An intrepid 16-year-old web developer hacked his Android Wear to run Windows 95. Ah, to be young and very good at undertaking whimsical hacking projects.
Make Your Android Phone a Universal Remote Control
Want to throw away your pile of remotes, but don't want to shell out for a pricy universal remote device? It's getting easier to just use your smartphone to change the channel. SureMote, a free app that debuted an updated version this weekend, wants you to control every appliance in your house with your phone. It allows users to flip through channels on smart TVs, make sure a Roomba is cleaning the right corners, and control LED lights, no remotes required.
3 Unique Launchers from the XDA Forums – XDA TV
There are many Launchers available for Android. There are very popular ones, like Nova Launcher. However, just because something is popular, doesn’t mean it’s the best. Each person’s preference is different as well.
In today’s episode, XDA TV Producer Jared shows off a 3 unique launchers from the XDA forums. He talks about SwiftOpen Beta, FlowHome Beta and SAO Launcher. So if you wanted to try a new unique launcher for your Android device, check out this video!
Links to the Launchers:
- SwiftOpen Beta
- FlowHome Beta Play Store
- FlowHome Beta XDA Thread
- SAO Launcher Play Store
- SAO Launcher XDA Thread
Check out Jared’s YouTube Channel.
The post 3 Unique Launchers from the XDA Forums – XDA TV appeared first on xda-developers.
Samsung Galaxy S3 given an Android KitKat lifeline
Not too long ago, Samsung made a decision that the international version of the Samsung Galaxy SIII (I9300) – one of its most popular phones ever – is not going to get an official TouchWiz Android 4.4 KitKat update. Cue the sound of millions of hearts of Galaxy SIII owners breaking, as most of them were really still hoping against hope that it would happen. Now the Galaxy SIII is given a lifeline through community development by “arter97”, an XDA Senior Member, with a port from a Korean SIII variant that had an official KitKat update.
Of course, there are a lot of AOSP ROMs that could give the Galaxy SIII a KitKat feel, but it seems like nothing beats the official TouchWiz look. The Korean variant in question was the E210S – with 2GB of RAM and LTE – was updated to Android 4.4.4, and this is what was ported for the I9300 international model. Take a peek at the screenshots below.
There were bugs that kept the port from being stable – SMS messaging issues, signal issues, and the like – but an updated version 2 has come out fixing those things. What is really notable about this port was that it was done in just a few hours, when Samsung was dillydallying over putting out a KitKat update because the Galaxy SIII international version had only 1GB of RAM. For comparison, we know of a lot of entry level phones that run KitKat smoothly on just 1GB of RAM.
If you want to join the fun, check out the original XDA forum thread here, and do tell us about your revived, reinvigorated Galaxy SIII. Version 2 of the build is now up, so it’s a much more functional port. We don’t have to remind you that backups are ALWAYS necessary, so don’t forget to do that before you go flashing your firmware.
SOURCE: XDA
HP 10 Plus tablet shows up at Amazon, no official announcement
It was a while back when we wrote about a bunch of tablets that HP was planning to launch – one of those tablets has dropped at the Amazon website with little in the way of a formal announcement. Looks like HP is trying to sneak the HP 10 Plus by us, although we don’t really know what good that will achieve.
The HP 10 Plus is one of the more robust tablets in terms of specs from that group we initially announced. The tablet features an Allwinner A31 ARM Cortex-A7 quad-core processor turning at 1Ghz, not really a solid choice for a branded tablet. At least it is supported by 2GB or RAM. The screen is a 10.1-inch Full HD display, and there’s a 5MP/2MP camera combo for those who can’t help taking pictures even with their tablets.
The curious spec is that the tablet only runs WiFi 802.11n, where most tablets, even the cheap ones will be a/b/g/n/ac. It’s not immediately clear why this is, but it can be that HP tried to cut some costs with this tablet. At least, the tablet runs Android 4.4.2 Kitkat – not the latest, but certainly better than the lower versions.
The tablet is priced at USD$279.00 at Amazon, a drop from the rumored USD$320 pricing that was initially bandied about. It’s not really a bad tablet, but the 1Ghz core speed on your quad-core processor is bound to affect the smoothness of processes and apps you run on the tablet. Check out the tablet at Amazon here.
VIA: Android Headlines
Ironclad Tactics is a lane-driven turn-based robot game
Ironclad Tactics is a nice fusion of a number of elements that logically shouldn’t work together – but they rather do. On the whole, it is a lane-driven game in the manner of “Plants vs. Zombies” – only that it is set in a fictional re-fighting of the US Civil War, with robots! Yes, you heard us right.
We haven’t mentioned that at the core, this is also a card-collecting game – you get to battle as one of the sides of the aforementioned historic war with robots from cards that you collect throughout the game. The action in your lanes runs in real-time, but you have to wait for action points to add up so that you can deploy more units from your card collection.
While the issue of the Civil War is no laughing matter, the game developer has found a way to lighten up the mood by the way of comic book-like panels that move the story along. The main campaign’s storyline revolves around the inventor of the robots from the North, and you unlock cards as you go along.
The description says very loudly “no ridiculous in-app purchases” – although the Google Play Store displays the game as “with in-app purchases”. That is not an oxymoron, as there is a good bit of content before the free campaign ends and you have to purchase the full game for USD$3.99, as well as two additional campaigns available for USD$2.99. Check out the game via Google Play Store.
VIA: Android World
Sony Xperia Z3 flagship device gets a full teardown
For gearheads and tinkerers, nothing is more exciting than a teardown – picking out the nuts and bolts of a system and getting to the heart of a device. Sony’s newest flagship – the Xperia Z3, recently launched at the IFA 2014 trade show in Berlin – gets a full teardown, revealing the innards of the premium device.
Powering the Xperia Z3 is the Snapdragon 801 SoC that seems to be the favorite of most manufacturers these days for their flagship devices. That is supported by a very generous 3GB of RAM which pushes pixels to a 5.2-inch Full HD 1920x1080 display. The internal storage of the device that was torn down is 16GB, and the device’s storage is usually expandable via microSD to 128GB.
The teardown was straightforward, the only challenge being the Xperia Z3’s unibody design and the IP68 grade waterproofing, the latter meaning that most seams of the device has some sort of rubberized sealant. With a little heat and a prying tool, you can gain entry to the device via the backplate, and everything should be straight forward from there (unlike the Samsung Galaxy Alpha’s “screen first” entry).
The parts are modular to the core, and so replacement of parts should be easier once you have gotten past the back plate. The phone’s design is compact, meaning that you have to be careful with cables and elements which have very specific placements. But if you do teardowns for a living, the Sony Xperia Z3 should be a normal day at work.
SOURCE: eWiseTech
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