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Showing posts from February, 2019

Phone Hacks - Pixel 2’s Portrait Mode Ported to some Non-Google Devices running Android Oreo

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Happy Birthday to LineageOS! While many Americans prepare to spend Christmas with their families, a large, international family is celebrating a milestone achievement. It has been exactly 1 year since LineageOS rose from the ashes of CyanogenMod , and the team has accomplished so much in such a short time. The team has rapidly expanded since the initial announcement and now supports 180 devices. There are over 700+ contributors and 1.7 million users of LineageOS worldwide. LineageOS keeps old devices such as the OnePlus One and Samsung Galaxy S3 alive long past the end of official manufacturer support. We can’t imagine where the custom ROM scene would be if the community surrounding CyanogenMod hadn’t rallied so quickly to carry the torch. Although the software on each new Android release matures with each iteration, there will always be a place for custom ROMs like LineageOS so long as there are developers and users alike interested in opening up their devices. As the te...

Phone Hacks - Pixel 2’s Portrait Mode Ported to some Non-Google Devices running Android Oreo

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Happy Birthday to LineageOS! While many Americans prepare to spend Christmas with their families, a large, international family is celebrating a milestone achievement. It has been exactly 1 year since LineageOS rose from the ashes of CyanogenMod , and the team has accomplished so much in such a short time. The team has rapidly expanded since the initial announcement and now supports 180 devices. There are over 700+ contributors and 1.7 million users of LineageOS worldwide. LineageOS keeps old devices such as the OnePlus One and Samsung Galaxy S3 alive long past the end of official manufacturer support. We can’t imagine where the custom ROM scene would be if the community surrounding CyanogenMod hadn’t rallied so quickly to carry the torch. Although the software on each new Android release matures with each iteration, there will always be a place for custom ROMs like LineageOS so long as there are developers and users alike interested in opening up their devices. As the te...

Phone Hacks - LG to Introduce Raspberry Rose LG V30 at CES 2018

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Interview with eng.stk, Developer of blu_spark Kernel – Part 2: F2FS, EAS and Tips for Aspiring Kernel Developers I recently got the chance to interview XDA Senior Member eng.stk , developer of the blu_spark kernel. It’s available across many devices on our forums, including the Nexus 5 , OnePlus 3 /T and the OnePlus 5T . In this part, we ask eng.stk about EAS, F2FS, development tips and more! What are the biggest changes in kernel development since you’ve begun? Well, in 3.0 and 3.4 things were rawer. Upstream and backports were the most difficult [things to do] and took a lot of work. On the other hand, there was a time where people added and modded more stuff. On 3.10 CAF tags helped a bit when it came to standardization and nice baselines, 64-bit support was also a big jump in device support. Nowadays on 3.18 and 4.4 life is easier. Platforms are more stable, it’s easier to build on top [of them]. The closer we get to mainline Linux, the better. I know Googl...

Phone Hacks - LG to Introduce Raspberry Rose LG V30 at CES 2018

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Interview with eng.stk, Developer of blu_spark Kernel – Part 2: F2FS, EAS and Tips for Aspiring Kernel Developers I recently got the chance to interview XDA Senior Member eng.stk , developer of the blu_spark kernel. It’s available across many devices on our forums, including the Nexus 5 , OnePlus 3 /T and the OnePlus 5T . In this part, we ask eng.stk about EAS, F2FS, development tips and more! What are the biggest changes in kernel development since you’ve begun? Well, in 3.0 and 3.4 things were rawer. Upstream and backports were the most difficult [things to do] and took a lot of work. On the other hand, there was a time where people added and modded more stuff. On 3.10 CAF tags helped a bit when it came to standardization and nice baselines, 64-bit support was also a big jump in device support. Nowadays on 3.18 and 4.4 life is easier. Platforms are more stable, it’s easier to build on top [of them]. The closer we get to mainline Linux, the better. I know Googl...

Phone Hacks - "Huawei P20 Schematics Reveal Three Models, Triple Rear Camera Mount"

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The OnePlus 5T’s Face Unlock Feature is coming to the OnePlus 5 The OnePlus 5T launched with its fingerprint sensor on the back instead of the front, a radical design departure from its predecessors. Oftentimes the biggest advantage of a front-facing fingerprint sensor is the ability to quickly unlock your device when it is still sitting on a table. However, the OnePlus 5T’s bezel-less design approach meant that the company simply couldn’t fit a fingerprint sensor on the front anymore. To combat this, OnePlus introduced their brand new Face Unlock technology which uses the front-facing camera to analyze 100 identifiers of your face. In our experience , it’s blazingly fast and hard to fool. Unfortunately, it remains an exclusive feature on the OnePlus 5T, but not for long. A recent tweet from Carl Pei, one of the co-founders of OnePlus, confirms that the company is bringing Face Unlock to the OnePlus 5 . Due to popular demand, Face Unlock is coming for the One...

Phone Hacks - "Huawei P20 Schematics Reveal Three Models, Triple Rear Camera Mount"

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The OnePlus 5T’s Face Unlock Feature is coming to the OnePlus 5 The OnePlus 5T launched with its fingerprint sensor on the back instead of the front, a radical design departure from its predecessors. Oftentimes the biggest advantage of a front-facing fingerprint sensor is the ability to quickly unlock your device when it is still sitting on a table. However, the OnePlus 5T’s bezel-less design approach meant that the company simply couldn’t fit a fingerprint sensor on the front anymore. To combat this, OnePlus introduced their brand new Face Unlock technology which uses the front-facing camera to analyze 100 identifiers of your face. In our experience , it’s blazingly fast and hard to fool. Unfortunately, it remains an exclusive feature on the OnePlus 5T, but not for long. A recent tweet from Carl Pei, one of the co-founders of OnePlus, confirms that the company is bringing Face Unlock to the OnePlus 5 . Due to popular demand, Face Unlock is coming for the One...

Phone Hacks - Micromax to Launch a $31 Android Go Smartphone in India

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Official Android Oreo Update Rolling out to the OnePlus 5 (OxygenOS 5.0) When it comes to the Android Oreo update, OnePlus has promised to release the update for most of its devices before the end of the year. The 8.0 stable update has already officially rolled out for the OnePlus 3/3T  before the latest OnePlus 5 or 5T. For the OnePlus 5, the company promised an OxygenOS -based Android Oreo beta before December, and they delivered . The company also promised to release a stable OTA in early 2018, but it looks like OnePlus has somewhat shifted their timeline to give OnePlus 5 owners a little Christmas present: OxygenOS 5.0, based on stable Android Oreo, is now officially rolling out to the OnePlus 5. The OxygenOS 5.0 update was officially announced on the OnePlus Community Forums earlier today, and it’s officially available as an incremental rollout initially starting in Canada, Germany, Finland, and Hong Kong, with a wider rollout to become available later on. OnePlus has als...

Phone Hacks - Micromax to Launch a $31 Android Go Smartphone in India

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Official Android Oreo Update Rolling out to the OnePlus 5 (OxygenOS 5.0) When it comes to the Android Oreo update, OnePlus has promised to release the update for most of its devices before the end of the year. The 8.0 stable update has already officially rolled out for the OnePlus 3/3T  before the latest OnePlus 5 or 5T. For the OnePlus 5, the company promised an OxygenOS -based Android Oreo beta before December, and they delivered . The company also promised to release a stable OTA in early 2018, but it looks like OnePlus has somewhat shifted their timeline to give OnePlus 5 owners a little Christmas present: OxygenOS 5.0, based on stable Android Oreo, is now officially rolling out to the OnePlus 5. The OxygenOS 5.0 update was officially announced on the OnePlus Community Forums earlier today, and it’s officially available as an incremental rollout initially starting in Canada, Germany, Finland, and Hong Kong, with a wider rollout to become available later on. OnePlus has als...