Owners of the Sony Xperia S flagship smartphone will be happy to know that Google itself has set in motion a tryout to make Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich officially available for the handset.

Jean-Baptiste “JBQ” Queru, the technical lead of Google’s Android Open Source Project (AOSP),  announced the good news on Google Groups.

“For a new challenge, I’d like to try to go one step further, and to target some hardware beyond the usual categories,” he said.

“I’ve added a git project for the Sony LT26, i.e. Xperia S. This seems like a good target: it’s a powerful current GSM device, with an unlockable bootloader, from a manufacturer that has always been very friendly to AOSP.”

The project officially marks the Sony Xperia S as the first non-Nexus or Google-branded device to gain support from the AOSP, which is a privilege for owners of the handset.

Queru is calling for the community to get behind the initiative to help it take off.

“That git project is currently empty. I’m open to suggestions about the best way to populate it. I think I’ll start by putting together a skeleton set of makefiles, followed by a kernel. Contributions are strongly encouraged, and there should be more freedom than usual to submit experimental changes since that won’t impact the devices that Google is most directly involved in,” JBQ said, as he calls for the Android community to support the project in its entirety.

If this pulls through, we could see more Android devices receiving support from the AOSP in the future, which could lead to faster software updates for supported devices.

More:

First-generation Snapdragon Devices Will Not Get Android ICS From CyanogenMod

2011 Xperia Lineup Could Get Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

2011 Xperia No Jelly Bean Update, No ICS For LG Optimus 2X and Black

Sony Xperia S Now Being Updated to ICS

Sony Xperia S gets support for PlayStation Store

Source: Google Groups

About Francis Rey Balolong

A coffee junkie who spends most of his time writing about the latest news on social media and mobile technology. I would definitely consider myself a nerd (in the coolest most hipster way possible). That being said, I love technology, music, writing, and all things mobile. Follow me: Google+ Twitter

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