XOSP ROM Review

Video Review

A Dive Into The Past





Originally known as S+ Reborn, the Xperia Open Source Project (XOSP) was founded by Calin Neamtu aka nilac when he was the proud owner of a Galaxy S+. Based on CM11, the S+ Reborn project aimed at creating a minimal ROM which also packed in some features from the Xperia UI. Slowly and steadily, S+ Reborn grew. It was ported across to different smartphones running Kitkat. I remember helping my friend on flashing it on his Xperia Neo. Another thing which became immensely popular were the Reborn Addons which brought in Sony's Sketch app (my personal favorite), Movie Creator, Smart Connect, wallpapers from the Xperia phones and much more. And all this came with an AROMA installer. When the Lollipop days came, the project was halted for an unknown amount of time. Although, phones such as the Galaxy S+ and Galaxy W did get the 5.0.2 Lollipop releases of the project, the project was never resumed after the halt. Marshmallow came along the way then and that's when XOSP was revived. Seven months after it's revival in December 2015, XOSP has expanded greatly and has stretched it's fortress to 29 smartphones with official support. There are a lot of unofficial ports out there too. But, the statistics definitely give you a hint of the popularity of the XOSP ROM amongst the numerous Marshmallow ROMs out there. Not much has changed since the S+ Reborn project. The Reborn addons are now known as XOSPApps, but the XOSPApps package has a lot more to offer than the Reborn addons.



The Concept of Revision & Releases

"Release" is that update in which the ROM has undergone an appreciable number of changes, while the "Revision" is like a nightly or a weekly build. In short, "Release" is a bigger update than the "Revision". That means with each new "Release" you can expect new features and bug fixes. If you are familiar with CyanogenMod then you can compare the concept of Revision and Releases to that of a Nightly and Snapshot respectively. The time difference between two consecutive Releases is smaller than the difference between two consecutive Snapshot builds. You might think that even one CM Snapshot build is enough. But, I am just trying to explain things in a simple manner. Each Release is proposed to have 5 Revision builds too. So, XOSP 6.2 means 6th Release and 2nd revision. So, the XOSP build number can be defined as Release.Revision. For example, XOSP 6.2 means 6th Release and 2nd revision. "WTF are you up to man? This is a ROM review, not a boring maths lecture." Thought that? I was just trying to screw up some things and bring in an element of humour, even though I am pretty bad at that. "Fuck off man!" Ok, I have insulted myself enough. Let's move on.



Features

Bases on CyanogenMod, the launcher packed inside the ROM is the same one which the Xperia smartphones come in with. You can change the icon size, icon pack, transition animations, double tap to sleep and you can also enable or disable auto rotation of the launcher.

XOSP Settings is the place where you can find and tweak most of the features the ROM has to offer. The ROM offers you various clock and date personalisations. You can change the font size and the font style of the clock and date along with the date format and postion of the date. Then, you can also play around with the carrier label ranging from it's position to it's color. Network traffic and lockscreen blur are packed inside the ROM too.

Coming on to the navigation bar settings, you can customise the height and width of the navigation bar in both the landscape and portrait mode. SlimDim is also an add on feature for the navigation bar too.

The ROM also packs in gestures such as double tap to sleep on both the lock screen and the status bar; and double tap to wake on supported devices. If you want you can also show the charging current on the lock screen too.

The clear all icon can be used from the recents option to clear all the tasks at once. The power menu has both the On The Go Mode and the screenshot options too along with a sound panel at the bottom. Time contextual headers are present there too.

The multi window mode and long press the back button to kill the app are present inside the Developer Options.



XOSPApps Package

XOSPApps includes apps from the Xperia smartphones. They are updated just like the XOSP ROMs. The apps included in the XOSPApps package are:

• Xperia Z5 Home App


• Album App


• Music (former WALKMAN)


• PhotoAnalyzer


• PhotoEditor


• SemCalendar


• SomcPodcast


• Video


• SemcClock


• SemcEmail


• Xperia Keyboard


• Audio Recorder


• ClockWidgets


• ClockWidgets (Black)


• WallpaperPicker (For Wallpapers inside the Launcher)


• Weather App


• Weather Widget


• Music Widget


• WorldClock Widget

Download link: https://basketbuild.com/devs/XOSP/XOSPApps

Quick Links

XOSP website: http://xosp-project.github.io/

Changelog: https://github.com/XOSP-Project/android_vendor_xosp/blob/RL3/README.mkdn

Official Downloads: https://basketbuild.com/devs/XOSP

Google+ community: https://plus.google.com/communities/117671498272072664538

If you are looking for the unofficial builds, you can find most of them in the G+ community. Else, do a search on Android File Host (AFH) and have a look at the XDA forums for your device.

Krittin Kalra

Krittin Kalra is a 20 year old Android freak. Striving for passions, chasing down his dreams and living a life without regrets is his sole mantra. A bit moody, he also does custom ROM reviews for AndroGuider. Currently pursuing his B.Tech, he aspires to follow his heart.