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Many older Android enthusiasts that dabbled in rooting or ROMing in the last decade may nostalgically remember Dirty Unicorns. Sadly, after today, all that will be left of the name are those memories, as Dirty Unicorns has decided to shut down.
Getting started with video game emulation on Android: ROMs, apps, and everything you'll need
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Right now, it's not an easy time to be a gamer looking to play the latest and greatest titles. Between all the headaches you'd face trying to get your hands on a PS5, or afford a 3080 for your new PC rig without taking out a second mortgage, it's enough to make you want to give up on the whole mess. But if you've got even a moderately powerful smartphone, and are willing to invest a little time, there's a whole world of classic gaming waiting to be tapped into (on the cheap, no less) through the power of emulation.For the better part of the past 35 years now, gamers have been using some clever software to reproduce the functionality of older consoles on newer hardware. By faithfully emulating the behavior of all the components that built up those gaming machines — everything from the CPU, to audio and video chips, to all input/output circuitry — and pairing that with a copy of the game software (most often referred to as the 'ROM') you can relive these classic titles without needing any of the original equipment.While emulation got started on the PC, like pretty much all software these days, emulators have migrated to smartphones — and done so in spades. With the right app, and access to the right ROMs, you can play anything from a blocky Atari 2600 (or VCS to you cool kids) game to relatively modern Wii titles. So what do you need to start emulating?
The vast majority of Android device buyers don't know or care what a custom ROM is. There's nothing wrong with that — a phone or tablet's stock ROM will be enough for 99.9% of potential users. However, for the 0.1% that like to tinker, the development community surrounding a given device can drastically impact the value. Your purchase can become a much better deal if there is a wealth of custom ROM options available, extending its lifespan for possibly years (or roughly a decade, in the case of the HTC HD2).
OnePlus just published a recap of its second "Open Ears Forum" from all the way back in May. At the event, it gathered a handful of developers and fans central to the OnePlus community to solicit their feedback. Four months later, the company has revealed a set of changes influenced by that feedback, including more timely kernel sources for Open Betas and a new bounty program for reporting vulnerabilities. Most importantly for customers, though, OnePlus has promised to finally fix how aggressive its software is at killing apps in the background.
ASUS seems to get that plenty of the folks interested in the latest ZenFone 6 are among the same market that like OnePlus' devices, and one of the biggest advantages for Android enthusiasts when it comes to OnePlus' devices is developer support. The root and ROM crowd go for things like the OnePlus 6T in part because, well, you can root and ROM it. Now ASUS wants its ZenFone 6 to get some of that same developer attention, so it's sending phones to some of them.
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TWRP is the most trusted Android custom recovery around at the moment and is adding support for more devices all the time. Over the past month or so, 14 new phones and tablets have appeared on the TeamWin Recovery Project site, including the beastly new OnePlus 7 Pro. Support has also been added for all Android One Fifth Generation handsets.
Are you ready for a surprise? Paranoid Android/AOSPA, of long-standing ROM fame, has just pushed out a status update on the project's plans, as well as the first ever Oreo releases for the ROM. Unfortunately for the vast majority of us, they're only available for a handful of Sony phones.
Project Treble, something that you might read in some of our reviews and comment sections, is an important shift in Android as we know it. One of the pieces of Oreo, Treble was Google's attempt to improve the terrible update situation we see on many third-party phones, especially from Samsung, Asus, and Huawei. So far, only a few manufacturers have implemented it to any noticeable degree, with others outright ignoring it until the last possible minute.
Late last month, Google announced it would block the Play Store and Google Play Services from running on 'uncertified' devices. This was meant to keep OEMs from sideloading the Play Store on devices not approved by Google. The company offered a way for custom ROM users to register their devices, but it was a complicated process, because the registration page didn't actually provide instructions.
Google has always controlled which devices ship with its proprietary GApps—a package that includes such necessities as the Play Store and Google Play Services. Until now, they've even been pretty lenient about allowing custom ROM users to flash the necessary payload on top of their modified OS. Unfortunately, some OEMs used that loophole to their advantage, ignoring Google's CTS certification process while shipping devices with GApps or shamelessly encouraging users to sideload them.
In what might be very unfortunate news for users of the Viper ROMs, Team Venom developer and founder Jan D, or "j to the 4n," has announced that he is retiring from the project to spend more time with his family. Although the project does have four other developers involved in it, notably including the prolific Magisk developer TopJohnWu, this does leave the future of the ROM somewhat in question.
Our readers are probably quite familiar with Paranoid Android, as the developers behind AOSPA have been prolific over the last few months. The latest update for the ROM, v7.3.0, brings a lot of changes. But the biggest addition doubles down on the project's earlier commitment to photo quality. As of today, Paranoid Android has its own camera app.
It would appear that AOSPA isn't just back, it's here to stay. Today the developers for the project have announced a new release with a handful of new features, bug fixes, and support for six new devices, including the OnePlus One, Nexus 6, and one of our favorite new-old phones, the Nextbit Robin. New features include an Accidental Touch mode, Pocket Lock, and a new collaboration with Shuttle+.
AOSPA has just released a new update to its long-loved Paranoid Android ROM, and it's bringing back a bit of the old with the new. The recent build is based on Android 7.1.2 Nougat, so it's the latest you can get. Along with Nougat, a few old features are making a new appearance. Most notable is the return of the pie mode alternate navigation bar — which some people (me) prefer even over real pie. To be brief, the ROM is absolutely fantastic and may become my daily driver going forward. If you'd like to know why, though, you'll have to read on.
As of April 3rd, 2017 the Nexus 6/Shamu has truly reached end of life status. Although we knew it was coming, it seems it was easier to keep the buildbots running until more major changes were made. We’d like to take this time to sit back and reminisce on our fond, and large, memories of the device. Death, however, is not the end, but a new beginning. Or, at least, an excuse for those of us without upgrade fever to move ourselves over to a nice and shiny new ROM. While Google may have given up on Shamu, some devices just can’t stay down. And there are a few different flavors for your favorite fish out there.
There was a time some years ago that CyanogenMod was the surest way to get the latest build of Android on your phone. It's a little slower these days, but development continues to chug along. The CM team hopes to roll out the first nightly builds of CM14.1 later tonight, but not all devices will be supported right away.
Cyanogen Inc. recently experienced a round of layoffs as the company struggled to make its customized build of Android into a viable business. Through all the turmoil, Cyanogen Inc. CEO Kirt McMaster has contended that CyanogenMod (the non-commercial side) has tens of millions of users. Now, some are expressing doubt as to the accuracy of such figures. For a company fueled by venture money, that could be a problem.
The Android ROM community isn't quite as active as it was a few years ago with Android itself becoming more feature-rich. Still, CyanogenMod is chugging along with support for a ton of devices and a reasonably fast update cycle. A new snapshot build of the Marshmallow-based CyanogenMod 13 is now official (ZNH5Y), and it will be available on the first wave of devices today.
OnePlus managed to integrate a fast charging solution into the OnePlus 3, but it's a non-standard one called Dash Charge. It's a licensed version of Oppo's VOOC, so it requires special code on the device and hardware in the adapter. Some OP fans were bummed that custom ROMs would not be able to support Dash Charge, but that will change next month when OP releases the code.
It's been a while since we've heard anything from the Paranoid Android ROM team. Perhaps that's because ROM flashing has fallen by the wayside a bit as stock and skinned Android has made serious improvements, perhaps it's because a lot of the original team was hired by OnePlus to work on its Oxygen OS builds. Whatever the reason, they're back now. While PA is definitely late to the Marshmallow party (the last time they issued a major release was almost a year ago), the team has been revitalized with new developers and support for new devices.