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It was a nice surprise when Samsung announced that its new flagship phones would be running Android 6.0, and that they were bringing back the much-requested expandable storage was icing on the cake. The news that the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge would not support adoptable storage, Android Marshmallow's ability to take an SD card and partition it as semi-permanent device storage, was met with less enthusiasm. But all is not lost, expandable storage fans: long-time modder and ROM developer Paul "MoDaCo" O'Brien has got this covered.
Not every Android device gets rooted, but it's always nice when one does. So it is with MOJO, Mad Catz' Android-powered alternative to the OUYA game console and similar fare. Noted developer and modder Paul "MoDaCo" O'Brien released the MoDaCo Mod for MOJO on Sunday, giving adventurous owners access to root-enabled apps. His method requires a Windows, OSX, or Linux computer, and a standard male-to-male USB cable.
If you cannot make up your mind between running TouchWiz or a stock version of Jelly Bean, thanks to MoDaCo.SWITCH, that's a decision you won't have to make. This piece of software makes switching back and forth between the two versions as simple as toggling a switch. Paul O'Brien, better known as MoDaCo, has started porting it to the Galaxy S4, and the beta is now available for those who backed his Indiegogo campaign.
Though there's a definite streak among power users to prefer Google's "pure" Android on their phones, some of the manufacturer skins from HTC and Samsung have charming features as well. Modder and ROM developer Paul O'Brien, better known as MoDaCo, has been testing a solution to give you the best of both worlds. MoDaCo.SWITCH is a dual-boot solution for power users that lets two ROMs (manufacturer stock and AOSP, for example) which share user data, allowing a seamless switch between interfaces.
Modaco Toolkit Enables Easy Multi-User Support For Rooted Phones Running Android 4.2
Multi-user support is one of the most interesting additions in Jelly Bean 4.2, but you can only get it if you're using a tablet. It makes sense - phones
Multi-user support is one of the most interesting additions in Jelly Bean 4.2, but you can only get it if you're using a tablet. It makes sense - phones are rarely shared between more than one person, while tablets are naturally shareable. Even so, it would be nice if Google gave users the option. But thanks to modder extraordinaire Paul "Modaco" O'Brien, there's a relatively easy way to enable multi-user mode on smartphones. It's detailed on the Modaco blog, but all you need to get started is a phone running Android 4.2 and root permissions.
Modaco's Flash Downloader Does What Adobe Won't - Makes Side-Loading Flash Player A Snap
Update: Google has removed Modaco's app from the Play Store. Boo, hiss. So Adobe's Flash for Android has gone the way of the dodo, and it can no longer
One of the most prominent new features on the Galaxy Nexus, and Ice Cream Sandwich, is that the soft-keys are displayed right on the screen. While the notion is a sound one, there will always be those who miss some of the legacy features left behind. In this case, those would be the Menu and Search keys, stalwarts of Android's interface paradigm since its release with the G1. What was once four buttons - Home, Menu, Back, Search* - has been whittled down to just Home and Back, along with the introduction of the new multitasking-purposed App Switcher button. This combination was seen previously in Android 3.0 Honeycomb, but is about to encounter widespread use on upcoming phones**.
I'm surprised this didn't come sooner, but better late than never, right? The full Galaxy Nexus (presumably GSM) system dump, together with boot and recovery images were leaked earlier today by none other than Paul O'Brien, the founder of MoDaCo, a talented developer, and creator of many custom ROMs. If you remember, previously only the apps as well as certain bits and pieces of Ice Cream Sandwich were made available for download.
On Monday, we teased you guys with an early look at Gingerbread running on the G2x from This Is My Next. There was some definitely some disappointment in the air when you realized that a download wasn't available at that time, but that all changes now.
You're probably aware of one of the slightly more irksome facets of the G2 that is stymying attempts at custom ROMs, namely the locked down /system partition, where the OS is kept. Heretofore it has been impossible to tinker with this internal memory in a permanent fashion. All alterations were reverted on the next boot, leading to solutions like Paul O'Brien's VISIONary soft-root.
Since the advent of Android in 2009, the family of devices running Google's mobile OS has grown from one handset to now hundreds and possibly thousands of unique models. In recent months, Android has seen an explosion of devices coming from lesser-known Asian manufacturers, with one of the main selling points being price. The manufacturers realized that with Android they had a readily and freely accessible operating system, a large market of potential customers, and all they had to do was put together a cheap device to capitalize on Android's continued growth. Unfortunately, these devices often cut corners where things mattered the most - poor displays, resistive touchscreens, bad build quality and a litany of other crimes against the gods of consumer electronics.
Here's some great news for owners of the budget flavour-of-the-month, the ZTE Blade. Saddled with Éclair at birth, the dudes over at MoDaCo's ZTE Blade section have given their phones a new lease of life with a Froyo port from the domestic Chinese model to their beloved Orange San Francisco.
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.
Here's a device that's been making some waves in the UK Android community. Over at MoDaCo.com, founder Paul O'Brien picked up Orange's rebranded ZTE Blade for £99 ($160) with a pre-paid SIM. Judging from his video, it seems that you get quite a lot of device for your money, including that aforementioned 3.5" AMOLED screen. Despite being burdened with a silly name and an abundance of network shovelware, the Blade/SanFran's 600 MHz CPU appears to run Android 2.1 pretty nicely.
For one of the first phones out with a Snapdragon, this sure has been some time coming. Over at the MoDaCo Android forum, poster LIQUID_USER managed to obtain what he has described as a “very early build” for Acer’s 3.5”, Éclair-running slate. Despite this somewhat unofficial status, the build Acer_LiquidF_0.007.00_EMEA-GEN1_05.01.01) is said to be quite stable, with most device functions working as normal, including wireless tethering and Adobe Flash.
Ever since HTC released its version of Google’s Nexus One, the Desire, people have wondered why Google haven’t given the N1 any FM Radio capability. The HTC Desire uses the same Broadcom chipset as the Nexus One, so why does one have FM Radio and the other doesn't?