People have been wondering for a while now why the Nintendo Switch doesn’t run Android… It has the NVIDIA Tegra CPU, tested and proved to fit Android on quite a few tablets and even a console or two. We’ve seen modders and now it seems that we’re about to see a ROM pop up.
Coders already got Android running on the device and the project has been going on for so long that an unofficial Android ROM is ready to drop in a few days. This ROM is based on LineageOS 15.1, which in turn is based on Android 8.1 Oreo. Android Pie would have been nice, but we take what we can get. Of course, you may hesitate to tinker with the console you paid a few Benjamins for, but devs are promising a simple and painless process.
Nintendo is cracking down on this practice, void warranty, bans in games and all. There are reports of gamers who use modified Switch units getting banned, so the risk is there. The software is based on the NVIDIA Shield TV, it has TWRP preinstalled and oddly enough Android also keeps working with the console docked. Even Joy Cons are supported and working, both via Bluetooth and in handheld mode.
There are also things that don’t work: deep sleep, auto rotation, screen off in dock and input in some apps. More details and installation instructions are here. Proceed at your own risk!
