The Sony Xperia 5 II gets some Android 13 love thanks to LineageOS 20
LineageOS is undoubtedly one of the most popular custom ROMs currently going around. Its developers dropped a massive surprise on us by releasing the Android 13-based LineageOS 20earlier than we’d have expected. Since the announcement on New Year’s Eve, we’ve seen theaddition of several devicesto the LineageOS 20 compatibility list including theGoogle Pixel 2not too long ago. Maintainers have now added even more devices to the list.
Specifically, we’re talking about three new devices: theSony Xperia 5 II,Xiaomi Redmi Note 9, andSamsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (2019)— LineageOS 20’s first tablet target. That should provide an experience worth checking out if you’ve gotSamsung’s 2019 mid-rangerat your disposal.
We also noted in the Sony departmentlast monththe inlcusion of the XZ2 series from 2018.
The Sony Xperia 5 II was launched in September 2020, featuring the Snapdragon 865 SoC and three 12MP cameras on the back. We weren’t impressed with the phone whenwe reviewed itover two years ago, mainly due to the lack of features like wireless charging, a prerequisite for flagship phones of this era.
Sony launched the device with Android 10 and updated it to Android 12 only recently with no clear plans for Android 13. Although the changes between Android 12 and 13 aren’t too major, adventurous Xperia 5 II owners will have an opportunity to get ahead of the game here. Regardless of our complaints with the phone, if you’ve got one with you, now is the right time totry out LineageOS 20.
While LineageOS 20 takes design cues from stock Android 13, the dev team has also implemented a handful of other features, such as a revamped default camera app known as Aperture, built using the CameraX API.
Google’s made several improvements over the years
Carriers get the upper hand
From faster storage to better speakers
Pixel 10 Pro XL charges faster wirelessly
Broader branding hints at wider paid-tier ambitions
The note-taking app I should have used all along
