Google experiments with Sony Xperia S to bring AOSP support

Traditionally, Android Open Source Project (AOSP) provided direct support for only Nexus hardware or select Google experience devices like Motorola Xoom, but it might change very soon. Google has recently started an experiment with to bring AOSP support to more devices and the first device to be the part of this experiment is Sony's Xperia S.

Company cites Xperia S's unlockable bootloader, decently powerful hardware and Sony's contributions to AOSP as the main reason for choosing Xperia S over other devices in the market.

Google's Jean-Baptiste Queru has stated that he is not sure how far this project will go, but they are trying and will see as it goes.

The company is looking to work with community on the Xperia S experiment and want to keep the development bleeding edge rather than trying to build a stable release.

Queru points out that in theory, AOSP is designed such that it should be possible to plug in the files related to additional hardware targets (read devices other than Nexus series). In practice, that has never happened. So, he started this experiment with Xperia S.