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Optimize Your Media Scanner – XDA Xposed Tuesday

mediascanner

If you’ve got a lot of file crammed on your device and external SD card–and let’s be honest, who doesn’t–you could be losing precious battery life. The reason is that when your device boots, it has to scan the files to create the Android media store entries. And there is nothing you can do about it. Or is there?


In this episode of XDA Xposed Tuesday, XDA TV Producer TK reviews an Xposed Module that helps you optimize your media scanner. XDA Senior Member thomashofmann created the Xposed Media Scanner Optimizer module. TK shows off the modules and gives his thoughts, so check out this Xposed Tuesday video.




Be sure to check out other great XDA TV Videos



The post Optimize Your Media Scanner – XDA Xposed Tuesday appeared first on xda-developers.


Rumor: Next Galaxy flagship will be the S6, curved variant will be S6 Edge

Samsung is still big in the business. Numbers may be down a bit this year but its key leaders will still remain. And as for the next flagship phone, we know that Samsung is developing it this early and may be released earlier than usual, perhaps at the Mobile World Congress.



The next flagship Galaxy S phone will be called the S6. Not Galaxy S VI but simply S6. Samsung has what they call Project Zero –an effort of the company to make something as great as the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S4 ( sorry Galaxy S5). Some Project Zero details have been tipped but we generally know that Samsung would be starting from scratch and not just build up on what the previous model doesn’t have. So far, we heard that the Galaxy S6 developed through the Project Zero would have a 2560 x 144 QHD resolution but would have a smaller screen size. Rumor has it that it will be powered by an Exynos 7420 chip, 64-bit processor, Exynos LTE Modem 333, 3GB RAM, and 32GB to 128GB storage capacity.


Samsung could also be working on a curved display variant of the Samsung S6. Nothing is certain yet but it could be called the Galaxy S6 Edge with a curved screen similar to what the Galaxy Note Edge currently has, bending at one side of the device. Curved displays are still new so Samsung could still be experimenting. Let’s see.


VIA: Sammobile





Mozilla Firefox for Android updated to version 34 with Chromecast mirroring support

The Mozilla Firefox browser app for Android received a big-ish update recently, pushing it to version 34. But more than that, the update does brings a number of new features to the browser. We are mildly surprised though, that the move to make Yahoo the browser’s primary search engine has not been cascaded to the Android app yet, as that deal between Mozilla and Yahoo was done two weeks ago.



What is new in the browser app is the mirroring support for Chromecast, which means that Firefox users can now mirror their browser to Google’s streaming device. The feature was made available in the beta build of Firebox for Android, but at that point the feature was buggy. With the version 34 update, early reports say the feature works as expected.


mozilla_ff_screencast


Apart from Chromecast support, this new update now gives Firefox for Android slightly redesigned look. This is not to bring Firefox closer to Material Design as might be expected, but to align the Android app to the color palette that users of the desktop version are familiar with on. There are also speed and usability improvements on the app as well.


mozilla_firefox_34


All these said, we can expect that the implementation of the “primary search engine” deal with Yahoo to be only a matter of time before it trickles down to the Android app. The change was already implemented in the desktop version of the browser. Check out the download link below.


DOWNLOAD: Google Play Store





“Stalk” Santa with Google’s Santa Tracker feature and app

As December 25 draws nearer, chances are your children are pretty much excited for when Santa will finally come down the chimney and deliver their Christmas gifts (wink, wink). To stop yourself from going crazy answering how many days it is until Christmas, Google has once again come up with a Santa Tracker, to keep kids occupied until D Day with games, features and even programming lessons as well.



Aside from the tracker, the page also has a calendar where you can see when the features will arrive. They'll get games (Play), videos (Watch) and "lessons" (Learn). Don't worry, the lessons part is actually pretty neat, with the first one being trivia about how other children in other countries celebrate Christmas. And later on this month, there will be lessons for kids (and maybe for you who don't know anything about it) on how to use Javascript and other basic programming info.


So far, aside from the lessons, you have a Rudolph racing game and a video showing people becoming elves when passing through airport security checkpoint. Plus, if your kids access the internet more through mobile, there's also now a Google Santa Tracker app. There's also a way for you to send voice messages for your kids, like reminding them to be nice not naughty or to tell them how much you love them (aaawww).


While this Google Christmas treat is designed for kids, of course this will not stop us from enjoying these games, videos and lessons even though we know that Santa is.....coming to town soon (this post is spoiler free, don't worry). So download the app from the Google Play Store or go and visit the site daily.


tracker6 tracker5 tracker4 tracker3 tracker2


VIA: SlashGear


Samsung Mobile CEO not losing his job

Is Samsung going down? No, not yet. The South Korean giant is just going through a downtime with worst earnings and performance in three years. Its Mobile Communications Business for Samsung Electronics president, J.K. Shin, is still staying despite the rumors that the board would be dropping him because of the bad numbers.



Samsung had an annual reshuffling but most of the key leaders kept their jobs. Consumer electronics head Yoon Boo-keun and semi-conductor business chief Kwon Oh-hyun will remain in their posts. Thanks to the son of group patriarch, Jay Y. Lee, who decided to keep the key leaders in their positions to consolidate his own position and ensure stability according to analysts.


Research firm Chaebul.com’s head Chung Sun-sup said, "With Samsung undergoing major changes in the midst of the succession process, like selling affiliates and listing units, it would have been too unsettling to change leadership.”

"And without a signal that Chairman Lee Kun-hee has stepped back for good, it might have been too much for Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee to change the people his father put in position," Chung Sun-sup added.


Corporate watchdog CEO Score Park Ju-gun also commented that Lee junior might need more time to shore up his position in Samsung. "It was too soon for him to take a big risk at this point," Park exclaimed.


Shin is still doing good. He is considered as one of Samsung Electronic’s major contributor to making it big in the mobile and handset business. Lee June, Samsung Group Senior Vice President, noted that Shin would still be given a chance to turn Samsung’s mobile business around as needed.


So what happened to Samsung’s performance? Aside from Apple working non-stop and harder to bring the iPhone on top of the game, there’s Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi Technology who has been making it big in the industry with low-cost but high-specced smartphones.


VIA: Reuters





PuzzlePhone is Another Android Modular Phone in the Works

puzzle phone modular standard

Over the last two years, there’s been much talk about Google’s Project Ara, a modular phone concept with various hot-swappable hardware components. This means that you can easily replace, let’s say, the CPU, or the battery, or the screen, once they’ve become damaged, old, or slow–without having to purchase a new phone entirely. Now it seems like there may be more than one modular phone concept in the works designed in Nokia’s hometown: PuzzlePhone.


PuzzlePhone is designed by a Finish company called Circular Devices, and offers up their own take on how a modular phone should look like. The design of the device is made up of three modules based on different parts of the human anatomy: the spine, the heart, and the brain. The spine consists of an LCD screen module, as well as the main buttons, speaker and microphone. The heart contains the battery and secondary electronics. And the camera as well as the main electronics such as the CPU is, aptly, located in the brain. Gathering from its promo video, these individual modules are intended to not only be replaceable, but also have some aesthetic and cosmetic customizable. As for the software, Puzzlephone will be running a forked version of Android OS.


Just like Project Ara, Circular Devices hopes to bring this modular device to fruition and ship in the second half of 2015 with a mid-range price tag, having worked on it since 2013. An ambitious concept and timeline, the company purports that Puzzlephone will last you a decade thanks to its design. If you want to find out more, visit the PuzzlePhone website for more information.


[Via The Verge]


The post PuzzlePhone is Another Android Modular Phone in the Works appeared first on xda-developers.


Android distribution ending November: Kitkat sustains growth

Even at the height of the hype for the release of Android 5.0 Lollipop, Kitkat usage continues to grow as the version of Android that is being adopted the most. It might take a while before Lollipop starts to even be in the picture, so Kitkat is still THE go-to version of Android.



From the end of October, Kitkat usage was at 30.2 percent. That has grown by 3.7 percent – to 33.9 – by the end of November. We still expect more growth as people flock to the stores this holiday season and buy more Android devices – most of which will still be sporting a predominant Kitkat flavor.


distribution_nov

Jellybean usage continues to drop, this month to 48.7 percent from just a smidgen over 50 percent last month – we expect that trend to continue. Froyo versions account for less than one percent, while Gingerbread falls below 10 percent for the second consecutive month. ICS usage drops to 7.8 percent from last month’s 8.5.


We also expect that the numbers starting January will include Android Lollipop, as more and more people and manufacturers update their devices to the latest and greatest version. That will not be too long a wait, we presume.


SOURCE: Android Development





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