Development - 69/87 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Oct

Coming Soon To CyanogenMod: Drunk Mode

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Development, News, Off-Topic

Remember when a new piece of code hit Gmail Labs called Mail Goggles - the one that made you do a few math problems before emailing somebody at pre-determined time-frames (such as late at night on the weekends)? Today, Brian was browsing the CyanogenMod (CM) Gerrit and noticed a new series of code - similar to Mail Goggles - has been added: Drunk Mode.

As I'm not a developer, I haven't the slightest idea how it works (and Brian is "in drunk mode" himself) - but I'd guess the "professional" in the description provides something of a hint. Also noteworthy: it has yet to be officially approved, although Cyanogen himself seems to be on-board with it, saying "This is hilarious and awesome, and I would take this feature..."

Now if only they could figure out something to prevent beer goggles....

Oct

[How-To] Disable System Apps On Devices With NAND Protection (Like The T-Mobile G2)

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Development, G2 (Vision), HTC, News, T-Mobile

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

Much has been made of the T-Mobile G2's current rooting situation - in case you've been living under a rock for the past few months, it's currently rootable, albeit not permanently just yet.

Oct

MoDaCo's Paul O'Brien Releases VISIONary - One-Click Soft Root For The T-Mobile G2 With Autorun-On-Boot

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Applications, Development, G2 (Vision), HTC, News

With the G2 already getting a non-persistent "soft-root" solution, it was only a matter of time before someone combined it into a nice, user-friendly package. Stepping up to the plate (or rather, the crease) is Paul O'Brien, the founder of UK smartphone website MoDaCo, well known for a myriad of clever hacks.

^{Superusers, you can haz them}

Deriving its name from the HTC Vision device codename, VISIONary is a simple one-click temporary root app for the T-Mobile G2. The application installs itself to /data/app, and a version that will run automatically on boot is also available. VISIONary can also be set to run a visionary.sh script immediately after rooting, allowing you to automate any root commands you might usually do by inserting them into the .sh file.

Oct

HTC Releases Source For T-Mobile G2

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Development, G2 (Vision), News, T-Mobile

Is it that time already? Like clockwork, HTC has released the source code for the G2 - only this time, it doesn't appear that they're being very vocal about it. Instead, a few G2 enthusiasts in the #G2ROOT channel on Freenode have managed to find it while digging through HTC's site.

While we've already seen custom ROMs up and running on the G2, the source code should make ROMmers jobs a little easier. Think you'd like to take a crack at it? Hit up that source link to download it and get to work.

[Source: HTC Thanks for the tip, Mitch Z!]

Oct

Motorola Droid 2 Gets Its First AOSP ROM - FRF91 Vanilla Android

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Development, Droid 2, Froyo 2.2, Motorola

The Motorola Droid 2 may ship with a pesky eFuse bootloader which has been designed specifically to prevent rooting of the phone, but little things like that have never held back the truly talented and passionate (and nerdy). The FRF91 Vanilla Android ROM - the Droid 2's first AOSP (Android Open Source Project) ROM - has just made an appearance on DroidForums.

What does this mean? Well, in and of itself, not much, but it's a huge step up from the device's previous ROMs, which brought little to no customizations. At this early stage, core Android features like downloading apps from the Market still haven't been worked out, but it does open quite a few doors.

Oct

T-Mobile HTC G2, Meet CyanogenMod: Video Of CM6.1 Booting On Cyanogen's G2

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Development, G2 (Vision), News, T-Mobile

Today, in the wee hours of the morning, Cyanogen tweeted what many people have been waiting for: video footage of CM6.1 up and running on his T-Mobile G2.

His explanation for how things work:

Basically what I'm doing is temprooting and rebooting all of userspace with CM on the sdcard. Gonna keep refining it while the really persistent and smart guys from #g2root keep working on a permanent root.

And there you have it. We wouldn't expect to see a release until a permaroot is established, but it looks like things are definitely moving along nicely. Video:

[Source: AndroidSPIN, Cyanogen Twitter]

Oct

Meet SuperOneClick: Easily Root Nearly Any Android Device, Including Froyo-Rockin' Samsung Captivate

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, AT&T, Captivate, Development, Devices By Manufacturer, Epic 4G, Froyo 2.2, Galaxy S, News, Samsung, Vibrant

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

A few days ago, a new version of Universal Androot was released with support for Froyo, but a number of devices were still incompatible.

Oct

HTC Desire Z Partial, Temporary Root Accomplished

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Desire Z (Vision), Development, G2 (Vision), News

Seems like the HTC phones are really taking up the lions share of Android news lately, doesn't it? First the G2 was rooted, and shortly after we learned that HTC did its best to prevent perma-rooting. And just this morning, we heard word that the Desire HD and Z are both being delayed. Quite a mouthful, we know - but now that you're up to speed: an enterprising individual by the name of kholk over at XDA-Devs has come up with a root method for the HTC Desire Z.

The method is very similar to the G2 method mentioned above - the process involves dropping a package on your SD Card and executing a few scripts.

Oct

Universal Androot Hits The Market, Now Supports One-Click Rooting Of 23 Android Phones

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Development, Droid (Sholes), G1 (Dream), Hero, Hero (Sprint, HeroC), Milestone, Milestone XT720, myTouch Slide (Espresso), News, Nexus One (Passion), Streak, Xperia X10 (es209ra), Xperia X10 Mini / Mini Pro (Robyn / Mimmi)

Last Updated: October 16th, 2010

Update: As Artation has pointed out in the comments below, Universal Androot has since been removed from the Market for unknown reasons. If you're still heartbent on using it though, you can download it it from here.

If you can think back to the time Universal Androot was released, you'll recall the then small xda-developers startup that allowed for one-click rooting of a very limited number of phones, all of which had to be running Android 2.1 Eclair or lower.

Now, the app has hit the Market and is ready for prime time with support for a multitude phones, including devices running Android 2.2 FroYo (though, only limited to Nexus One before 2.2.1 and an older FRG01B Droid build), 2.1 Eclair, 1.6 Donut, and even phones stuck on 1.5 Cupcake, like the HTC Magic.

Oct

Skype For Android Can Now Make Calls Over 3G In The US, No Thanks To Skype

Posted by Brad Ganley in Applications, Development, News

This is really no big deal for Verizon users who have been able to do that since March but, thanks to some creative tweaking, the all-carrier version of Skype for Android can now make calls over 3G in the US. If you remember, the version distributed in the Market prompts you to enable WiFi in order to make calls to both Skype and regular phone numbers.

Xeudoxus (known for his work on Dark Edge) got a bit creative with the Skype apk and has released it to the on-the-go Skyping masses. If you're a Skype user who frequently makes phone calls via the service, this could potentially be a godsend.