Someone Got Android 16 to Run Smoothly on the Boox Go 7

It looks like it might be possible to run newer versions of Android on Boox devices in the near future. Someone got fed up with the lackluster stock software on the Boox Go 7 and decided to install Android 16 on it.

Unlike most modern software developers, this person actually seems to know how things work on a deeper level, as it reportedly only took one day to get Android 16 up and running smoothly on the Boox Go 7.

For a long time people have suspected that Onyx’s software developers were hacks, and this kind of proves it. But to be fair, that seems to be the case across all major brands of ereaders these days (and across other industries too). Software development has majorly gone downhill in recent years. AI is not helping matters at all; it’s just making the rich people at the top richer by not having to pay humans to do the work.

It’s funny because Onyx acts like it’s impossible to run current versions of Android on Boox devices. They don’t release Android updates for existing models, and they’re super slow to update the Android version on newer models. They just released the Boox Go 6 Gen II a couple of months ago and it’s running Android 11.

Onyx’s current lineup of devices are all over the map when it comes to Android versions. Some run Android 11, some run Android 15, the Boox Go 7 runs Android 13. Onyx can’t even provide a consistent, unified software version across their current lineup of models.

Now it looks like Onyx’s device could easily run Android 16 if they wanted them to, but it’s clearly a business decision to keep their Android software outdated.

It sounds like this is going to get posted on GitHub soon so other people can install Android 16 on their Go 7 as well. The software will have to get tweaked for each individual Boox model so some other smart people will have to work that out, but it looks like installing alternate Android software on Boox devices could start becoming a thing soon.