Far ahead of what anyone expected, Google made the first preview for Android TV 12 last week right next to debut for smartphones and tablets. Frustratingly, though, a bug prevents developers from flashing Android 12 previews on ADT-3.
Android TV usually lags behind smartphones when it comes to major platform releases. For example, the brand new Chromecast with Google TV is shipped with Android 10, and Android 11 was never actually shipped to any Android TV devices outside of Google’s own developer device. That’s why it’s such a surprise to see that Android 12 is available for TVs so quickly, but it’s a good sign of the company’s commitment to the new Google TV platform.
The problem, however, is that many developers currently do not have access to Android TV 12 on ADT-3, the only device currently supported to flash the update.
Apparently, the latest version of Android 11 available for ADT-3 breaks the ability to allow OEM unlocking on the device. Hidden in the developer options, the OEM unlock switch allows users to unlock the ADT-3 boot loader from a computer using adb / fastboot commands. Without the link being flipped, the speedboat flash unlock command returns the error FAILURE (distance: ‘unlockability is 0, can not unlock’) and cannot unlock the ADT-3 boot loader. The issue has already appeared on the Google Issue Tracker.
In theory, developers with an ADT-3 that is on an older version of Android or that already has an unlocked bootloader must We can install Android 12 previews, but we are unable to verify them because we are unable to unlock the bootloader on our own ADT-3 device.
Askey, the company that manufactures and sells ADT-3 for Google, confirmed the issue in an email, saying the company is working with Google on the issue. Right now, the company’s proposal is to get Android 12 on ADT-3, to wait for Google to release the final version. Of course not ideal.
Google tells us that they are aware of this issue and are currently working on a solution.
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