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Amazon has started replacing Android on its devices

In This Article

In This Article

Amazon has begun replacing Android on its smart devices with an all-new custom OS.

It might not seem like it, but Amazon devices in the Fire HD tablet, Fire TV, and Echo Show lines run on a heavily forked version of Android. You’dthink that Amazon would be keen to purge one of its biggest tech rivals from its system, and you’d be right.

It recently emerged that the online retail giant was developing its own Linux-based operating system, called Vega OS, with the intention of writing Android out of the story altogeteher. The claim made was that Amazon would start the process next year, but now it seems the swap may have started already.

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TheZatz Not Funnywebsite has discovered that this so-called Vega OS is already up and running on final Amazon hardware. AnAmazon Echo Show 5 (3rd Generation)has been observed with software that resets its naming and numbering to the generic ‘OS 1.1’.

Another indicator that this is an early version of an all-new operating system is the fact that the OS 1.1 Eco Show no longer runs Netflix.

Of course, running a new OS on a smart display is one thing. It’ll be a much bigger task bringing that OS to Fire devices, which have offered a vast App Store filled with Android-based apps for more than a decade now.

Presumably the sheer install base of Amazon’s device ecosystem will encourage those developers to make the necessary changes to tweak their apps.

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Jon is a seasoned freelance writer who started covering games and apps in 2007 before expanding into smartphones and consumer tech, dabbling in lifestyle and media coverage along the way. Besides bein…

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Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.

Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.

Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.

We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.