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0 pointsdcomp8y ago0 comments

> VTS certified

If it passed VTS it should be able to run AOSP. The new CTS will be an AOSP System image running their VTS passing "drivers".

Even if your vendor doesn't push any updates. At least you should be able to run a number of newer versions of AOSP as long as Android doesn't deprecate those VTS drivers.

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bitmapbrother8y ago

Providing your bootloader can be unlocked, of course.

nicpottier8y ago

You've said this in a few different places, do you have a source for that? You are saying you could load AOSP on an S9 regardless of what Samsung does?

If so, this is indeed huge, but I have some serious doubts about it, perhaps because I have felt so very burned by Android so many times in this respect on anything but Nexus devices.

Natanael_L8y ago

Maybe - the bootloader must allow you to run that AOSP ROM, which only is possible if the bootloader isn't locked. Lots of OEM:s lock their bootloaders. But otherwise, yes, there's nothing else stopping you.

Mindwipe8y ago

There are a bunch of things potentially stopping you in practice. The HAL isn't a total wall, and I expect to see many OEMs go around it in some places, either due to incompetence, the HAL being inflexible, or timescales.

So even in situations where you can install such a ROM, there's very little guarantee key bits of hardware will operate properly. Any non-standard hardware/hardware feature is also fairly likely to break.

pjmlp8y ago

Usually common users don't flash their devices and that is what matters for the Android dashboard.

fulafel8y ago

How in practice would you go about putting AOSP on a device without the vendor cooperating? Is there some kind of secure boot system that always accepts AOSP images?

jiggunjer8y ago

I think the idea is that they cooperate once, and then Google promises to stop breaking the HAL interface for x years at the cost of increasing their development difficulty.

yjftsjthsd-h8y ago

You would still have to jump through hoops to boot a new ROM, but when you did it would actually work rather than having some drivers missing.

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