With Google pushing the source code of Android 5.0 Lollipop to AOSP at the beginning of this week, it was just a matter of time before Lollipop based AOSP builds popped up for the current generation of Nexus devices.
The first two Nexus devices to get a taste of the AOSP version of Android 5.0 Lollipop are the Nexus 5 and the Nexus 7 (2013, Wi-Fi). Since Google has not yet released the updated proprietary binaries (a.k.a drivers) of Lollipop for the previous generation of Nexus devices, the developers of the AOSP build for the Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 have used the drivers meant for Android 4.4 KitKat.
Due to this, there are certain issues with the ROM including the GPS not working on the Lollipop build for the Nexus 7. Since this is a barebones AOSP build of Lollipop, it also lacks the usual suite of Google Apps and services.
The builds are also not available in a flashable ZIP format. Instead, they are available in a fastboot flashable factory image like format, so you must know your way around ADB and Fastboot if you are keen on installing the build on your Nexus device. Another pre-requisite of installing the build is that you must already be running the developer preview build of Android 5.0 Lollipop released by Google.
If you cannot wait to get the final taste of Lollipop on your Nexus device and don’t mind losing all your app data, the builds are worth a try.
