After waiting around for a few months, and going through all the hype that is oft associated with OnePlus launches and releases, it is finally here.
Android 7.0 Nougat has landed on the OnePlus 3 in official capacity, albeit in a limited format. This Nougat build is part of the beta builds, and you can flash it manually. The Beta 8 build, sized at a hefty 1.3GB, brings the Android version upgrade as its most noticeable change. The key changes of the update is as follows:
Upgraded to Android 7.0 Nougat
New Notifications Design
New Settings Menu Design
Multi-Window View
Notification Direct Reply
Custom DPI Support
Added Status Bar Icon Options
Added Quick Launch For 3rd Party Applications
Improved Shelf Customization
There are UI changes involved as well. Most of these changes will be familiar to users running OxygenOS’s Beta builds for the OnePlus 3. We will have more to talk about the UI changes in our hands-on soon.
To download the OnePlus 3 Android 7.0 Beta 8, head on over to the download link mentioned in the forum announcement. OnePlus is inviting feedback on issues you find, which you can through a OnePlus Feedback app. You can also submit bug reports here. Additionally, if you would like to converse with other users on the update, you can head on over to our forums.
Have you tried out the update? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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Among the improvements that OnePlus touted for its OnePlus 3T release, we were told that the company had managed to improve app opening speeds and general loading times, something especially noticeable on heavy applications such as 3D games.
This struck us as a surprise, because the device ultimately packs the same kind of UFS 2.0 storage as the original OnePlus 3, and the Snapdragon 821 CPU’s minimal improvements are largely irrelevant for this usage scenario. That being said, when we took the OnePlus 3T through our app opening speed test, we did find that the device has faster cold app opening speeds than its predecessor. Initially we were puzzled, but there was a key detail in the embargoed information that was also very quietly and quickly mentioned by Carl in the announcement video (timestamp): the file system had changed from EXT4 to F2FS, which is why there is a difference in app opening speeds. F2FS is a different file system that specifically takes advantage of flash storage like that of these phones, and as such it makes sense to incorporate it with the OnePlus 3 and 3T’s already-excellent UFS 2.0 storage solution as well.
The storage is the same and the processor bump is minimal, but this file system change alone was enough to bring serious improvements to real-world performance in the form of slightly-faster opening speeds for everyday apps, and dramatic improvements to loading heavy games such as Asphalt 8, as shown above. Given I was able to spot this ahead of release, I wrote an article explaining some of the changes that were coming to the OnePlus 3 and also mentioned in the full review that F2FS was coming to the OnePlus 3 in the near future. Moreover, I was informed by OnePlus that the community builds of the OnePlus 3 already supported F2FS, carrying over some of these improvements (in the review, we compared the OnePlus 3T to its predecessors’ latest stable firmware build at the time, OxygenOS 3.2.6).
Earlier this week, AnandTech published an excellent review of the OnePlus 3T where they listed the storage speed improvements that this new unit brings over its predecessor. Their results were entirely accurate and showed a rather massive delta in some aspects, and I have been able to replicate them almost to a T (well, in the same ballpark, but I needed that pun) — however, a key detail was left out that led some users to make incorrect claims regarding which version of the OnePlus 3T is the better option. To be specific, it’s incorrect to say that the 128GB OnePlus 3T will bring better real-world performance due to the extremely good storage speed results shown in the review. That is because those results don’t account for the change to F2FS for the file system, which wasn’t originally mentioned as the main cause in the NAND section of the review; while the argument that more storage in SSDs generally increases performance is correct (unless higher-capacity dies are used instead of parallel chips, which could be the case), we found that the difference in storage speed as measured by AndroBench seems to come from the change in file system alone, and not the storage amount.
To confirm this, we ran a few tests on both a 128GB and 64GB OnePlus 3T, starting with the same app-opening speed test in parallel. This time around, we found that the 64GB OnePlus 3T performed nearly exactly the same as the 128GB OnePlus 3T under the same starting conditions (after a clean set up, no restored apps, minimal background processes, 100MBps internet), using Discomark to get 20 runs per app per sample (allowing no background processes and not keeping activities, to emulate cold launches). The small differences in variance could be attributed to the different Google accounts on the device (I don’t own both devices), but both were not actively syncing and in general the result is the same as shown by the similarity of interquartile ranges. We further tested game loading speed: in our OnePlus 3T review, we showed a video that compared the 3 and 3T loading Asphalt 8, with the 3T having a clear, multiple second long advantage. The 64GB and 128GB OnePlus 3T both load the game at around the same 10 second mark on average, with the random variance putting them mere milliseconds apart.
When we compare AndroBench results on both the 64GB and 128GB variants, we also see very similar scores on both the default settings and on AnandTech’s settings as well (one thread, buffer size set to 256KB for sequential and 4KB for random), the latter being a more accurate prediction of performance under real-world scenarios. Overall, there seems to be no practical difference in the storage speed of the 64GB and 128GB variants, even when we would also had expected such a difference to manifest itself as we presumed there would be additional NAND chips. (Do keep in mind this test has relatively high variance, the difference in the screenshots shown does not necessarily mean one is invariably better even if by little). What’s more interesting is what we get when we put the OnePlus 3 on F2FS through these tests too, as we found the same results.
As we mentioned earlier, the community builds on the OnePlus 3 support F2FS storage. We first ran the benchmarks on Oxygen 3.2.6 again to confirm that the difference was indeed as clear as what AnandTech has shown, and we obtained the same results on both settings. After that, we loaded up the Open Beta 7 and made sure that it was properly formatted into F2FS by verifying /data.
Running the tests on the 64GB OnePlus 3 with an F2FS file system gave us about the same results as the 128GB OnePlus 3T on both the default AndroBench settings and the more-accurate ones. Furthermore, we found app opening speeds to be similar as well. And the most telling clue comes from that Asphalt 8 loading speed test, as while the original test had the OnePlus 3 trailing several seconds behind, we see that it now keeps up and loads at around the same time.
So what does this all mean? The improvements in real-world performance of the OnePlus 3T came largely due to F2FS, which will most certainly arrive to the OnePlus 3 officially with Nougat (beta available today!). OnePlus users are not strangers to F2FS, in fact this was a common mod for the OnePlus One for the same reasons. While you are free to format your storage into F2FS through a custom recovery, I’d recommend you wait until the update to hit your OnePlus 3 officially, or to try the Nougat beta. The improvements can be substantial, particularly as we demonstrated with heavy applications and 3D games, but for the most part the OnePlus 3 does an excellent job already. OnePlus 3 owners definitely have a lot to look forward to with the Nougat update, as F2FS alone will likely ensure a faster phone for them in specific areas of the UX.
OnePlus 3T owners shouldn’t have expected a boost in app opening speed from the Snapdragon 821 alone (but that’s a misconception for another day), and truth be told you are likely not going to miss out on much speed or fluidity by underclocking the performance cluster back to the good old 2.15GHz of the regular OnePlus 3 and Snapdragon 820. In fact, this would probably make the OnePlus 3T’s bigger battery shine even brighter, and I am sure developers will implement intelligent changes to the kernel and offer useful governors so that users can enjoy fast performance and excellent battery life below that 2.35GHz peak.
To summarize, the OnePlus 3 and the OnePlus 3T will behave largely the same under F2FS, which is likely coming to the OnePlus 3 with the official Nougat update. The difference in storage speeds as measured by AndroBench does not look to be a product of extra NAND chips in the 128GB variant, but rather the changes made to the underlying file system. This is most definitely a good thing for both OnePlus 3 owners and OnePlus 3T owners, who really don’t have to worry much about a gimped user experience by preferring to opt for less storage. At the end of the day, both phones are very snappy even with the reported (and frankly overblown) issues with touch latency.
Since September, XDA Recognized Developer Chainfire started a new versioning system for SuperSU. This began with version 2.78 SR1 of SuperSU, and today the man has released 2.78 SR5. Instead of labeling them as a Beta, he changed this to a Service Release naming scheme. He felt this would be a good way of reducing the number of people trying to upload beta releases to non-Google Play app stores since it would continue to carry the same version number.
Since then, Chainfire started work on getting SuperSU compatible with the Pixel and Pixel XL, along with ironing out some bugs related to Android 7.x Nougat. Most of these bug fixes have been related to the A/B partition system that was introduced with Android 7.0 and the Pixel phones. But there have been some other fixes for things like sukernel, supolicy, suinit, and making sure SuperSU worked alongside of TWRP as they were having a conflict until SR4 was released.
Today, he has released yet another update to SuperSU, and this one focuses on some Nougat related bugs again. In a Google+ post, Chainfire tells us that some scripts and services weren’t able to be executed thanks to some modifications SuperSU makes to SELinux and the stricter service execution rules in Nougat. This didn’t happen on all firmwares, but this did lead to Wi-Fi, cellular, and other modem-related features not working on some of them (like the Samsung Nougat beta and CyanogenMod 14.1).
With this update, the SuperSU GUI now offers a way to disable Samsung’s SecurityLogAgent component as part of disabling KNOX (to help remove some of the popups that people were experiencing). Chainfire has also released a custom package for gaining root access to the HTC 10‘s new Nougat update. This will be replaced with a flashable ZIP via TWRP or CF-Auto-Root when it becomes available.
Flyperlink is a great alternative app to System WebView. System WebView is the browser that is used when you open a link from within an app. It’s a very basic version of Chrome that many people get very frustrated with. There are no customization options for System WebView. Flyperlink creates a floating browser window that can be resized, minimized, and closed easily. I much prefer Flyperlink as my in-app browser, so I made a video showing you how it works.
Owners of both the Xperia X Performance (F8131) and X Performance Dual (F8132) are now seeing Android 7.0 Nougat being pushed to their devices in select regions. This update carries the firmware version 39.2.A.0.327, and XDA Senior Member Mazellat shows us they’re showing up in XperiFirm.
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They were able to produce 540 tablets, but said they were looking into refunding the other 21,000 Indiegogo campaign backers. While looking for some additional funding, Jolla was able to close on a $12 million round in May of this year. These investors now include shareholders in its Russian licensing customer OMP (Open Mobile Platform) and this has forced the company to switch to a b2b company instead of being b2c like they were before.
Jolla says the Russian version of Sailfish OS will not be a fork. Instead, they will be working closely with its licensing partners within the country to develop custom versions that suit their particular needs. So Jolla will continue to maintain the core code base and that will be tied to all custom versions they develop.
In 2016, LeEco rapidly expanded their international presence with an aggressive marketing campaign in its first push into the United States.
The company launched the LeEco Le S3 and the LeEco Le Pro 3, and despite mixed reviews decrying the software experience, few have denied that these smartphones pack quite a punch in spite of their pricing. But software is something that can be fixed with enough tinkering, as we here at XDA are especially wont to do. However, one of the major hurdles facing active development is the timely release of kernel source code. Although required to do so under the GNU General Public License and GNU Lesser General Public License, some OEMs defer releasing kernel source code until they feel its necessary. Some companies release the code, but do so in an obscure location. Fortunately, it doesn’t look like LeEco will follow that trend.
LeEco has just released the kernel source code for a fair number of their products. The company has created a new Open Source landing page on their corporate website for current and future kernel source code releases. So far, there are 7 sets of kernel source code for 7 current LeEco products including the Le S3, Le Pro 3, Le 1s (Lollipop and Marshmallow), Le 1s Eco (Lollipop and Marshmallow), Le 2, Le Max and the Le Max 2. The company is also listing kernel source code for a few TVs they sell including the Super4 X55, Super4, X43 Pro, and the Super4 X65. Lastly, LeEco has included kernel sources for three different versions of the LeTV Box U4 set-top box.
Some people outside the United States are reporting that these kernel source download links are broken. Oddly, LeEco has seems to be restricting its kernel source code downloads to people living in the United States. Developers living outside of the U.S., at least for now, will have to use a U.S.-based VPN service to download the source code.
The OnePlus 3 and the OnePlus 3T are among the best Android smartphones you could buy right now (or not, in the case of the OnePlus 3). Mix great hardware with an open software approach (compared to other popular OEMs) and what you get is a flagships that is closest to the Nexus of old in the developer scene of 2016.
In fact, our forums for the OnePlus 3 attract more traffic than our forums for the Nexus 6P, which was the last Nexus flagship. But not everything is rosy with the OnePlus 3/3T. As of late, users have been complaining about an issue that should not exist on a 2016 flagship. Particularly, despite all of its hardware prowess, the OnePlus 3/3T have poor performance with respect to touch latency.
What is touch latency, you ask? This video from Microsoft Research explains and demonstrates touch latency and its issues in a very easy to understand form:
The delay between the response on the touchscreen to your input is what constitutes touch latency. Modern flagship devices, barring the OnePlus 3/3T that is, typically have latency at around 50ms. But a French review at Les Numériques quoted the touch delay on the OnePlus 3T to be at 93 ms, which as the video above would demonstrate, is unacceptable in high interaction scenarios.
Several users and developers have voiced their displeasure at the current state of touch latency on the flagship product. The issue has been brought up several times in the OnePlus forums, our device forums and on Reddit as well, gathering hundreds of votes and comments. XDA Recognized Developer Arter97 commented on the issue at OnePlus’s forums, and gave his thoughts on the matter:
OnePlus 3/3T needs touch firmware (in /system/etc/firmware/tp, closed source) tuning for better latency. The latest 3.5.3 update on the 3T is still not good enough (tried it myself). Currently, the “move sensitivity” on the OnePlus 3 is set too big, which results in latency. If you touch the screen and move the finger around very little (like 3~5mm), it won’t be registered as a scroll. This is because the “move sensitivity” is set too big. We are on a 5.5″ screen. I think it’ll be totally fine to reduce the threshold a bit. (If the threshold is set too small, a tap will be registered as a scroll. If it’s set too big, a scroll will be registered as a tap and increase latency.)
As Arter97 mentions, the touch latency delay is not to be confused with smoothness. As we tested out in our hardware review of the OnePlus 3 and the OnePlus 3T, both the devices output exemplary real-world performance. You are unlikely to notice these latency issues in quick and sparse reaction scenarios, as the issue becomes much more apparent when you have numerous screen interactions like while typing, or when doing short scrolling interactions. And, you are much more likely to notice the issues if you come from other flagship devices with better touch response timings, like the Pixel XL. The latency troubles do not make the phone unusable, but they do perceptibly affect the device’s overall responsiveness.
The OnePlus 3/3T need tweaking on the firmware level to help combat these issues. It is indeed a shame to have the experience of quality hardware marred by issues that should not be so pressing in 2016. It also bears to mention that the OnePlus 3/3T will not be receiving Android 7.1 Nougat right off the bat, so the touch latency improvements that this update brings across Android is unlikely to be seen here as well (unless OnePlus has been listening and cooks a fix). Our best bet right now is to have OnePlus issue fixes and improvements to this end, and hope that Android 7.1 further improves the scenario as well.
What are your thoughts on the OnePlus 3/3T’s touch latency issues? Have you noticed input lag before? Let us know in the comments below!
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Estimates peg the current number of active Android developers residing in the EU at 1.3 million.
Out of this group of developers, a recent report claims that just under half (42 percent) are self taught. As such, Google has recognized the need to reach out to these self-taught developers in order to foster independent development on Android. Therefore, Google has recently announced an initiative to fund 10,000 Android Developer training scholarships for developers residing in the EU. 9,000 of these scholarships will be specifically targeted towards aspiring developers getting their feet wet in the Android Basics course. The remaining 1,000 scholarships will be aimed at experienced developers who will benefit from the Associate Android Developer Fast Track, the training course required to receive the official Android Developer certification.
Google has announced a partnership with the international media enterprise Bertelsmann in this endeavor, which will be shifting part of their skill-building and training budgets across their nearly 1,000 businesses towards ICT. Furthermore, Google will also partner with Udacity to offer Nanodegree scholarships. This partnership will begin next year, and will offer about 2,000 Android developers from Europe a chance at obtaining one of these Nanodegree scholarships.
In order to apply, all you have to do is visit a special Udacity landing page for more details about the available scholarships. Remember, these scholarships are only available to European residents and applications for the scholarships must be sent by December 18th of this year. Winners of the 9,000 Android Beginner Path and 1,000 Android Programmer Path scholarships will be chosen on January 5th of the upcoming year. There aren’t special restrictions to apply for the Android Beginner Path scholarship, but the Android Programmer Path does require that you have at least 1 year of programming experience under your belt. Source: The Keyword
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At CES 2016, we learned that ZTE planned to crowdsource ideas for an upcoming smartphone release. This was a rather big deal because it’s rare for a smartphone OEM to pull their ideas directly from the Android community. The rules were simple, and only required the ideas to be technically possible by 2017 and not be too expensive that it wouldn’t be affordable by the general public.
So a few months ago, ZTE actually started to collect ideas from the community about what they wanted to see in the company’s next smartphone. Then in October, ZTE had chosen 5 different features and asked the community to vote on which one they wanted the most. This caught the attention of us at XDA because one of the options for us to choose from was a flagship smartphone that used stock Android software.
Other options included eye tracking and a self-adhesive phone, intelligent smartphone covers, a powerglove, and a VR-interactive diving mask. A month later, ZTE wanted to get some details on why people chose the option they did. But soon, the winner was announce and surprisingly it was the eye tracking and self-adhesive smartphone idea. This would become the basis of an upcoming ZTE smartphone in 2017. We aren’t told exactly when this smartphone will be released, but we are to expect it sometime next year.
While ZTE develops this new smartphone for the public, they want your help in coming up with a name for it (you can submit your idea here). Ideas will be collected until December 5th and ZTE will choose 5 different finalists for the name of the phone. These names will go up on ZTE’s Project CSX website and the community will be able to cast their vote on which one they like the most. The winner will be announced at CES 2017, and ZTE promises the person who came up with the name will receive a “small cash prize” as well.
Cyanogen Inc. has been in the news lately for the major changes that the company was recently undergoing. Most notably, the former CEO of Cyanogen, Kirt McMaster had to hand over the managerial roles of the company to Lior Tal and assume the role of Executive Chairman. Further, Cyanogen Inc’s co-founder Steve Kondik, more famously known around the Internet as “cyanogen” and the creator of CyanogenMod, was stepping down from his role of CTO and taking up the position of “Chief Science Officer”.
It seems that some more shuffling around is in store for the company. As AndroidPolice reports from sources inside and outside the company, Cyanogen Inc. is scheduled to go through another round of layoffs and downsizing. The company will announce internally that its Seattle headquarters will be closed down by the end of this year. AndroidPolice claims that some employees from the Seattle office are given options to relocate to Cyanogen Inc’s smaller Palo Alto office, where two more employees responsible for “Android development” were let go.
The most surprising news coming in from the report is that the future of Steve “cyanogen” Kondik is also allegedly up in the air. The position of Chief Science Officer was never defined to the outside world, so assumptions were made on its reduction of authority over company’s broader matters. But the upcoming announcement might just be the end of the first commercial road for Kondik’s Cyanogen Inc dream, a developer whose legacy powers millions of devices across the world.
What does all of this mean for CyanogenMod? Nothing immediately, as CyanogenMod continues to remain distinct from Cyanogen Inc, although Cyanogen Inc. employees contributed often to CyanogenMod. CyanogenMod thrives on the work of the enthusiast community so there’s no question of CyanogenMod dying anytime soon — that’s the beauty of open source.
Marco is back with a video tutorial for KWLP (Live Wallpaper Maker). This is a great customization app that can make your phone look incredible. The problem is, it’s not that easy to use. So if you’re new to KLWP, this video will help you get started.
Launcher
First off, get yourself a good custom launcher. You’ll want this because KLWP works best with black layouts. Nova Launcher is the recommended app to use for this situation.
Get rid of any icons or widgets from your homescreen. The idea is to get a fresh blank page. If you have a prime version of Nova Launcher, add some gestures to replace the navigation bar and app drawer.
Kustom Navigation
Open your Kustom app and you’ll be greeted with three main sections. The main window shows what you’re currently editing. Some shortcuts at the bottom of the page take you to different settings like layers, positioning, background and more. The top bar contains your menu, save button and new module icon.
Adding Modules
Alright now it’s time to add your first module. Select the add icon in the top right corner and choose “text”. Now you should see a tiny bit of text at the top of your preview screen.
Now let’s customize it. Select the text module listed at the bottom. This will allow you to edit the properties of the module you just added. The module you have right now is set to display the current time. You can edit the information that this module displays from this menu. Mess around with it and check out the results in your preview window.
If you make a mistake, use the undo icon in the top right to go back.
Fonts and Size
Once you’re happy with what you’ve added, you can start giving your text some character. Play with the font, size and width settings until you like what you see.
Check out the paint and position tabs for additional settings.
Background
Now that you have a text module that you’re happy with, let’s add a background image. Go to the background tab and select “type”. You’ll be able to use an image from your gallery, or choose a solid color to be your background.
Now hit your save button, a choose “set as wallpaper”. You now know the basics of setting up a kustom live wallpaper. Try adding new modules and messing with the settings to learn more.
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Battery life on Android continues to remain one of those areas where we can see a lot of change, both on and off the spec sheet. It is a product of complex interactions between battery capacity, consumption and efficiency of other hardware as well as the user’s personal use case.
So it is not surprising to see that while battery sizes and densities have increased over the years, battery usage has increased disproportionally as well. Smartphones of the past like the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and the LG G2 were known for their stellar battery performance, in many ways still unmatched today. These days, we see some OEMs trying out off-beaten paths with oversized battery phones sporting upwards of 4,000mAh, but not being the best elsewhere. On the other hand, several flagships continue to compromise on the battery department in lieu of aesthetics and marketability. So we ask you,
Have you personally seen an increase in Android battery life over the years? Is there any perceptible overall improvement, or are you getting similar results to what you saw in previous years? Which smartphone delivered the most amazing battery life to you? Which was the worst? Has there been any changes in your use cases for better or worse?
Let us know in the comments below!
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Xiaomi has been doing a lot of expanding throughout India these last couple of years. They were originally an online-only smartphone OEM within the country, but recently started expanding how and where they offered both their services and products. We saw this expansion pick up steam back in March of last year when they started selling the Mi 4 and the Redmi Note 4G at The Mobile Store (India’s largest mobile phone retailer, inside the Delhi-NCR region).
Toward the end of last year, the company started offering a pickup and repair service in India that they would call Pick Mi. This would allow those in certain regions to have their Xiaomi smartphone picked up by a courier, have the phone fixed, and then have it returned. At launch, those who lived in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata could get their phone back in 24 hours while others were required to wait 7 to 10 days.
Xiaomi has continued expanding their online and offline presence within India and it has started paying off for them. The Redmi Note 3 was recently named the best-selling Smartphone in India after it was announced they had sold over 2.3 million units. And the company doesn’t show any signs of slowing down either. Throughout the third quarter of this year, Xiaomi has announced they have sold over 2 million smartphones in India alone.
This is big for the company as they normally sell between 1 to 1.5 million per quarter. This shows a growth of 150% when compared to the third quarter of last year and Xiaomi is very proud of that accomplishment. This was aided by the recent Diwali sale, where Xiaomi India managed to sell over 247,000 smartphones through the company’s Mi.com website alone. As far as online sales go, Xiaomi ranked 2nd for the quarter and was only bested by Lenovo/Motorola.
A major selling point of the new Gear S3 smartwatch from Samsung is the ability to use Samsung Pay directly on your wrist. This includes both NFC and MST capabilities, so even if the pay terminal hasn’t been upgraded with a contactless payment option, then you can still use it on the magnetic stripe part.
This has been known since launch, but then a couple of weeks ago Samsung said that it would also work on non-Samsung smartphones.
This makes sense because the NFC and MST features are built directly into the smartwatch, but many thought Samsung would restrict Samsung Pay to Samsung devices anyway. This confirmation via Twitter has since been deleted, but many Android publications started to cite it with headlines claiming Samsung Pay on the Gear S3 would work on any Android 4.4+ device. Sadly, this is not the case and many people are just finding out about it now.
Granted, it does work with some Android devices running Android 4.4 KitKat and higher, just not all of them. While there are likely to be some other devices are are incompatible with Samsung Pay on the Gear S3, the big one that has been uncovered is the Pixel and Pixel XL. Samsung has confirmed the feature will not work with either of these two smartphones, but doesn’t go into detail to tell us why.
It doesn’t seem to be an issue with Android 7.0 Nougat, as Samsung Pay on the Gear S3 has been shown to work on the LG V20. Samsung does say they are “constantly working to expand Samsung Pay to new devices,” and to “stay tuned,” but doesn’t give any details about when or if this will happen for the Pixel phones. For those looking to buy a Gear S3, you can refer to this list and see which devices are guaranteed to work with the Gear S3.
As the first few batches of the OnePlus 3T begin shipping and users get their hands on the new device, they can now dive straight into the world of custom ROMs without sparing nay another thought on complicated procedures or other difficulties.
Thanks to the efforts of XDA Recognized Developer jcadduono, OnePlus 3T owners can flash a fully working and stable build of TWRP 3.0.2. As mentioned, the recovery can do all the tasks expected out of it despite being the first version release for this phone.
Flashing this recovery is easy and involves steps that are very familiar to Nexus users. You enable OEM unlocking in the Developer Options on your phone, and proceed to unlock your bootloader using the “fastboot oem unlock” command via fastboot on your computer. Then you flash the recovery through fastboot using the “fastboot flash recovery recovery.img” command…and that is it. To get root, simply boot into recovery and flash the requisite root package (like SuperSU).
Since this recovery is for the OnePlus 3T, it is implied (and even explicitly mentioned, just in case) that it is not compatible with the regular OnePlus 3. Another point to note, the OnePlus 3T’s stock boot image has dm-verity enabled, so you will be unable to boot back into system if you swipe on TWRP to enable system modifications without the intention to root via SuperSU. You need to follow along the steps mentioned in the thread to get back into your system, rooted or otherwise. You can either swipe right and just flash SuperSU, or you can swipe right and flash the dm-verity disabler zip to be able to boot back into the system.
For download links, sources and further detailed instructions, head on over to the forum link!
Have you received your OnePlus 3T? Have you tried out the above mentioned TWRP and obtained root? Let us know in the comments below!
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HTC is wishing all of its flagship users in the USA a Happy Thanksgiving, and it’s doing so by announcing the rollout of the official Android 7.0 Nougat update for the HTC 10.
Clocking in at a hefty 1.11GB in size, there is no mistake in assuming that this is a significant update for the HTC 10 which was launched with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. This update is currently rolling out to unlocked HTC 10 users in the USA. Sadly, there is no word on when this update will begin its rollout for other regions of the world, but we can guess that it won’t be too long now. Carrier locked HTC 10’s would have to wait for their update as well.
Update Info Screen
But if you can’t wait, or don’t have a HTC 10 for that matter, we received the update on our unlocked HTC 10. Take a look at some screenshots from the update:
The update that is rolling out is Android 7.0 Nougat, and not Android 7.1, in case you got too happy about it. The update contains security patches up to November 1, but the patch level for November 1 is partial only. The full security update with many more critical fixes is dated for November 5, and an additional patch was rolled out on November 6. We are disappointed that HTC did not include the absolute latest in security patches as this is a critical area where being on the cutting edge is preferable over still being vulnerable.
The Settings Menu sees the Nougat overhaul, and HTC has left things untouched for the most part.
The Nougat treatment extends onto the Notification Panel and the Quick Toggles. One thing to note, Night Mode comes “revealed” by default on HTC’s minimalistic skin. You do not need any additional apps to enable or toggle it, as you can do so out-of-the-box on the update. Heads up notification is slightly different as well.
App switching experience is improved as well. Double tapping on the recents button switches to the last used app, instead of just going back into the original one. The animation for this switch is smooth as well.
As for bugs, we found one so far in our usage. HTC’s “Weather Clock” widget breaks on the Google Now Launcher, while it works fine on the Sense launcher. The widget is iconic (albeit modern in its current avatar) and represents an “HTC” experience ever since widgets were introduced in Android, so we’re slightly bummed on this. You can use other widgets, so all is not lost.
Have you tried out the update? How do you like it so far? Let us know in the comments below!
Big thanks to Steven for the screenshots!
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The latest update to the Xposed framework fixes the compatibility and bootloop issues brought about on ROMs which included Google’s November security patch. Rovo89 has detailed the issue on a separate GitHub page as well.
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The Elephone S7, as was the case with the Galaxy Note 7, features a dual-curved design, which means that the surface on the front and back curve towards the edge. The net result is a phone that feels really comfortable to hold, and is impressive to look at, especially considering that the curve on the front lends to a near-zero bezel. Let’s take a closer look at the Elephone S7, which, in its top 4GB/64GB configuration, can be had for just $239.99.
When picking an Elephone S7, you have several choices. The first choice is screen size: you can opt for a more manageable 5.2″ display or the larger 5.5″ screen, both of which are FHD, edge-to-edge, and protected by Gorilla Glass.
The second choice you have is color. You can choose from green (which we absolutely love–seriously–it’s awesome), as well as black, blue, and gold.
Here’s a closer look at that amazing green color. All S7 models feature a light-reflecting pattern on the back that reminds us a lot of the Honor 8.
Other specs of the Elephone S7 include the MediaTek Helio X20 deca-core CPU, a 13MP camera on the rear and 5MP camera on the front, a 3000mAh battery for the larger phone and 2450mAh for the 5.2″ model (both with 2A fast-charging), plus a variety of RAM/ROM choices with the cheapest coming in at 2GB/32GB for the smaller phone, and up to 4GB/64GB for the larger phone. All models support microSD memory expansion up to 128GB, or you can drop in two SIMs. Also worth noting: the S7 runs near-stock Android Marshmallow with a planned upgrade to Nougat in the coming months.
If you like what you see, click the link below to buy an Elephone S7:
