Wave and Wave II Get Functional OmniROM!

Running Android on a device that was never supposed to support the OS is quite a challenge. But even when you’ve got that part working, those last ten percent is often the most challenging. This has been exactly the case for the BadaDroid project, which aims to bring Android to Bada (a lesser known OS released by Samsung for their Wave series, for which development stopped in 2013 after it was replaced by its successor, Tizen). We’ve actually seen the project develop slowly over the last two years, and it’s always great to see it progressing further.

OmniROM is the latest member of the family of ROMs available for the Wave and Wave II, and it’s also the most usable to date, brought to you by XDA Recognized Developer volk204. In fact, it’s fully usable as a daily build without any major issues (the last major problem, which caused the device to overheat while charging, was fixed in the most recent build). The list of bugs is now rather short, and shouldn’t affect daily usage for most users:

• Using 2G causes some problems (3G functions correctly, though, and you can force that easily).


• Conference calls don’t work.


• Audio codec settings are a bit flaky, but problems are rare enough.

Battery life is also a bit shorter than on Bada, but it should still last a full day with low to moderate usage. It’s worth noting that although the ROM is usable without major issues, it’s still considered an alpha project (interested developers are more than welcome to contact the BadaDroid team!), and the community has been great at providing support where possible. If you’d like to give it a try, head over to the OmniROM for Bada forum thread to get started!

The post Wave and Wave II Get Functional OmniROM! appeared first on xda-developers.

Bring Material Design Goodness to Your App with Support Library

At Google I/O 2014, the next iteration of Android was announced and disseminated to the world in preview form. Despite the impressive API additions, Android L, or Lollipop as it was later revealed, quickly became famous for its refreshed user interface design language. Google has moved on from Holo UI and embraced the new “Material Design,” which is comprised of virtual paper and ink metaphors, rich and meaningful animations, as well bold and intentional graphics.

While Material Design apps were restricted to Android Lollipop at first, Google went on to launch an official support library that allows developers to backport the Material Theme to older platforms. The support library brings Theme.AppCompat, widget tinting, SwitchCompat, and more. Google even went one step further and published a guide to help developers kickstart the transition. However, the library does not contain all of Material Design’s features, with the Floating Action Button and RippleDrawable being some glaringly missing elements.

Head over to the official Google Material Design Backport guide on the Android Developers blog to get started with refreshing your app’s design.

The post Bring Material Design Goodness to Your App with Support Library appeared first on xda-developers.

Material Design checklist helps developers get ready

Android 5.0 Lollipop is coming and developers better be ready. Actually, many have already updated their apps, even in their current pre-Lollipop incarnations, to that new Material Design look. But to make sure that developers have dotted their i's and crossed their t's, Google has given out a checklist for developers and designers to skim over, in case they don't have the time to pour through the actual design guidelines and previously released documents.

Material Design is all about paper, it seems. The user interface is largely driven by that metapher. Screens and interfaces are sheets of paper, and like sheets of paper, they are stacked or lie side by side, which each part moving in conjunction or in unison with other parts on the same layer. And like physical paper, surfaces cast shadows, hinting at their importance or, at the very least, their placement in the heirarchy.

Although a completely digital design language, Material Design gives a nod to classical print design. Translated to mobile devices, this means the bold use of colors and large images. Apps should have a primary color and an accent color, the latter contrasting with the primary one and used to call users' attention to important UI elements. But unlike print, Material Design can afford the use of animations to give meaning as well as to delight.

But Material Design is more than just an Android design, and by that we mean it isn't confined to smartphones and tablets. Material Design, in theory, is set to encompass Google's products, from Android Wear to Android TV and even to the web. Whether that will be true a few months from now remains to be seen, as more devices in the latter category get added to Google's family. For the meantime, however, do expect an influx of apps that will go with what's en vogue, presuming and hoping that developers have read this post and many others like it.

SOURCE: Google

Nexus Player Hands-On: This Is No Nexus Q (Thank Goodness)

Android TV made its big debut back at Google I/O, but its first official host body didn't show up until a few weeks back. The Nexus Player, built by ASUS, is Google's bajillionth attempt to take over the living room (hello Google TV, Nexus Q, Chromecast), and it looks as good as any set-top box you could look to throw on your TV stand.

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HP new Pro Slate 12, Pro Slate 8 leaked

HP is still in the business of making new mobile devices. Just recently, the company introduced two new Android tablets that are ideal for the business professionals. The HP Pro Slate 8 and HP Pro Slate 12 is part of a new Pro Slate series from the brand. It’s totally different from the Slate and Touchpad slates we’ve seen in the past.

The HP Pro Slate 8 is different from the HP Slate 8 Pro introduced back in April. The naming convention can be too confusing but HP is serious with the name. So serious because the two are part of the business tablet family. They are high-end tablets made possible by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, 2GB RAM, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, unknown front and rear cameras, microSD card slots, and front-facing stereo speakers. Out of the box, the HP tablets will run Android 4.4 KitKat. (Sorry, no Lollipop yet.)

You can use an HP Duet pen with the two models. The type of the stylus is not clear but this could be the same ultrasound pen for Qualcomm. Inside each tablet, you will find HDMI support, micro USB 2.0 port, SlimPort adapter, and an audio jack. There’s a mobile data option for the tablets made possible with a nanoSIM card.

So far, we only know of a few differences between the two: screen size and storage capacity. The HP Pro Slate 8 comes with 16GB of built-in storage and a 7.7-inch display. Meanwhile, the HP Pro Slate 10 features a 12.3-inch screen, 37 Wh battery, and 32GB of storage.

VIA: Notebook Italia

Story Timeline

• HP Slate 8 Pro Business tries to be a very serious tablet


• HP Slatebook 14 arrives with Android, Chromebook 11 returns with new colors


• HP Slate 17 tablet rocks Intel Bay Trail quad-core CPU

Nexus 6 Hands On: So Big, So Beautiful

Google broke more than a couple of hearts when it announced that its new Android flagship, the Nexus 6, was going to be a whale. Now that I've seen it up close, I can tell you that yes, this sucker is a huge. But that's not a bad thing.

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Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Dev Edition now shipping

Last week we talked a bit about the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Developer Edition that was unveiled for Verizon customers. If that smartphone piqued your interest, you will be glad to hear that the device is now available to ship. The dev edition of the smartphone is available in black, will sell for $699.99, and can be purchased directly from the Samsung website.

It will only operate on the Verizon network. Like the normal Note 4, the dev version rocks a 5.7-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED screen and has an enhanced S Pen. The smartphone has a 3.7MP front camera with a wide-angle lens for selfies or group shots.

The rear camera is a 16MP unit with optical image stabilization. Internal memory is 3GB and storage is 32GB. That big 5.7-inch screen has a resolution of 2560 x 1440. The dev version runs Android 4.4 KitKat for the operating system, and is ready for Android 5.0.

The big feature for the developer edition of this device is that it comes with bootloaders that can be unlocked easily. That means developers needing to install custom ROMs and kernels can do that more easily and quickly on this version of the smartphone than normal versions.

SOURCE: Samsung