22
May
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Chainfire Releases Modified CF-Auto-Root And SuperSU For Qualcomm Versions Of The Galaxy S4

Posted by in Galaxy S4, News, Samsung

In case you hadn't heard, Samsung is making a little extra effort to secure the Galaxy S4 via tougher software kernels, which aren't susceptible to some of the more common root methods from previous Galaxy models. But where there's a will, there's a way, and noted Android developer/modder Chainfire has found a way around the security on the stock kernel for the Galaxy S4 i9505 - that's the Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered LTE variant, and the model sold for AT&T and T-Mobile in the United States.

This root exploit works via a newly-modified version of the CF-Auto-Root tool and the popular SuperSU permission manager app.

18
Apr
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Chainfire's Amazing DSLR Controller App Gets Even More Amazing With Massive New Update, Still In Beta

Posted by in Applications, News

There really is no other app out on Android as robust as Chainfire's DSLR Controller when it comes to... controlling your DSLR camera. The $8 app - which already had over 10,000 downloads and a boatload of control features - just got a whole lot better this morning with a major update that should have the app's fans absolutely ecstatic. The mile-long changelog includes tons of fixes and improvements, but the new feature list is impressive on its own.

Canon's 6D camera and the WFT dongle are both now supported via Wi-Fi connection to your Android device (!), meaning you can cut the cable to control those particular pieces of hardware, which is sort of amazing.

11
Apr
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[New App] Chainfire's Hotspot Control Harnesses The Latent Power Of Your Device's Tethering Menu

Posted by in Applications, Apps/Games, News

Stock Android has had built-in tethering since version 2.2 way back in 2010, but most carrier-branded devices in the US have the option disabled. Sure, there are root apps and various workarounds, but they can be a mess. If you don't need web access, but want your devices on a local network, you're often out of luck. A new app from well-known developer Chainfire gives you back some control (on some devices), and it doesn't require root.

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The app is designed to be simple – just pick a network name and a password, then activate. WPA2 AES + TKIP is always enabled in the interest of security and ease of use.

12
Oct
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[New App] Chainfire's 'PerfMon' Is A Floating Performance Monitor With A Unique CPU Metric

Posted by in Applications, News

We all know how useful floating apps can be, so an always-on-top performance monitor makes perfect sense for power users and developers. One such project just hit the Play Store from developer Chainfire, who has already brought us several other useful tools, like CFBench, SuperSU, and FAAPT.

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Simply called Perfmon, this is a floating application that can output certain metrics for monitoring purposes: foreground app, CPU, disk I/O, and network I/O. What makes this app unique, however is its CPU metric called CPU capacity usage. According to Chainfire, it "will take the CPU usage and scale it to what it would be if all cores were running at full capacity."

For example: if you have a 1.6ghz quad-core running a light app, it could be using 10% CPU with only one of the four cores active, and that core running at 200mhz.

02
Dec
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Chainfire Releases 'Remote Release' Into The Market, A Free, Light Version Of DSLR Controller

Posted by in Applications, News

We first told you about DSLR Controller back in August, and there was immediately some kick-back due to its combination "high" price tag and beta status. Still, if you're looking for a way to combine your Android phone or tablet with a Cannon EOS DSLR on-the-cheap, Chainfire released a free, lighter version of DSLR Controller called Remote Release into the Market just a while ago.

Remote Release offers limited functionality compared to DSLR Controller, but may fit the bill perfectly for some of you. It offers the ability to activate the camera's shutter button over USB - much like a remote release cable.

20
Nov
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Chainfire Does It Again – Mobile ODIN Lets You Flash Firmware Right From Your Device, EverRoot Keeps You Rooted Through It All

Posted by in Android OS, Applications, Development, News

ODIN is a handy, yet powerful tool for Android-powered Samsung devices that allows users to flash firmware updates and kernels using a relatively simple interface.

Looking to channel the power of the ODIN tool into something a bit more, well, mobile, developer Chainfire has released Mobile ODIN, a tool that allows rooted users to flash firmware straight from the app's interface.

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What's more, Mobile ODIN Pro comes with a tool called EverRoot, which will ensure that no matter what you're flashing, you'll maintain root privileges, even if you're attempting to update your device with a leaked version of official firmware.

04
Aug
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[New App] DSLR Controller Beta Lets You Control Your Canon EOS From Your Android Phone Or Tablet

Posted by in Applications, News

If you've been reading Android Police for a little while, then you've probably heard the name Chainfire thrown around a time-or-two. After all, he has delivered some awesome and useful apps like Chainfire3d and CF-Bench to the community. His latest offering to the Android Market, DSLR Controller, is probably the most impressive yet, as it allows you to control your Cannon EOS DSLR camera directly from you phone or tablet, no computer required. Aside from the software, the only other thing you will need to make it work is a USB host/On-the-Go USB cable. Take a look at the video to get a better idea of how it works:

Not only is that incredible, but it's absolutely brilliant.

24
May
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Play Tegra Zone Games On Non-Tegra Devices With Chainfire3D

Posted by in Applications, Development, News

Yesterday, we told you about the OpenGL video driver Chainfire3D. At the time, there was a common question: what can you really do with this? Some crafty XDA users have set out to prove exactly what you can do using CF3D, and here at AP, we all think it's nothing short of awesome.

In the past, we've highlighted several games specifically for Tegra devices, and we felt the backlash from users that wanted these games but lacked the proper hardware (read: no Tegra). Now, however, it is possible to play Tegra-specific games on non-Tegra devices, thanks to the CPU emulation and a few plugins in CF3D.

23
May
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[New App] Chainfire3D Hits The Android Market, Tweaks Your Graphics To Improve Performance And Battery Life

Posted by in Applications, News

Android app developer Chainfire released an interesting app into the Market recently called Chainfire3D - "an intermediary OpenGL driver." Basically, this app sits between your app and the proprietary graphics driver on your device and can manipulate the commands between the two.

This enables you do some pretty rad things with your device in order to increase efficacy, battery life, performance, etc. For example, you can use Chainfire3D to enable night-mode, which basically only powers the red pixels on your device in order to save battery life (yes, it makes everything look red - see below).

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Other features of Chainfire3D includes a multitude of texture manipulations, including the ability to reduce texture sizes and quality (for faster gaming) and unroll textures, which converts non-32 bit textures into 32 bit.

07
Apr
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Extreme Android Geekdom: Replace Your Boot Animation With Your Device's Actual Linux Boot Log

Posted by in Applications, Development, News, Videos

Most users will probably look at this unusual boot animation tweak and wonder why in the world anyone would do this, but developers and Linux lovers will nostalgically giggle and cheer. Rather than having boring pre-recorded boot animations, why not see the actual boot messages fly by, akin to booting a Linux machine?

Chainfire, one of xda's moderators, cooked up a boot animation replacement called live dmesg boot ani that does just that - now instead of your carrier's logo, you can see all kinds of geeky boot goodness your device has been secretly spitting out all along. The program requires root (there is no doubt that it would be impossible without it) and is available in the Market for $2.83 Update: the author emailed in to let us know he knocked the price down to $1.99.