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A group of security researchers has discovered an exploit that lets Bluetooth and USB accessories wreak all sorts of havoc on multiple Android smartphones. In both cases, the door of entry was the cellphone modem, or baseband, which is found inside all smartphones.
LineageOS is one of the most popular custom ROMs available, with somewhere around two million active installations. It typically takes a while for the project to update to newer versions of Android, since development is largely done by maintainers in their spare time. Six months after the public release of Android 9 Pie, it looks like LineageOS is about ready to make the jump — but not before dropping older devices.
Since our last LineageOS post, the project has continued to add new features and support new devices. In addition to new Quick Settings tiles and changes to included apps, the ROM now supports 16 additional devices.
In what I am tempted to say may be the stupidest news I've read all morning (give me an hour, though, I just grabbed my coffee), the US Army's Special Operations Command is allegedly dumping its current Nett Warrior embedded tactical smartphone solution - a 4-year-old Galaxy Note II - for an iPhone 6S. Because, and I quote DoDBuzz's source here, the iPhone is "faster; smoother. Android freezes up." Wait, you're telling me a smartphone that's four years old trying to run a specialized government app isn't very fast or stable? I am shocked, sir - simply taken aback!
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- It looks like the Xiaomi Redmi 2, oddly labelled as the WT88047, is also getting CM13 nightlies.
The Galaxy Note II and its tablet big brother the Galaxy Note 10.1 were both released in 2012. That being the case, the odds of them getting an Android 6.0 update are about as good as the Chicago Cubs winning the Super Bowl. Of course, a lack of updates (even for hardware that might not meet the minimum requirements) is a big part of what makes custom ROMs so popular. So it is that the CyanogenMod ROM's version 13, based on AOSP code for Marshmallow, has come to a handful of older Samsung devices.
Samsung has been releasing more apps lately and the newest one is for the mobile gamers. Game Recorder+ lets you record gameplay videos on several Samsung devices, with internal audio supported on the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. The early reviews aren't great, though.
Sprint is rolling out an over-the-air update to customers who own a Galaxy Note II that applies a security patch or two from Google. What vulnerability this update addresses isn't detailed, but it's the first OTA Sprint has sent out since the big KitKat update last May.
Updates are not only for the latest and greatest phones, but they usually are. It's actually quite unusual to see a phone from a few years ago on a US carrier getting an update, but that's what's happening with the Samsung Galaxy Note II on Sprint. Rather, it will happen on January 6th.
Update: Let us not forget the Galaxy Tab S 8.4. AT&T has updated that device this week as well, bumping it up to KOT49H.T707AUCU1ANJ5 after a 32MB download. As for the changes, they're a yawn.
Update, 7-25-14: It looks like this over-the-air update was delayed for some reason. Samsung says it's coming in now.
If you're still toting around a stock AT&T Galaxy Note II, good news: your phone is finally getting Android 4.4.2. The rollout should be starting now, and includes all of the basic 4.4 goodies you can expect coming from 4.3, like wireless printing, the new storage access framework, SMS default app selection, Google Wallet tap-to-pay support, and a few others. Here's Samsung's full changelog:
Update: Samsung has shared a little bit more information on this update. The approximate file size is 246.5 MB. Click on the image below to read up on the details.
Samsung leaves no phone behind. Well okay, it does, but not all the time. I mean, certainly not a flagship device... usually. At any rate, the Galaxy Note II on Sprint is getting bumped up to Android 4.4 as we speak. Isn't that nice?
KitKat has started to come to the international variant of the Galaxy Note II. As SamMobile has reported, the update is currently available to users in France. It's an official build available through Kies, with no word yet on when an OTA is scheduled to go out. When it does, it should hit other regions as well. The update bumps the software version up to N7100XXUFND3.
Samsung has been very cautious in rolling out its KitKat update thus far, with even most Galaxy S4 owners still waiting around on Jelly Bean. This doesn't even take into account all the millions of other Galaxy smartphones and tablets that often take a backseat to the company's flagship. Yet Samsung has now provided a list of all the devices it intends to bump up to Android 4.4.2 before it's all said and done.
Only a couple of days after coming to the Galaxy S III, Samsung's Android 4.3 update is now rolling out to Verizon customers wielding Galaxy Note IIs. This is the update that has been going around the block for a while now, having already made its way to Sprint and T-Mobile versions of the handset. It comes with the same goodies, including Galaxy Gear support.
AT&T's Galaxy Note II Gets Android 4.3 And Galaxy Gear Compatibility Via OTA Update (I317UCUBMK6)
AT&T's Galaxy Note II Gets Android 4.3 And Galaxy Gear Compatibility Via OTA Update (I317UCUBMK6)
Samsung has been rolling out Galaxy Gear support to additional devices since the end of October, lumping the functionality in with updates to Android 4.3. A leaked schedule provided a timeline of when to expect various Galaxy handsets across the big four American carriers to get updated, and many OTAs started rolling out right on schedule. Others have not. The AT&T Galaxy Note II's update has been somewhat of a tortoise, but it may soon cross the finish line, as the long-awaited OTA is finally inbound.
T-Mobile customers with the Galaxy Note II, your day has finally arrived: the Jelly Bean 4.3 over-the-air update is finally rolling out, according to this XDA thread. Samsung's Galaxy S4, S III, and the Note II have been getting the same update on other American carriers, but T-Mobile is behind the leaked release schedule (though not by much). The Note II is the last Samsung phone on T-Mobile scheduled to get the update, at least for the moment.
Minus a couple of hiccups, Samsung is reliably updating its later models to the last version of Jelly Bean. Sprint's branded version of the Galaxy Note II is the latest phone to get the Android 4.3 magic, complete with updated compatibility with Samsung's Galaxy Gear smartwatch. Gotta sell those $300 add-ons, eh Sprint?
The Galaxy Note II came out over a year ago rocking Android 4.1.1. That was great at the time, but now that a giant KitKat statue is standing up in front of the Googleplex, it's time to move things along. Samsung never bothered with bringing 4.2.2 to the Note 2, but customers will likely forgive them now that 4.3 is rolling out to devices across the globe. It's moving in phases, though, so for the time being the only models to start receiving the update have been the GT-N7100 and the GT-N7105.