Development - 49/86 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Apr

24 Hours Later: The LG G2x Gets ClockworkMod Recovery

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Development, G2x (p999), News

That's right, less than 24 hours after its release, the LG G2x has received a test version of ClockworkMod recovery, thanks to Android developer @ChrisSoyars. Do note that as this is an initial release, it may still have a few bugs, but everything seems to be working exactly as it should.

The original post in the source thread provides a download link and installation instructions, but there's a catch: it's Linux specific. Don't fret if you're on Windows, though; XDA member mapin0518 has provided instructions on how to get it working on Microsoft's OS. The method is still a bit buggy, however, as it has worked for some users and not others.

Apr

Forget About Motorola's WebTop Dock, Transform Your EVO 4G Into A Desktop PC

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Development, EVO 4G (Supersonic), HTC, News, Sprint

Of all the things that are cool and impractical in this world, this has to be one of my favorites. At one point or another, all EVO 4G owners have wanted to ditch their desktop PCs in lieu of their smartphone, right? Okay, maybe not - but if you ever get the urge to do so, then XDA member Lokifish Marz has the setup for you.

Using mostly free software and a little bit of elbow grease, he has his EVO 4G set up as a fully functional desktop computer, including a mouse, keyboard, speakers, monitor - the works. You really need to see what I'm talking about to get the full effect of how cool this is, and fortunately for us, Lokifish has made a video to demonstrate:

Pretty incredible, no?

Apr

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc Gets Root

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Development, News, Xperia Arc (Anzu, X12)

Thanks to the hardworking devs over at the XDA-Developers forum, the Xperia arc(sic) has been rooted. The pair responsible for the breakthrough, Bin4ry and zdzihu, released the how-to info early this morning (or late last night for you insomniacs). It seems like a pretty simple process: Unlock the bootloader, download Bin4ry's file, and flash it with fastboot.

This currently only applies to the UK version of the device, but it is expected to be ready for phones running the global firmware sometime tonight. Head over to the XDA thread for more info and download links.

Source: XDA via Xperia Blog

Apr

[Concept] Honeycomb Lockscreen For Gingerbread

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, Development, News

There's just something about UI enhancements that everyone loves. When Gingerbread first dropped, themers were scrambling to port it to multiple ROMs, and of course, it was no different when Honeycomb came out. Of all the wonderful things about the Android 3.0 UI, though, there's one that stands out in the crowd because it's drastically different from previous versions of Android: the lockscreen.

I can't say that I've talked to one person who dislikes the Honeycomb lockscreen; it's actually quite the opposite. Since this seems to be such a sought-after port, XDA member Drakknar has created an amazing mockup of how it could work on Android 2.3.

Apr

[Unconfirmed] Is An HSUPA-Enabling Software Update Coming For The Motorola ATRIX?

Posted by Cameron Summerson in AT&T, Atrix 4G (Olympus), Development, Rumors

Last Updated: April 29th, 2011

Last month, AT&T confirmed that an HSUPA-enabling update was in the works for the Motorola ATRIX 4G and was expected to hit sometime in April. Well... April is here and guess what? It looks like they may actually deliver on that promise.

nate2569, a user over at the XDA forums, received not one, but two mysterious updates on his ATRIX yesterday evening. The first one was a software update to bring the system up to version 1.75 and there was some initial confusion, so nate2569 uploaded a picture displaying some of the "About Phone" contents for proof. Have a look:

Notice anything special?

Apr

[Download] ClockworkMod Recovery 3.0.2.5 Now Available For Motorola XOOM

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Development, Motorola, Verizon Wireless, XOOM

Last week saw an update to the Tiamat kernel that enabled the XOOM's SD card slot, and now the modders are back with another hack (ugh, that rhymes, doesn't it?) for Motorola's Honeycomb tablet: ClockworkMod Recovery.

For those not familiar with Koush's geeky masterpiece, ClockworkMod is a universal recovery renowned for its ability to create full backups (aka nandroids) of a device to its SD card. To be clear, ClockworkMod has been available for the XOOM for a while now, but it hasn't really had a purpose since SD card functionality wasn't enabled. But with the aforementioned Tiamat kernel, that barrier no longer stands, and ClockworkMod's usefulness is undeniable.

Apr

Samsung Galaxy S Gingerbread Source Code Now Available For Download

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Development, Galaxy S, Gingerbread 2.3, News

I'm not sure what has gotten into the folks at Samsung as of late, but they seem to be on top of their game. They dropped the source code for the DROID Charge and Fascinate last week, the Gingerbread update for the Galaxy S started rolling out for European users this weekend, and this morning, the source code for the aforementioned 2.3 update hit the Open Source Developers Center. Ergo, we can almost certainly expect to see some custom Gingerbread ROMs for the Galaxy S in the coming weeks.

To download the source, head over to the Open Source Developers Center, search for "GT-I9000_OpenSource_GB.zip," download, and enjoy.

Apr

Updated Fresh 4.0 ROM For HTC EVO 4G (Beta) Now Serving Delicious Gingerbread To All Donors, Includes Fast Boot

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, EVO 4G (Supersonic), Gingerbread 2.3, HTC, News, Sprint

Flipz, the developer of Fresh ROM for the EVO 4G and the HTC Hero, has been quiet since the release of Fresh 3.5, and it's no surprise - Sprint hasn't pushed out anything to our beloved EVOs in months. Since Fresh is a Sense ROM that follows official releases, as opposed to being built from AOSP like CyanogenMod, I didn't really expect to see another Fresh release until either the next leak or an official Sprint release.

With the arrival of a test build carrying Gingerbread for the EVO 4G yesterday, the situation changed - while being a test ROM, it seemed relatively fully baked and signed by Sprint's release keys, meaning its authenticity was undisputed.

Apr

[Rumor] Samsung To Continue Leaving Bootloaders Unlocked On Future Devices

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Development, News, Samsung

It appears that Samsung may be following in Sony's footsteps by actually giving users what they want where bootloaders are concerned. According to this tweet from Android app developer Supercurio, a source at Samsung has stated that bootloaders on future Sammy devices will be unlocked as long as Google doesn't require otherwise. If true, this means really good things for the dev community, who will never have to deal with the trials and tribulations that tech-savvy Motorola owners have had to face.

François went on to say that this may or may not apply to tablets, as they're "still young" and his source "doesn't know about bootloader plans for those devices."

Of course, as with any rumor, we question its validity.

Apr

Samsung Is On A Roll: Two Kernel Source Code Releases In As Many Days (Droid Charge And Fascinate Froyo)

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Charge (i510), Development, Fascinate, News

We all know about the update woes that owners of Samsung handsets have faced over the past several months - owners of the VZW Fascinate are still waiting on their update to Froyo. It looks that wait may be coming to an end as the source code has finally shown up on Samsung's Open Source Release Center. Even if the official OTA doesn't hit phones soon, you can rest assured that XDA devs will be hard at work hacking and compiling this source, so you'll be able to enjoy all of the Froyo goodness that you can handle soon enough.