Sony Ericsson Xperia phones get CyanogenMod support
updated 03:50 pm EDT, Wed September 28, 2011
CyanogenMod coming soon to all 2011 Xperias
Owners of many 2011-era Sony Ericsson Xperia handsets will now have the option of loading a free, community-built version of Android 2.3.x for their phones, the CyanogenMod development team revealed. Older handsets such as the Xperia X10, X8 and X10 mini and X10 mini pro also get the benefit of the software. Full support of features is promised, though the FM radio feature is still being worked on.
CyanogenMod version 7.1, which is due to begin rolling out in nightly builds soon, will be made available on the download site. The news should be most welcomed by owners with older phones, as they have no official way to upgrade to Android 2.3.
Other new Xperia handsets that are supported include the arc, neo, mini, mini pro, Play, ray, active, and pro when these last two ship.
The CyanogenMod team in a rare move got help from Sony Ericsson, which provided devices and technical expertise to help them make the software. Its approach is in contrast to those of HTC and Motorola, which were threatening to lock all their bootloaders until community pressure made them back off. [via AndroidCentral]
