The Qualcomm Robotics Reference RB3 and RB5 Platforms now support Android 13

 The source code for Android 13—the newest version of Android—is available! The Qualcomm Robotics Board RB5 and Dragonboard 845c (DB845c), sometimes known as RB3, which are supported by Linaro, both boot directly out of the box with the Android 13 release tag (android13.0.0 r3) and the AOSP/master branch.

Just a few days after the source code was released to AOSP, Qualcomm's Robotics RB3 (aka DragonBoard 845c) and Robotics RB5 boards may already support Android 13. (Android Open Source Project).

Qualcomm Robotics Board RB5

A few years ago, porting the most recent version of Android (AOSP) to a particular single board computer would have taken weeks, if not months. However, because of programs like Project Treble, Android reference boards like the DragonBoard 845c (RB3), HiKey 960, Khadas VIM3, and Qualcomm Robotics Board RB5 can now quickly install the most recent version of Android.

There are two images available, one based on the AOSP master tag and the other on the android13.0.0 r3 tag used by the Pixel 6a. Since these are unified pictures, they may be used without alteration with either RB3 or RB5. Numerous problems still exist, including WiFi and Bluetooth regressions that are being fixed.

Since the VIM3/3L boards are listed as official Android reference boards, Khadas confirm they will receive Android 13 support. He responded that while some features are supported by the official Android AOSP mainline, not all of them are. It may be because Amlogic does not intend to offer an Android 13 SDK for the A311D CPU. Khadas also said that their software developers concentrated on developing Ubuntu and their OOWOW system, which makes sense given that the majority of SBC customers presumably use Linux.

To return to the RB3 and RB5 platforms' support for Android 13: You can learn more about Linaro's Android team work to support the reference boards in AOSP and track the development progress on the Software Device Enablement for Android Upstream page and/or by attending the virtual Linaro and Qualcomm Tech Day on September 6.