xda - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Dec

XDA University Is Live, With Guides For Developers And End Users Alike

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in News

Most college kids are at home this time of the year, celebrating the end of finals and/or nursing hangovers. But the ROM's scene's number one destination is hosting classes all year round at the the new XDA University site. XDA-Developers has been working on the extension of the main site as a destination for newcomers to the world of root, custom ROMs, and other Android modifications, as well as a place to learn about more serious Android development. The site is live now at XDA-University.com.

What is XDA University? Well, it's somewhere between a textbook (the introductory page even describes itself as "this book") and a limited wiki.

Oct

TouchWiz-ified Jelly Bean For Sprint's Galaxy S III Leaks On XDA, Eager Upgraders Have A Field Day

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Galaxy S III, News

Sure, the Galaxy S III is the first major flagship device to get Jelly Bean outside the Nexus line. That's not fast enough for you, though, is it? Of course not! We can do better! Or, more accurately, XDA can do better. In fact, a TouchWiz Jelly Bean ROM has found its way to the development forum giant's threads already!

The build is still unofficial and obviously there are inherent risks to flashing it. Some users are reporting trouble with MMS, and as usual, root is not guaranteed to remain intact. Be sure to read through the thread before doing anything fancy with your phone.

Jul

XDA Creates Original Development Forums For Many Devices, Attempts To Separate Wheat From Chaff

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News

If there is one major downside to the custom development community, it's that the sheer volume of minor variations in custom ROMs and largely-borrowed development makes it difficult, if not impossible to find real, quality development. XDA aims to change this by creating Original Development forums. These special forums will be reserved for projects that adhere to a set of rules, not the least of which is being largely original work.

Other criteria for the Original Development forums, from XDA:

Official releases of highly original and upstream custom ROMs (built from the ground up with significant original development within them

Official releases/development of such original ROMs, perhaps posted by the maintainer or their nominated person.

Dec

Motorola's Droid RAZR Can Finally Be Restored To Stock Thanks To Leaked Fastboot Files – Development Sure To Liven Up

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Development, News, RAZR / RAZR MAXX, Verizon Wireless

Motorola Droid RAZR owners (and developers) received a bit of good news yesterday, thanks to a leaked set of fastboot files which allow your RAZR to be restored to stock in case of a soft brick or other unforeseen issue.

Many users over at XDA and DroidRZR.com forums have already reported success in flashing the files and restoring their devices, indicating that the fastboot set is, in fact, the real deal.

For users, this means that there is always a way to get the RAZR back to stock configuration. The same goes for developers, meaning development for Moto's latest addition to the Droid family will liven up considerably.

Dec

[Download] Install Google Wallet On Your LTE Galaxy Nexus Without Rooting, Courtesy Of XDA

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, Galaxy Nexus, News

If, like many LTE Galaxy Nexus users, you are frustrated by Verizon's choice to block Google Wallet from Samsung's hottest new device, and don't want to root just yet, XDA has some good news. It turns out that Google's standard Wallet APK can be installed on the Nexus' LTE variant without issue.

The news came after many rooted users reported issues using a flashable .zip file to get Google Wallet up and running. Of course, users installing Wallet on their new Nexus devices are also eligible for the standard $10.00 credit courtesy of Google, making the news that much sweeter.

Without further ado, click either of the download links below and start impressing unwitting bystanders as you pay for purchases using your LTE Galaxy Nexus.

Nov

Nook Tablet Rooted, Looks To Continue Where Its Predecessor Left Off

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Barnes & Noble, News, Nook Tablet

A new device being rooted may raise few eyebrows nowadays, but for those of you looking for a nice cheap little tablet, the Nook Tablet has taken the first step to becoming yet another hobbyist's favorite. Given the enormous popularity of the Nook Color before it, this bodes well for the future of the Nook Tablet. However, with the release of the $200 Amazon Kindle Fire, no longer is the $250 Nook Tablet alone in American cheap-tablet market, so this development may well help to convince would-be buyers. Over at XDA-Developers, poster Indirect has tested the proven zergRush method on their own Nook Tablet, as well as created a batch file for Windows users to help automate the process.

Nov

Tip: Is Your Android Market App Loading Slowly, Especially On Wi-Fi? Give This Fix A Try

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Applications, Tips & Tutorials

The intrepid folks over at XDA are always tinkering away to try and make using your Android device a better experience. And a few weeks ago, one of them (namely, temasek) found that the Android Market has some issues trying to resolve DNS servers when your device is connected over Wi-Fi. This can cause the Market to load slowly, and it's definitely something I've experienced on my own phone.

The solution? A popular app called Set DNS (note: root is required), which forces your phone or tablet to use a particular name server when connecting to the web, may speed up load times over Wi-Fi.

Oct

DIY Fix For Intermittent Audio From HTC Sensation Headphone Jack

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Development, News, Sensation / Sensation 4G (Pyramid)

It looks like the touchscreen isn't the only piece of hardware on the Sensation that works when it wants to. Posted today on XDA-Developers, Sensation owner zmfl recounted his experience with the audio signal coming and going on his phone, and having received confirmation of the issue from other members there, enterprisingly figured out the cause of the problem and its solution.

Put simply, the paint around the Sensation's 3.5 mm headphone jack tends to wear away or chip with use. This brings the pins of the cable plug into contact with the bare case metal and results in the audio cutting out or sending errant control signals to your media player.

Sep

HTC Sense 3.5 Up And Running On EVO 4G - Clear Step Up From 3.0

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Development, EVO 4G (Supersonic), News

Something that I love about the Android development community is that developers are always looking for the newest thing to beef up current devices. The case of HTC's Sense 3.5 is no different. The newest iteration of HTC's overlay was obtained from a dump belonging the HTC Bliss, a yet-to-be-released phone that will come with Sense 3.5 baked in. Ostensibly a split-second later, Senior XDA developer Evokings got 3.5-based ROM to the EVO 4G. The new version of Sense is already available on the Droid Incredible, the Incredible 2, and a few other HTC devices.

Improving on its predecessor, Sense 3.5 uses the ring-style lockscreen, allows for landscape viewing of homescreens and the app drawer, and new notification options allowing users to create resizable widgets to display various notifications right on the home screen.

Aug

[Update: EVO 3D Too] Tip: Android 2.3.4 Update For HTC Sensations In Europe Enables Screenshot Shortcut

Posted by Brian O'Toole in News, Sensation / Sensation 4G (Pyramid), Tips & Tutorials

Earlier this week, the OTA update to Android 2.3.4 finally began rolling out to HTC Sensations around Europe. Our unit received the update yesterday, and quite by accident we discovered that - besides being able to make voice/video calls in GTalk - we also had a new ability to take screenshots untethered from a computer.

Those of you familiar with the standard method of taking screenshots through the Android SDK know how convoluted the process can be: hunting for drivers, enabling debugging, living down those notification-bar icons ... all a fairly time consuming process. Not to mention you have to be at a computer.