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About nine months ago, Rootjunky managed to bypass the factory reset protection (FRP) on Samsung devices simply by inserting an OTG drive into the phone and installing an app. Then, two months later, he found a vulnerability on LG phones; this time, he circumvented FRP by using talkback settings to open a browser, downloading an APK that opened settings, adding a new user, switching back to the main account, and then resetting without FRP. However, this new exploit for Samsung phones might be the most ingenious yet.
Some Android fans were let down by the Galaxy Note7 this year. Many of its specs (curved screen, Snapdragon 820/Exynos 8890, 4GB of DDR4 RAM, 12MP camera, water resistance, etc.) seemed to be copy-pasted from the critically acclaimed Galaxy S7 edge, and the few extra features it did add (new S Pen, iris scanner, USB Type-C) led some to question whether the Note7's $800+ MSRP was worth it. However, quite a few Samsung fans got excited when they heard about a rumored Note7 variant with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. The phone was initially leaked via China's TENAA (similar to the FCC).
LG has just announced that its upcoming V20 (of which renders have just leaked) will feature a 32-bit Hi-Fi Quad DAC. For anyone that appreciates sound quality, this is great news. Last year, LG wowed audiophiles with the ESS SABRE 9018 DAC and 9602 Headphone Amplifier it put into the V10. However, audio quality suffered on the G5. It sure didn't help that the Bang & Olufsen "Friends" module pretty much disappeared off the face of the earth.
According to several tips from Android Police readers, the Google Play Store may not require you to have a Google+ account to write reviews anymore. This news comes hot on the heels of reports that the +1 button is disappearing from the Play Store (which Artem is still devastated about, by the way). In fact, the two situations are very likely related.
Samsung Electronics America has announced that it is in the process of acquiring Dacor, a company famous for its high-end appliances but known to us as the creator of crazy Android ovens. The California-based company's brand and identity will not change, and neither will its operations or American manufacturing. Once the deal is finished, Samsung will own 100% of Dacor.
Tables and charts are some of the most commonly used elements in Google's Drive suite of apps, but they can be a little clunky on mobile. Today, Google has updated Docs, Slides, and Sheets on Android to make these organizational tools easier to use than ever before.
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- This article previously stated the Meizu M3E ran FlymeOS - this is incorrect. The M3E runs YunOS, which you may better know as Aliyun OS, the notorious Android fork that received considerable attention four years back for the OHA (i.e., Google) cancellation of at least one Acer phone and distribution of pirated apps on its store.
Meizu's phone designs are usually derivative of more popular phones' designs, and the M3E changes nothing in this respect. No matter which way you slice it, it just looks like an iPhone 6s. However, that's not to say that the M3E is bad; on paper, it actually sounds pretty awesome. Of course, all of this is pretty standard Meizu behavior.
Kyocera, to the surprise of no one, has released yet another rugged phone. This one's called the DuraForce PRO, and its specs actually don't seem half bad. With the PRO, Kyocera is pushing the very aptly-named "Super Wide View FHD Action Camera" as the main feature.
Sonos, the company most famous for having a logo that can be read the same way upside down, now supports SoundCloud Go. This announcement comes a few weeks after Plex's Sonos compatibility announcement. For people less interested in logos, Sonos is perhaps best known for its multi-room speakers that allow you to play the same song or different songs in each room of your house (provided that you can afford that many, of course).
After a few days of data connectivity hell for some Nexus 6 owners, it seems that Google corrected the issue on the back end. Comments on a post in the r/Nexus6 subreddit indicate that most people have had their LTE data connection restored by this fix; however, many are reporting that they addressed it themselves by changing the APN settings or by updating their Google Connectivity Services through the Play Store.
As any reddit user will know, there is no shortage of reddit apps on the Google Play Store. These apps might do the same things, but they all look and act differently. Relay for reddit, one of the more popular reddit clients, was updated to version 8 yesterday and includes a host of new changes. These changes are live on both the free and pro version.
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Lyft, also known as the second most popular ridesharing service, announced today that they will be introducing the ability to add an extra stop to rides. This feature, which main competitor Uber does not currently offer, allows riders to add an additional destination prior to setting their pickup location in the app.