OPPO’s AOSP ROM: Interview About a Delightful OPPOrtunity

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At the Big Android Barbecue 2015, we had the pleasure of checking out OPPO’s latest efforts in ROM making — an AOSP ROM that sits in stark contrast with their traditional software offerings.

With said AOSP ROM, OPPO aims to provide the software that power users, enthusiasts and developers around the world would love on OPPO devices. Moreover, said ROM comes at a time when OPPO is expanding internationally on a new level and scale for the company. Their new AOSP ROM effort is meant to be easy to flash, and will not void the warranty of devices sold in Europe through oppostyle.com or Amazon — quite a deal in today’s smartphone landscape! While support is limited to a few of their key devices at first, the company is not ruling out the possibility of expanding the project to many more devices.

We sat down Marie Tatibouet from OPPO’s New Markets Division to learn some more about this project, what it aims to provide and why it is such an important step forward for the company.

Who is the target audience of your AOSP ROM project, and why has OPPO decided to target such a group?

The target audiences of AOSP ROM is mainly pro users, they are keen to update to the latest Android version which we couldn’t achieve with ColorOS in a short time, the AOSP version provides an alternative choice for them.

What differences does such demographic have with the main consumer base? Have you always thought of targeting the enthusiast/developer group?

They are mostly opinion leaders, active on the internet and have bigger influence among their friends. We have been trying to target the enthusiast/developer group since we begin the ColorOS Beta program, now the AOSP program is making this step further.

OPPO devices have some good development going on our forums and other communities. How will official AOSP ROMs enhance such developments? Are there any other ways in which you can or will help developer communities make your hardware shine?

We are really thankful for these developers developing custom ROMs for us, some of them have been very helpful to help us fix problems on the previous ColorOS Beta. Our official AOSP ROMs will combine some ColorOS features; we are still new and a lot needs to be learned from other ROM developers, we are hoping they would help us to make this ROM grow and prosperous.

Why is the project starting with a Lollipop ROM, and not a Marshmallow one? What kind of issues are involved?

For phone manufacturers, we need to use Qualcomm base instead of the AOSP base to promise the stability of the firmware. Qualcomm base for Android M is not ready yet, but when they are ready, we will switch to it as soon as possible. As phone manufacturers, we have differences with 3rd party developer software; we need to pass Google CTS and GTS tests which from our past experience using AOSP base is almost impossible thus we have to wait for the Qualcomm base.

Which features from OPPO’s stock ROM will make it into the AOSP ROM? Will these be expanded upon if demand calls for it?

Currently planned features such as ColorOS Camera, some screen-off gestures, MaxxAudio (Find 7) etc. we may consider to expand it in the future in accordance with user feedback.

Once the project takes off, can we expect ongoing support and quick updates?

The AOSP ROM will stay simple and clean, quick bug fixes will be released if needed, however we don’t have plans to release weekly updates like the previous ColorOS Beta.

We know the team assigned to this project is currently small, are there any plans on expanding it opening it up?

Depending on the feedback from the users, if AOSP ROM proves to be popular enough we may consider expanding

OPPO is growing rapidly and expanding to new frontiers. Apart from the demographic dichotomy of enthusiast/casual consumer, how can these AOSP ROMs benefit your new targets? Could they ever be implemented as a out-of-the-box alternative?

AOSP ROM is a new step forward for us to better serve the international users, our goal is to make this ROM as good as an out-of-the-box alternative, and until it meets our standard we will still use ColorOS as the out-of-the-box firmware.

Considering the community has been asking for this for a long time, how has the initial response been? What are OPPO ‘s own expectations for the AOSP ROM?

The reponse from our community has been very positive so far, we expect the AOSP ROM be stable and clean which could meet the demaind from our loyal customers.

Is there anything you’d like to say to the developer community over at XDA?

OPPO has been in a very good relationship with the developer community since out first international device Find 5 went on the international market, we attended the first 2 DevCon organized by XDA where we got closer to the community. We are sincerely thankful for all developers helping developing custom ROMs for OPPO devices, from Find 5 to Find 7 it’s been a great adventure all the way, we would hope this great relationship will continue in the future!

What do you think about OPPO’s AOSP ROM project? Do you wish more manufacturers followed these practices? Let us know below!