As March slowly passes through, the onward journey of Android 5.0+ (Lollipop) continues on. While devices at the bleeding edge of android updates (like the Nexus range) already begin to see factory images going live, of the next step in Lollipop’s evolution, Android 5.1, there are those customer and manufacturers who are still waiting for the Android 5.0 update to land on their respective devices. That said, it is worth sparing a thought for Elephone who find themselves in a much more particular problem. They want to offer Android 5.1 to the devices as soon as possible, but already knows that it will be a struggle to bring Android 5.1 to any of its devices. As a proactive means of redress, Elephone has decided to reach out to its user base to ask them for help.
Elephone, today sent out a blog post in their community forum asking for any developers out there who have experienced in porting Android 5.1 to MediaTek devices to help them bring the latest version of android to their devices quicker. This might sound like an odd choice of move by a manufacturer, but the source code for MediaTek SoC’s has yet to be fully released. As such making Android 5.1 available to their devices has and will prove a bit tricky to do in a timely fashion. Elephone have acknowledged this openly in the blog posting “It’s tough to work it out without the source code“.
With that in mind, if you are a developer and working on a MediaTek device version of Android 5.1 then it looks like Elephone needs your help. They do list the MediaTek SoC’s that they need Android 5.1 for to include MTK 6582, MTK 6592, MTK 6732, MTK 6735, MTK 6752, MTK 6753 and MTK 6795. What’s more, is that Elephone do note that they are willing to pay the right person(s). Although the amounts/rates are not specified, they do state that they will be “substantial and favorable”. So, if you think you can help bring Android 5.1 to Elephone users, then make sure to click the source link below and head over to the main Elephone blog posting where you can grab the contact information and further details. Chances are, not only will you be making Elephone happy, but a significant number of their device owners too.