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Design of the LG G3__
It's all plastic, but it's not all bad.
So far most of the LG G3 leaks have been focused on the specs, but now we're getting word on how the phone might look.
The latest leak comes from an unnamed source who spoke to the Bulgarian blog Nixanbal and claimed that the LG G3 will have a polycarbonate matte back, but that the look will be similar to the brushed metal of the HTC ONE(M8).
Speaking of the back cover, it's apparently removable, which could mean a microSD card slot and battery swapping potential.
Slim fit
The source went on to say that the buttons will once again be on the back, but that they'll be smaller than they were on the LG G2 and that the power button will have an LED in it.
The camera is said to be positioned just above those buttons, with a dual-LED flash to its right and another sensor, thought to be infra-red, to the left. Apparently the camera will have a 13 megapixel resolution, just like the LG G2, which matches other recent rumours.
It's yet again tipped to have a Quad HD 5.5 inch display, but apparently the bezels will be very small, such that the LG G3 is only around the size of the Samsung Galaxy S5, despite having a bigger screen. N
Nixanbal handily created a mock-up based on this new information, which can be seen above, though as with all such rumours it should be taken with a pinch of salt for now.
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Researchers bypass fingerprint sensor in Samsung Galaxy S5
SRLabs researchers have released a new video demonstrating why fingerprints are not fit for secure device unlocking.
Fingerprint sensors on smartphones are certainly big step forward. But, are they good enough? Back in September last year, German researchers managed to crack the protection around Apple's fingerprint sensor on the iPhone 5S. Researchers used "fake fingerprint", which could be put onto a thin film and used with a real finger to unlock the device. And now, the fingerprint sensor on Samsung’s new Galaxy S5 has been cracked with the very same trick.
Germany-based SRLabs has released a video demonstrating the trick. Researchers used a “wood glue spoof”, made from mould of a fingerprint smudge left on smartphone screen. According to SRLabs, the fingerprint sensor in the S5 is more shoddy than what was found in the IPhone5S.
Apple needs a password after every reboot before users can unlock their iPhone 5s with fingerprint scanner. The phone also needs a password after certain number of failed attempts with fingerprint scanner.
However, the Galaxy S5 allows users to make unlimited attempts to unlock the device with fingerprint scanner. Moreover, rebooting doesn't lock the fingerprint scanning feature. Researchers showed how the Galaxy S5 fingerprint hack could allow hackers to access the PayPal app on the phone.
Fingerprint sensors on smartphones are certainly big step forward. But, are they good enough? Back in September last year, German researchers managed to crack the protection around Apple's fingerprint sensor on the iPhone 5S. Researchers used "fake fingerprint", which could be put onto a thin film and used with a real finger to unlock the device. And now, the fingerprint sensor on Samsung’s new Galaxy S5 has been cracked with the very same trick.Read More »
Project Ara modular phone will be grey, $50 and out in Jan 2015
Project Ara team lead Paul Eremenko revealed that alpha build of the Ara smartphone will be out by August of this year followed by the beta build in January 2015.
Project Ara, Google’s modular smartphone project, is expected to be available for purchase early next year. The phone is also expected to cost $50 (Rs. 3,000 approx.) and will be available in plain grey colour in order to encourage buyers to customize it. All of this was revealed by Paul Eremenko, the team leader of Project Ara at its first developers conference held on Tuesday at Google’s Mountain View campus.
Project Aradeals with the development of a “modular” smartphone- a smartphone that a user can upgrade with individual components and parts instead of spending money on an entirely new phone. These components will be of the miniaturised variety and will also rely on 3D printing. Eremenko revealed that the chassis or frame of the Ara smartphone will last around five to six years and will hold all the various components in place with the help of electro-permanent magnets. The components will communicate with each other using the UniPro standard, a high speed interface platform developed for use in mobiles.
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Eremenko also weighed in on the fact that even though Project Ara supports Android, Android, as yet, does not support the drivers required for modular hardware. He said that because Google owned the project, that problem should be solved soon.
Eremenko also revealed the expected timeline for Project Ara that includes two more developer conferences in July and September of this year respectively. The alpha build of Project Ara is expected in August of this year and the beta build in January 2015, which will be made available for purchase....
Eremenko also weighed in on the fact that even though Project Ara supports Android, Android, as yet, does not support the drivers required for modular hardware. He said that because Google owned the project, that problem should be solved soon. Read More »
Google launches standalone Camera App for Android
The new Camera App brings Lens Blur and Panorama shots to your Android device
Google has released a new standalone camera app for Android called Google Camera. The app is available for download from the Google Play Store for smartphones and tablets running Android 4.4 KitKat. It will be launched for other devices as well according to Google.
The app is available to Nexus phones and tablets for now. It brings Photo sphere mode which was introduced in Android 4.2 and lets you shoot 360 degrees immersive shots that look similar to Google Street View images.
Another feature available in Google Camera is Lens Blur- an SLR-like effect that changes the focus of the image after taking the shot. Google also mentioned in a blog post that the Camera app has an extra large capture button, sleek design and also brings the 100 percent viewfinder for capturing maximum resolution.
Another feature available in Google Camera is Lens Blur- an SLR-like effect that changes the focus of the image after taking the shot. Google also mentioned in a blog post that the Camera app has an extra large capture button, sleek design and also brings the 100 percent viewfinder for capturing maximum resolution.
Another feature available in Google Camera is Lens Blur- an SLR-like effect that changes the focus of the image after taking the shot. Google also mentioned in a blog post that the Camera app has an extra large capture button, sleek design and also brings the 100 percent viewfinder for capturing maximum resolution.
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In the blog post, Google writes, "Lens Blur replaces the need for a large optical system with computer vision algorithms and optimization techniques that are run entirely on the mobile device, simulating a larger lens and aperture in order to create a 3D model of the world."
Google has added the ability to insert and resize Google+ images in Gmail The feature can be accessed from Auto-back feature which is available for Android and iOS users and allows you to save images online. Google has inserted a photo-attachment button in Gmail that allows users to see previews of their photos in Google+. The app allows you to browse through preview images and add multiple pictures into an email simply by selecting them. Google has also added the ability to re-size the images inline while composing messages. The new feature will help promote Google+ as a photo storage service like Dropbox and Flickr.
CLICK here for the new GOOGLE camera.
CLICK here for the new GOOGLE camera.
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Samsung goes for evolution over revolution... again.
The Samsung Galaxy S5 can be defined by one word: evolution.
The camera has evolved to give clearer, faster snaps. The fitness-tracking abilities of the S5 are enhanced over the Galaxy S4 by packing 
The battery is larger, the screen bigger and brighter, the processor quicker and the design altered.
The spec sheet certainly doesn't let it down: a 2.5GHz quad-core CPU, 2GB of RAM, a 2800mAh (removable) battery, 16 / 32GB of memory (with up to 128GB extra through microSD), one of the world's most vibrant screens that's been extended to 5.1-inches and added biometrics
By the way " ITZ a Powerful, competent and with a whole new UI, it's a shame that Samsung hasn't progressed further with the look of its new challenger."Read More »
The Nokia X comes in Black, Green, Cyan, Yellow, Red and White color variants. It comes packed with a 4-inch WVGA display offering a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. It is powered by a 1GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Processor coupled with 512MB of RAM. It has 4GB internal storage and the ability to take in microSD cards up to 32GB in capacity.
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While the Nokia X isn’t exactly the lust-inducing, flagship-caliber device that we were all hoping for from the Finnish OEM’s entrance into the Android world, the device and its software are still rather intriguing.
In addition to making the Nokia X more functional by shoehorning external development onto the device, we’ve also seen porting efforts to bring some of the Nokia X’s software to other devices. This began withporting the Nokia Store to other devices, and we later saw the Nokia X ROM running on the HTC HD2… well, sort of. Now thanks to the efforts of XDA Senior Member xperiaz2, you can enjoy the Nokia X’s camera software on nearly any device running Jelly Bean or later.
As you can see in the screenshots to your right, the Nokia X camera software has some pretty nifty settings. These include ISO sensitivity control, the ability to display a live intensity histogram, configurable noise detection, redeye reduction, anti-banding, and more. All’s not perfect with the camera app, however, as the resultant pictures are stored with very high compression. Additionally, the port seems to have mixed results when running on other devices. For example, some have stated that while the actual camera functionality works fine, it causes a Gallery force close after recording a video.
If you want a taste of the Nokia X camera experience on your own device, head over to theported app thread and give this a go.
Update: It seems as if XDA Senior Member opssemnik has ported an even more functional version of the Nokia X camera to all 4.1+ devices. This version fixes many of the force closes that were encountered in the version above.
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– April 07, 2014 – Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., introduced its next- generation mobile processors for the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 800 tier, the Snapdragon 810 and 808 processors, which are designed to deliver the ultimate connected mobile computing experiences in video, imaging and graphics. The Snapdragon 810 and 808 processors are Qualcomm Technologies’ highest performing platform to date, completing Qualcomm Technologies’ lineup of 64-bit enabled, LTE-equipped chipsets for premium mobile computing devices. The Snapdragon 810 and 808 processors enable an exceptional overall user experience with seamless connectivity and industry-leading power efficiency for flagship smartphones and tablets.
Both the Snapdragon 810 and Snapdragon 808 processors integrate Qualcomm Technologies’ 4th Generation Cat 6 LTE Advanced multimode modem together with support for the Qualcomm RF360™ Front End Solution, and support 3x20MHz Carrier Aggregation, enabling speeds of up to 300 Mbps in the broadest set of spectrum deployment configurations to date. Both processors are designed in 20nm technology node with Cat 6 LTE, advanced multimedia features and 64-bit capability, all tightly integrated and optimized for exceptionally low power consumption that does not sacrifice performance, making them the first premium-tier 64-bit processors to enable LTE Advanced globally with a single design. These products underscore Qualcomm Technologies focus on 64-bit leadership, accelerating its availability across all product tiers while maintaining a long-term commitment to the continued development of its own next-generation custom 64-bit CPU microarchitecture, with more details expected to be shared later this year.
The Snapdragon 810 processor, as Qualcomm Technologies’ highest performing Snapdragon platform to date, also supports:
- Rich native 4K Ultra HD interface and video, along with an upgraded camera suite using gyro-stabilization and 3D noise reduction for producing high quality 4K video at 30 frames per second and 1080p video at 120 frames per second. The combined 14-bit dual Image Signal Processors (ISPs) are capable of supporting 1.2GP/s throughput and image sensors up to 55MP. Advanced imaging software helps enable advanced mobile camera features, including enhanced exposure, white balance and fast low light focus.
- The combined 64-bit quad core ARM Cortex-A57 CPUs and Cortex-A53 CPUs are designed to enable an improved user experience based on the advanced technology feature set, while implementation of the new ARMv8-A ISA enables improved instruction set efficiency. Designed for 4K displays, the new Qualcomm®Adreno™ 430 graphics processing unit (GPU) provides support for OpenGL ES 3.1 plus hardware tessellation, geometry shaders and programmable blending. The Adreno 430 is designed to deliver up to 30% faster graphics performance and 100% faster GPGPU compute performance, while reducing power consumption by up to 20%, as compared to its predecessor, the Adreno 420 GPU. The Adreno 430 GPU also enables a new level of GPU security for secure composition and management of premium video and other multimedia.
- The Snapdragon 810 processor introduces high speed LPDDR4 memory.
- Frame buffer compression and external 4K display support via HDMI1.4.
- First mobile platform to implement Qualcomm® VIVE™ 2-stream 802.11ac with multi-user MIMO, which makes Wi-Fi® networks more efficient than ever in order to maximize the performance of local connectivity for mobile devices.
- Support for Bluetooth® 4.1, USB 3.0, NFC and the latest Qualcomm® IZat™ location core for ubiquitous and highly accurate location services.
The Snapdragon 808 processor is designed for premium performance and integrates the same LTE-Advanced, RF360 and Wi-Fi connectivity as the Snapdragon 810 processor and includes 2K display support. Both chipsets are fully software compatible with the 64-bit ARMv8-A instruction set. The primary differences of the Snapdragon 808 processor include:
- Designed for WQXGA (2560x1600) displays, the new Adreno 418 GPU provides support for OpenGL ES 3.1 plus hardware tessellation, geometry shaders, programmable blending. It is designed to support up to 20% faster graphics performance than its predecessor, the Adreno 330 GPU. The Adreno 418 GPU also enables a new level of GPU security for secure composition and management of premium video and other multimedia.
- Configured with two ARM Cortex-A57 cores paired with a quad Cortex-A53 CPU.
- 12-bit dual Image Signal Processors.
- LPDDR3 memory.
- Frame buffer compression and external 4K display support via HDMI1.4.
“The announcement of the Snapdragon 810 and 808 processors underscore Qualcomm Technologies’ continued commitment to technology leadership and a time-to-market advantage for our customers for premium tier 64-bit LTE-enabled smartphones and tablets,” said Murthy Renduchintala, executive vice president, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., and co-president, QCT. “These product announcements, in combination with the continued development of our next-generation custom 64-bit CPU, will ensure we have a tremendous foundation on which to innovate as we continue to push the boundaries of mobile computing performance in the years to come.”
The Snapdragon 810 and 808 processors are anticipated to begin sampling in the second half of 2014 and expected to be available in commercial devices by the first half of 2015. More information can be found atwww.qualcomm.com/snapdragon. Developers can find tools to optimize their apps for Snapdragon processors athttps://developer.qualcomm.com.
Except for the historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including Qualcomm Technologies’ ability to successfully design and have manufactured significant quantities of Snapdragon 808, Snapdragon 810 processors and next-generation CPU microarchitectures on a timely and profitable basis, the extent and speed to which the Snapdragon platform is adopted, change in economic conditions of the various markets Qualcomm Technologies serves, as well as the other risks detailed from time to time in Qualcomm Incorporated’s SEC reports, including the report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 29, 2013, and most recent Form 10-Q.
About Qualcomm Incorporated
Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) is a world leader in 3G, 4G and next-generation wireless technologies. Qualcomm Incorporated includes Qualcomm’s licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of its patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of Qualcomm’s engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of its products and services businesses, including its semiconductor business, QCT. For more than 25 years, Qualcomm ideas and inventions have driven the evolution of digital communications, linking people everywhere more closely to information, entertainment and each other. For more information, visit Qualcomm’swebsite, OnQ blog, Twitter and Facebook pages.
[Source: Qualcomm Press Release]
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Devices with Update
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- Canvas A114
- Canvas A110
Android 4.4 is designed to run fast, smooth, and responsively on a much broader range of devices than ever before — including on millions of entry-level devices around the world that have as little as 512MB RAM.
KitKat streamlines every major component to reduce memory use and introduces new APIs and tools to help you create innovative, responsive, memory-efficient applications.
OEMs building the next generation of Android devices can take advantage oftargeted recommendations and options to run Android 4.4 efficiently, even on low-memory devices. Dalvik JIT code cache tuning, kernel samepage merging (KSM), swap to zRAM, and other optimizations help manage memory. New configuration options let OEMs tune out-of-memory levels for processes, set graphics cache sizes, control memory reclaim, and more.
In Android itself, changes across the system improve memory management and reduce memory footprint. Core system processes are trimmed to use less heap, and they now more aggressively protect system memory from apps consuming large amounts of RAM. When multiple services start at once — such as when network connectivity changes — Android now launches the services serially, in small groups, to avoid peak memory demands.
For developers, Android 4.4 helps you deliver apps that are efficient and responsive on all devices. A new API,ActivityManager.isLowRamDevice(), lets you tune your app's behavior to match the device's memory configuration. You can modify or disable large-memory features as needed, depending on the use-cases you want to support on entry-level devices. Learn more about optimizing your apps for low-memory devices here.
New tools give also give you powerful insight into your app's memory use. The procstats tool details memory use over time, with run times and memory footprint for foreground apps and background services. An on-device view is also available as a new developer option. The meminfo tool is enhanced to make it easier to spot memory trends and issues, and it reveals additional memory overhead that hasn't previously been visible.
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It should come as no surprise that the cleanest and most robust way to introduce your own modifications to an existing project is through modifying the original source code and recompiling. However, this is not always possible. Often times, we must begin our journey to app or ROM modification from a closed source binary, and then work from there.
Luckily, there are various tools available to make life a little easier when not working with source. One such tool comes from XDA Recognized Contributor ricky310711. As one would expect from a typical ROM kitchen, Ricky’s ROM Kitchen allows you to perform various tasks to existing ROMs such as adding init.d support, busybox, root, and so on.
With this toolkit, you can also extract the ROM’s constituent files, deodex, and add various tweaks. The kitchen even allows you to easily de-Knox Samsung OEM ROMs. In addition to modifying ROMs, Ricky’s ROM Kitchen also allows you to modify APK and JAR files. To that end, you can quickly decompile and compile APK and JAR files, as well as classes.dex.
Although modifying and building from source is always preferable, it’s not always feasible. If you’ve been looking for a very versatile tool to help your non-source built modifications, head over to the utility thread to get started.
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The LG G2 offers some pretty nice camera performance out of the box. Thanks to its 13MP sensor and optical image stabilization, both pictures and 1080p video come out crisp and clean. However, this is XDA and we don’t ever settle for what’s given to us by the OEMs. Instead, we tweak and modify our devices to make them as good as they can possibly be.
XDA Senior Member xdabbeb recently created a handy mod for the LG G2 that gives it substantially improved camera capabilities. The stock camera application available for the device allows it to take 1080p video at 60 fps. But with xdabbeb’s mod, you can now capture 4k Ultra HD video at 30 fps or standard 720p video at 120 fps. In addition, this mod also allows you to enable HDR in your videos, and ISO 1600 for stills. And to add extra polish to your videos, the mod also allows you to enable electronic image stabilization in addition to the hardware optical image stabilization offered by the camera lens.
The mod should be compatible with various variants of the G2 running many different firmware packages. But given how many possibilities there are, it’s best to make sure you have a full Nandroid backup before flashing. Head over to the original thread to boost your G2′s camera capabilities.
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Widgets are some of the most useful staples of our Android home screens. They’re also perhaps the biggest differentiation we have to set our devices apart from the generic grid of icons found on iDevices. Widgets come in all shapes and sizes, and there are options to handle pretty much every task imaginable.
Since most of us use widgets to personalize our home screens, wouldn’t it be nice to have a widget that’s a bit more one of a kind than something that can also be installed by every other Android user? With XDA Senior Member newHere:)‘s app DrawTime, you can now create your own one-of-a-kind clock widget.
Using DrawTime is quite simple. You start off by drawing a set of template numbers. These can be any shape and color of your choosing, and you can even use multiple colors per template number. Next, you configure your clock by choosing what application is launched when tapping the widget, as well as how you would like your clock to be displayed. Finally, you add your widget, and you’re good to go with a truly unique widget that is sure to set your home screen apart from every other Android device.
If you want that last bit of personalized flair on your home screen, head over to the application thread and give DrawTime a shot.
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Sony’s new flagship Xperia Z2 was released late last month at MWC in Barcelona. Improving on its predecessor in every aspect that counts, the Z2 is quite the tempting proposition for those looking for a new high-end device in early 2014.
Earlier this month, XDA Recognized Developer DooMLoRD provided a firmware dump for Sony’s latest flagship. While this was obviously not intended for end users, it was released with the intention of helping other developers port various parts of the Z2′s firmware to other devices. Now, XDA Senior Member Aman_Arora and Recognized Contributor Jishnu Sur™ have gone ahead and done exactly that.
Their first ported app is the Z2′s calendar app, which can now be used on any device running Android 4.0 or greater. (Android 4.1+ has been tested, but it is assumed that this will also work on 4.0.) Currently, most of the app’s features work, but there are a few minor problems here and there. For example, you are unable to add contacts to event attendee lists because they hook into Xperia-specific contacts files.
While the port isn’t 100% complete yet, those looking for an aesthetically appealing calendar with lots of event and display customization may find the Z2 calendar app worth a shot. Head over to the ported application thread to get started.
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There are few things more annoying than losing network connectivity on our supposedly always connected mobile devices. But one thing that definitely is worse is losing connectivity, and then subsequently draining your battery as a result of the lost connection. Unfortunately, this is all too common for those of us who frequently travel to rural areas because our mobile devices keep on searching for a network even when there is none.
Thankfully, there are steps we can take to make sure that our lost connectivity doesn’t result in a dead battery. XDA Forum Member ProjectZed created an innovative app called Auto Pilot Mode. This application is a lightweight tool that allows you to automatically enable airplane mode when your signal cuts out.
When you first launch Auto Pilot Mode, you set time and network strength thresholds to determine when airplane mode should be enabled. You can also set how long airplane mode should stay enabled before checking for signal again. In addition, Auto Pilot Mode also gives you the option to launch the app on boot and disable functionality when in a call. The app even allows you to automatically turn on WiFi when airplane mode is enabled.
If you frequently find yourself with an extremely low battery due to network issues, you may want to give Auto Pilot Mode a try. Head over to the application thread to give it a shot.
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