables you to put on standard Sony software* on a Sony Xperia™ smartphone which has the boot loader unlocked. This functionality has often been requested by the open Android™ community, and now we’re glad to support it. Please note that the phone still stays unlocked, and that the warranty may still be voided. As this is a beta version, only a limited number of phone models are supported to begin with. Read on for instructions and more information, and to find out how provide us feedback – we are really eager to hear what you think!
Have you heard about Linaro? It’s a non-profit organisation made up of eight members working to improve the Linux kernel for ARM architectures (ARM is one of the largest processor developers in the industry). At Sony, we think this initiative is really great, and we can see clear benefits of cooperating in Linux development. Read on as Tony Månsson, Linux developer at Sony, explains why Linaro is so important, and how you can get started on working on the kernel yourself.
Upon request we’re today releasing an Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) beta for Xperia™ PLAY, and we’re really interested in getting your feedback on this beta release. As games are such a crucial part of Xperia™ PLAY, we would like to know how well this ICS beta for Xperia™ PLAY works when you’re playing games. Read on for download links and installation instructions!
![ICS beta ROM now available for unlocked Xperia™ PLAY smartphones [download]](http://developer-static.se-mc.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2012/03/XperiaPLAY-ICSbeta-220x163.jpg)
Today we release an Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) beta ROM, as a follow up to the previously released ICS alpha ROM. In line with our goal to support the open developer community, we want to give you the chance to try out our coming upgrade to ICS (Android™ 4.0) in this beta version.
While the ICS alpha ROM was an early preview, the ICS beta ROM have passed some certifications such as Modem type approval, and important functions like FM radio and GSM are turned on. However, additional certification and approval is needed before an official upgrade can be released. As previously communicated, we will upgrade all 2011 Xperia™ smartphones running on Android to ICS. Read more to find out what’s included in the beta ROM, and what other limitations apply.
As part of our continuing efforts towards openness and knowledge sharing, we are now stepping up our open source activities. For a long time, we have been one of the major contributors to the Android Open Source Project. We’ve also been active in the open developer community where we most notably published an ICS alpha release a couple of months ago. And now, we’re excited to release a couple of new open source projects that are available on our GitHub. As you can see below, we have just now released two very interesting projects as open source: the analysis tool ChkBugReport, and our WebGL implementation for Android™ 4.0.
This way, we would like to continue to be transparent, share our knowledge, and get external developer contributions to make the tools even better. On our GitHub, you can also find our Web SDK project we published a while back, and a project called DrmLicenseService, which we will tell more about soon. Stay tuned for more information about open source projects going forward!
Last week we made an Ice Cream Sandwich alpha ROM available for unlocked Xperia™ phones. The response we got was overwhelming, and we want to say a big thank you for all your great feedback and the huge interest shown! We will look through all the comments we received in the survey, on the blog post and on the video, and incorporate the input into our planning of future software and product releases. We have now also made the open source archive for the Ice Cream Sandwich alpha ROM available. In addition, the sensor HAL will also be available as open source soon.
To show our continuous support to the open developer community, and get your valuable feedback, we are today making an alpha ROM of Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0.1) for Xperia™ arc S, Xperia™ neo V and Xperia™ ray available for download. This is something we have not done before, and we are obviously very excited about it.
This ROM is strictly targeting advanced developers, and it will not work for ordinary everyday usage, as it only has a limited set of features working (you can for example not make any phone calls). Several more legal and usage conditions apply – please see the Important information section below for more details.
