Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Acer Iconia A500 is the first non-Nexus tablet to get a functional Jelly Bean port

The list of devices officially announced to get Android Jelly Bean soon might not be very long, but, if you want to take the latest mobile OS version for a quick (unauthorized) spin, you can already do it on a bunch of gadgets.
The Tegra 3-powered versions of the HTC One X and the Samsung Galaxy S3, as well as Sprint’s and Verizon’s Galaxy Nexus, have all been treated with unofficial and almost fully functional Jelly Bean ports, following impressive efforts from several skilled independent devs. However, those are all smartphones and we felt the need to see how Jelly Bean works on tablets, too. And given that the Nexus 7 hasn’t yet been officially released, we are extremely excited to tell you about the first Android 4.1 port for Acer’s Iconia A500.
RandomBlame, a senior member of XDA-Developers’ forum, is the brilliant mind behind this port and what’s even more impressive is that he also played a pivotal role in the development of the two functional ROMs for the Galaxy S3 and One X.
But while he only lent a helping hand at making those two ports, the A500 one is RandomBlame’s creation from the beginning to the end. That being said, as you might imagine, there are still a few kinks to be ironed out, which is why we don’t recommend flashing this port just yet if you’re not a developer yourself or at least an experienced custom ROM flasher.
 
The audio, WiFi, SD card, and USB port are all on the list of non-working features at the time, so this is clearly not a software package to be used for day to day tasks on your tablet. Then again, you might want to watch the XDA-Developers’ forum thread, as we have a good feeling that the port will be fully functional in a matter of days.
On the same thread, you’ll also find a link to a quick walkthrough guide posted by RandomBlame, which should help those of you who want to try their hand at creating Jelly Bean ports for other devices. Of course, you’ll need to know a thing or two about hacking, “deodexing” and other stuff like that, but, even if you don’t, things are explained straightforwardly in the walkthrough.
Is there anyone reading us right know willing to try out the Jelly Bean port for the Iconia A500, even though it’s far from completion?

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