Found 468 articles
27
May
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So You Want To Know About Bootloaders, Encryption, Signing, And Locking? Let Me Explain

Posted by in Android OS, Development, Devices By Manufacturer, Tips & Tutorials

If you were ever wondering what bootloader encryption, signing, and locking actually meant, this post is for you.

My name is Ivo, and recently I posted this write-up on Reddit (check out the Android subreddit while you’re there!). The post gained quite a bit of traction, and to spread the word further, I'm now posting it here at Android Police. I hope it helps out those of you who are confused.

It’s necessary, if you want to talk about these issues, to get some cryptic terms out of the way, so we actually know what we’re talking about! If you want to find out more about these topics, just click on through to their respective Wikipedia articles.

26
May
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Victory Is Ours! HTC: "We've Listened, Will No Longer Be Locking The Bootloaders On Our Devices"

Posted by in Development, HTC, News

Ladies and gentlemen, minutes ago HTC announced that they have been listening to us all along and will reverse their stance on locking bootloaders! The statement comes directly from the CEO Peter Chou and reads:

There has been overwhelmingly customer feedback that people want access to open bootloaders on HTC phones. I want you to know that we've listened.

Today, I'm confirming we will no longer be locking the bootloaders on our devices. Thanks for your passion, support and patience," Peter Chou, CEO of HTC

Devices with locked bootloaders can still be rooted and usually partially unlocked. They could even enjoy custom ROMs (see the Droid X ROM community), but because the system kernel cannot be replaced, these ROMs cannot be considered complete - they can change things on the surface but not under the hood.

25
May
swype

[Updated Again With Swype's Statement] Swype: Permission Spoofing Would Mean The End Of Swype Beta On Android

Posted by in Android OS, Apps/Games, Development, Editorials, News

Update 3: Swype has contacted us to clarify the following: 

Swype does not, and will not ever make money off of the data it collects from you.  They do not sell ads.  They do not sell information. The comment made on the CM review forum was a generalization about the larger Android app developer community, and in no way was intended to imply that Swype uses your data for ad revenue.

Update 2: Here's what Swype Community Representative Brian Resnik has to say about all this:

Swype Community Rep here (the guy who made the comments on Google Code).

Honestly, piracy is not our concern.

25
May
htc_thunderbolt

Urgent: Leaked Thunderbolt Gingerbread Radio May Cause Hard Bricks - We Advise You Revert To Froyo

Posted by in Development, Gingerbread 2.3, HTC, News, Thunderbolt (Mecha), Tips & Tutorials

When we leaked the official ROM and radio image for the HTC Thunderbolt's Gingerbread update last week, users were understandably excited. An official Sense, Gingerbread ROM was probably highest on the list of demands for Thunderbolt users (aside from better battery life, perhaps).

Unfortunately, at this time, we have to officially advise anyone using any ROM based on this leak to revert to a Froyo build or to CyanogenMod 7 as soon as possible. This includes any and all third-party Gingerbread ROMs for the HTC Thunderbolt not based on CM7.

We don't take announcing this lightly, but we do so erring on the side of caution because of the extent to which this problem bricks the phone.

23
May
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Galaxy Tab 10.1 Gets ClockworkMod Recovery Across All Its Versions; Let The Flashing Commence!

Posted by in Development, Galaxy Tab 10.1, News, Samsung

Those of you who have gotten their hands on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be pleased to know that you can now flash ClockworkMod Recovery on your tablet. This applies to the "regular" Galaxy Tab 10.1, the "Limited Edition" that was given out at Google I/O, and the 10.1v model (which is thicker and sold in different markets) as well.

Users can head over to Droid Basement to download and install the mod, which allows for a greater selection of behind-the-scenes options, such as the ability to back up and restore your entire system using nandroid as well as integrate with ROM Manager.

22
May
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[Updated] CyanogenMod Adds Support For Revoking App Permissions

Posted by in Development, News
Last Updated: May 25th, 2011

Back in March we reported on a proposed patch to CyanogenMod that would allow users to deny apps access to certain permissions while retaining the connection to others. This lets users install applications they are interested in, while remaining mindful of their privacy.

Update: Indeed, the "faking data" patches did not make it into CM and probably never will - thanks to all who posted the correction, including the patch author. See this commit for more info.

Denying permissions unfortunately has a nasty side effect - they will cause applications that don't handle the situation correctly to force close. If an application does start force closing and you've revoked some permissions, you will see a special dialog to easily reset those permissions back to "stock" and give the app a second chance.

19
May
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Galaxy S, Vibrant, And Nexus S 4G Join The Captivate As The Latest Officially Supported CyanogenMod Devices - First Gingerbread Nightlies Served

Posted by in Captivate, Development, Galaxy S, Gingerbread 2.3, News, Nexus S 4G (Crespo4g), Samsung, Vibrant

What a week for Samsung Galaxy S family device owners! First, the Captivate was officially added to the list of devices supported by CyanogenMod, the largest Android ROM community in the world, and now not 1 but 3 more phones are following suit - the Galaxy S, the T-Mobile Vibrant, and the Sprint Nexus S 4G (crespo4g).

The news hit yesterday, but since no downloadable builds were available from the CM mirror network until late last night, we decided to wait until they're up.

This article deals with a couple of advanced topics. If you’re unfamiliar with some of the terms, hit up our primers here:

Of course, support for these Android 2.3.4 "Gingerbread" (GRJ22) releases is right now limited to said nightly builds of CyanogenMod 7, which will graduate to release candidates and stables releases when the time is right and all but non-serious bugs have been ironed out.

18
May
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CyanogenMod Gets First Official Galaxy S Release - Captivate Nightlies, Now Serving Gingerbread 2.3.4 (GRJ22) On Aisle You

Posted by in AT&T, Captivate, Development, Epic 4G, Fascinate, Galaxy S, Gingerbread 2.3, News, Samsung

Galaxy S owners, you may have a reason for some early celebration. CyanogenMod 7 for the GS variants, which has been around in relatively unsupported early alpha stages for the last couple of months, has just gone quite a bit more formal with the introduction of the new "captivatemtd" device branch.

What does it mean? Captivate is the first device of the Galaxy S bunch to move to the official CM download area in the form of nightlies. Once the nightlies, which, as the word implies are rebuilt nightly, are stable enough to warrant a daily driver, you can expect to see a number of RCs (release candidates), culminating in a stable release.

15
May
IMG_9362

Dell Venue Review: It Really Is Better Than You Would Expect

Posted by in AT&T, Dell, Phone Reviews, Reviews, Thunder, Venue
Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

After being thoroughly unimpressed with the sleek and sexy DROID Charge last week, and knowing that the Venue was next on my device-review checklist, I was prepared for yet more disappointment. Let's face it - Dell has been the butt of quality control, technical support, and advertising (Dude! you're...) jokes for years now. Whether or not it has at all been deserved is another matter entirely - after all, Dell is a hugely successful company (I happen to be writing this review on a Dell netbook, in fact).

The Venue, then, is a device I went in having some doubts about.

12
May
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[I/O 2011] Q&A With Core Android Developers - Some Of Your Questions Answered

Posted by in Android OS, News

On the night before Google I/O 2011, I posted an open call for any questions you might have had for Google core developers. And you delivered - within a few hours, we had over 50 questions of varying complexities, and I realized I was in trouble. Office hours are meant for developers asking dev questions, whereas most of the ones you've asked were about policies and availability. Still, I proceeded to ask away at office hours and at the end of each session, fearing being shunned forever. Unsurprisingly, some devs would force me to move on after realizing the volume of questions, but some persistently tried answering, referring me to the right people along the way if they didn't know something.

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