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Sony makes it easier to put new operating systems on its phones

Sony's Android smartphones haven't been tinkerer-friendly to date -- since you couldn't boot from a recovery partition, you couldn't install CyanogenMod and other unofficial operating systems without jumping through hoops. It should be much easier to mess with your software from now on, though. Sony is quietly releasing bootloaders that let you boot from that recovery space, which opens the door to installing both custom Android ROMs as well as very different platforms, like Firefox OS or Ubuntu Touch. The catch? Right now, the only devices that support these bootloaders are lower-end models you probably don't use, like the Xperia E3, M2, T2 Ultra and T3. You won't be modifying the heck out of your Xperia Z3 just yet, then, but that's no longer a far-fetched idea.