Win a device from Sony by becoming a Hero Open Source Developer

We may earn a commission for purchases made using our links.

Sony is one of the largest contributors to the Android Open Source Project, bringing us RRO themes and more. The company has always been fairly open in development as well, running its Sony Open Devices Program to entice people to contribute to Sony device development and get custom ROMs running. To further entice people into helping contribute to AOSP development on these devices, the company is reopening the Hero Open Source Developer initiative, which aims to repay developers who contribute heavily to AOSP development on Sony devices.

The concept is simple – commit changes which improve or fix bugs in AOSP on their devices, and every three months Sony will select a developer to receive a free device as a recognition of the work put in. It’s unknown what device exactly, but it’s safe to assume it’ll be one of the company’s many flagships, as that’s what previous developers were awarded when the program was still running. All you have to do is submit your commits to any open source repository or the SonyXperiaDev GitHub. The ultimate goal is being able to replace as many pre-built binaries as possible with open source implementations that can be built alongside AOSP source code.

More and more companies are beginning to accept the open source community with open arms, but Sony was one of the original ones to do so. Honor recently launched their Honor Open Source Program for the Honor View 10, but that hit a roadblock when the bootloader unlock page went down. Other companies are warming to the idea of development on their devices, with only a select few preventing bootloader unlocking or not giving out kernel source code. If you want to get a free device and become a Hero Open Source Developer, you’re gonna have to work hard for it. Check out the link below and get developing! Note that developers can only win one device a year, just make sure you’re not one of Sony’s Mobile partners or an employee working with Sony Developer World!