The HTC One M7 from 2013 can now join the elite club of devices that can run an early version of Google's latest version of its mobile operating system, Android L.
Google officially released the Android L Developer preview files for the Nexus 5 and the 2013 Nexus 7 Wi-Fi edition in late June, and naturally, the Android community has been hard at work bringing the firmware to other devices. Thanks to XDA Developers, HTC One owners now also can take part in the fanfare.
Still, it's important to remember that this is a port, and not an official Google or HTC release, so there are plenty of kinks. The ROM developers state repeatedly that the build is in the alpha stage and that Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, data, sensors other than GPS, camera and sound don't work at the moment. The rest runs smoothly.
"At the moment, this port is in alpha stages. We are working really hard every day to fix the major issues quickly, but since this is a non-Nexus device, it's quite complicated to get things working smoothly. Half of the things work, half of the things don't work," writes ssrij in the XDA post containing the download link for the port.
Bear in mind that this is Android L Developer Preview, not even a beta of the final build. Unlike in past years, Google released an early version of Android L last month during its Google I/O conference to allow developers to get used to the changes and provide feedback. Even when this ROM gets all its components in order, it still won't represent the final release.
As usual, if you have no experience flashing and aren't interested in using an Android version with the aforementioned features missing, hold off. Android L is slated for release this fall, and HTC has promised to deliver the OS to its major flagships within 90 days.
Android L promises to be one of the biggest overhauls to Android in a long time. A new "Material Design" makes for richer animations, while "Project Volta" helps improve battery life. Android L also sports a new runtime, ART, that increases performance, and full 64-bit support, paving the way for a new wave of smartphone processor adoption. Google has also upped Android L's security and made the operating system more friendly with other smart devices, such as smartwatches.
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