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Developer offers Jams Music Player app for free, now an open source

Music player apps for Android are a dime a dozen. There are lot of paid ones too but one app called Jams is about be offered for free. Apparently, it’s developer, Psaravan on Github.com, is now making the app available for free. To formerly paid app on Google Play Store, it is also now an open source because the developer can no longer provide support for the paid users. He doesn’t want the app to just go offline so he’s releasing the app for free and open sourced it.



Other developers are free to use Jams Music Player app now for their own purposes and release it again to other users. Now that it’s open source, anyone can make their own version or even improve on it. The developer still promised to update the app occasionally if he has free time but will only be beta level.


The developer is encouraging other developers to work on the app and use the current codebase of Jams as long as he is notified. He’s even willing to feature the updated version on his GitHub page. The app has been available for almost a year. It has been getting good feedbacks from the users but the developer still needs to fix a lot of issues. He doesn’t have much time now because of his other personal projects but he’s willing to let Jams Music Player live in the hands of other developers like him.


VIA: Reddit





Galaxy Note 4’s battery benchmarked, good results

The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 already launched in its home market in Korea, so they are able to play around with the unit earlier than us. There are evidences that the new model will start hitting American shores by mid-October, so until then, we will have to be satisfied with benchmarks from Korea. This particular one is a battery test done with a Korean Galaxy Note 4 running an Exynos chipset.



Specifically this would be the Exynos 5433 octa-core chip, with a big.LITTLE architecture set of four 1.8Ghz Cortex A15 processors and four 1.4Ghz Cortex A7 processors. The battery tests had three iterations – first was a WiFi test with the phone’s stock browser being refreshed every 5 seconds. The second was a video playback test done by looping a 1080p .mkv on the Note 4’s default player. The last test was a graphics rendering test looping GLBenchmark 2.5’s Egypt HD C24Z16 test.


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With all these tests, we could say that those planning to buy the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 with its monster 3,220mAh battery should be relatively pleased. The Note 4 lasted almost 12 hours on the video test at 100% brightness, a bit more when brightness was lowered to standard viewing settings. This places the new model in the top 5 devices with longest battery life in this test. The Note 4 also lasted 7 hours on the WiFi test at max brightness, and a full 1.5 hours longer on standard brightness – again placing the device in the top tier of devices that last longer on this test. On the graphics render loop, the Note 4 lasted 3 and a half hours – this drops the Note 4 to the middle of the pack or better, still a relatively good place for it to be.


We have to remember that the Note 4 has a gigantic screen, and with that it still performed really well. The Note 4 also has a higher max brightness level than the Note 3. The only other question would be if the quad-core Snapdragon 805 would perform just as great as the Exynos chipset seems to have done.


VIA: Reddit





Portal is a startup project device that’s flexible, waterproof

Had enough of #bendgate already? We’re pretty sure you are. So here’s a new one – a smartphone-slash-wearable device that is actually meant to bend and still be awesome (sorry Apple) called Portal. The device is in startup mode right now, crowdsourcing its capital – but the premise is kinda awesome. The device is targeted at athletes, sports pros, or on-the-go business and corporate people who want their technology bleeding edge and easily accessible through wireless.



Portal is actually designed to be strapped on, and you take it on a run like a smartwatch, only bigger and better – or on a swim, or commuting from your home to the office. The developers – an outfit called Arubixs – is saying that the device will come with 2GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage, running on a modified version of Android. There is no mention of a specific chipset for the device yet, although there is a promise that the device will be at par with other top level devices at the time of launch.


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What makes the Portal flexible? Well, it’s a combination of a 6-inch flexible OLED screen and a proprietary flexible battery. It’s not flexible all throughout – there are rigid elements, but the device is flexible where it matters. If a smartwatch like the Moto 360 just has too little screen real estate for you, then this might just be the alternative – a fitness tracker and smartphone rolled (literally) into one device.


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The Portal is Kevlar-protected, and is designed to have 4 cameras to utterly document your active lifestyle. The company is looking for USD$300,000 in capital and if you cough up USD$349 or more, you can be sure to have one by this time next year. At the moment, they are nearing the USD$20,000 mark. There have been rumblings of flexible OLED projects all around, but Portal looks to be a very strong proposition. What do you guys think?


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SOURCE: IndieGoGo





More Oppo N3 images leaked

Nothing much to say here but we all know that Oppo is working on a new “N” phone series. The Oppo N3 has been leaked for some time and we’ve seen photos of it with a strange-looking camera. A couple more photos are going around, showing us how the N3 concept could look like.



The next Oppo N3 will also feature a 5.9-inch 1080p display just like the old Oppo smartphones. Chinese website Zaeke.com published the photos, which actually look more like renders information on the specs have also been posted.


Text is written in Chinese but we know the smartphone will feature 3GB RAM, Snapdragon 805 processor, 13 megapixel rotating camera, and 1920x1080p resolution. The rotating camera may be strange but it makes the phone more interesting.


opp n3 rotating camera


The first Oppo N3 phone we featured earlier this month looks like a flip phone. Actually, it reminds me a lot of an old Nokia flip phone but the upcoming Oppo could bethinner despite the thick cylinder on top. But the new leaked images show a different design. It looks like any ordinary slab but the second photo shows the top part of the phone, where the camera is located, to be rotating. Flip the earpiece part to reveal the camera.


We’ll see what Oppo has in store at the “One More Step” event this coming October.


oppo-oct-2014


VIA: Gizmobic





Two models of the Sony Xperia Z3 get root access

Sony Xperia fans have been relatively excited about the Xperia Z3 since it was launched by the Japanese electronics company at IFA 2014 in Berlin earlier this month. And looking at the model’s stunning visuals, sleek UI, and classy and premium design language – really, what’s not to like? If you’re already an owner of an Xperia Z3, you might say that all this unit needs now is root access. Well, you might not have to wait long for it.



XDA forum member “monx” has delivered root access specifically for the D6653 and D6603 models of the Sony Xperia Z3, and it probably won’t be long until root access is gained for the other models. If you have to ask “why root it in the first place?”, then maybe this process is not for you. For those of you who fancy a tweak or two, rejoice.


The first requirement is an unlocked bootloader for the D6653 and D6603 models. If that is unlocked, then you only need to boot into fastboot mode, flash the recovery image provided in the official thread here, reboot into recovery and flash SuperSU. The recovery used was a modded version of the TWRP recovery.


Specific warnings for this is that the method can be used ONLY in the D6653 and D6603 models. If you try this on any other model, you run the risk of bricking your phone. Also, even if you have the correct models, we always warn you that any process you do tweaking with any phone’s kernel will have the risk of bricking your phone, so we do not recommend it for the faint of hearts and those who have no capability of revering from a catastrophic firmware breakdown.


SOURCE: XDA





Customizing the OnePlus One, XDA 2015 Forum Redesign Live! – XDA TV

Jordan0929

You can now customize your OnePlus One’s boot logo! That and much more news is covered by Jordan when he reviews all the important stories from this weekend. Included in this weekend’s news is the announcement of XDA 2015 forum redesign going live and be sure the check out the article showing you how to compile your own Ubuntu kernel! That’s not all that’s covered in today’s video!


Jordan talks about the other videos released this weekend on XDA TV. XDA TV Producer droidmodd3rx released a video reviewing Paranoid Android. Then rirozizo showed you how to be a good user. And if you missed it be sure to check out Jordan’s Review of the Nvidia SHIELD Tablet. Pull up a chair and check out this video.



Links to stories mentioned:



Check out Jordan’s YouTube Channel and Jordan’s Gaming YouTube Channel


The post Customizing the OnePlus One, XDA 2015 Forum Redesign Live! – XDA TV appeared first on xda-developers.


Consumer Reports look into #bendgate, Galaxy Note 3 is strong

We all know about the trending issue about Apple’s new iPhones – at least we assume most of us know, those who have not lived under a rock these past few days. The short version of it is that some owners of the new iPhones have made very public statements about the strength of the frame of the phones, claiming that the devices could easily be bent under strong but usually normal pressure.



This is where Consumer Reports – the good guys who look after the concern of consumers – steps in and investigates the whole deal, especially after a video went viral of a person who easily bent an iPhone 6 Plus with his bare hands. Going the scientific testing path, Consumer Reports tested multiple phone models with what it called a “three-point flexular test” – where all phone models were tested with the same machine.




The phones tested were the new iPhones, an iPhone 5, an HTC One M8, an LG G3, and a Samsung Galaxy Note 3. They were subjected to flexular pressure more than the 55 pounds that Apple used to test its units with, seeing at what point the units broke. For references, 55 pounds is comparable to the force needed to break three pencils.


The results were conclusive enough – at least for the new iPhones – that you wouldn’t normally be able to just bend a unit with normal daily use as claimed by most of the negative viral content. Surprisingly, it was the HTC One M8 which capitulated with the least force applied (90 pounds), with the iPhone 6 next at 100 pounds of force. Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3, together with the iPhone 5, seemed to be the ones structurally strongest, only giving in after being subjected to 150 pounds of flex force.


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There are two sides to this story, but the first one should be that the scientific test proves you won’t be able to bend these phones – yes, including the new iPhones – without subjecting them to abnormal amounts of flex force. That being said, and point number 2, these viral videos have come at a very awkward point in time for Apple, right after the phones’ launch. Cupertino will have to weave its magic better to survive and get up from this obvious setback.


SOURCE: Consumer Reports





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