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Puzzle Phone another Project Ara competitor in modular phones

First it was Vsenn, that mysterious new entry into the modular phone development scene that is preeminently dominated by Google (initially Motorola’s) Project Ara, who also took up the call to produce a modular smartphone. Now, a new project with a decidedly Finnish DNA called Puzzlephone is also making its entry into the modular phone business.



Puzzlephone is a project by an international team of hardware developers calling themselves Circular Devices. The company was founded by Spanish engineer Alejandro Santacreu and is now currently developing a new approach to the modular phone. The main objective is still the same – to reduce electronic waste and prolong device life through upgrading, minimizing replacements of new devices altogether.


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But Santacreu’s approach is made up of 3 major modules which he calls the Brain, the Heart and the Spine. The Brain module contains all the processing electronics elements. The display, speakers, microphones go to the Spine module. The battery and other power-related elements go to the Heart module.




The company’s vision is to create a modular smartphone that can be sustainable ecologically and socially. This is the primary reason why the Puzzlephone’s materials are recyclable, and have low environmental impact. The team will initially use Android as the OS, but they say that other open source operating systems would be supported moving forward.


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What do you think? Tell us about it in the comments section.


SOURCE: Phonebloks





Humble Crescent Moon Mobile Bundle adds three more games, unlocked bonuses

Black Friday and Cyber Monday may be over but there is still the Humble Bundle. In fact, more have been added to the Humble Crescent Moon Mobile Bundle. Three more unlocked bonuses have been added as well so everyone is happy.



We announced this last month and now the bundle is finally available for the Android gamers’ consumption. Game developer Crescent Moon may not be that popular but it has produced some notable RPG games like the Ravensword: Shadowlands, Shadow Blade, and Mines of Mars. If you get the bundle, you’ll get four games. If you pay some more, you’ll get more games.


The Humble Bundle is a limited promotion that will run until Monday, December 8. As of this writing, more than 31,000 bundles have already been sold. A lot of gamers are grabbing this deal fast. I'm not familiar with most of the games but a good deal is a good deal. What's better is that developer supports charity so your purchase of awesome games are also for a good cause.


Here are some of the games you can choose: Space Chicks, @-Bit Cowboy, Neon Shadow, The Deer God, Exiles: Far Colony, Topia World, Blocky Roads, Slingshot Racing, Clash of Puppets, and Aralon: Sword and Shadow.


You can purchase the Humble Mobile Bundle HERE


SOURCE: Humble Bundle


Ignite app allows bloatware installation without your permission

Ok, so mobile carriers want to earn a little extra off you from apps and other installable programs – you can hardly fault them for that, as they are businesses in need of profit anyways. But to sneakily install bloatware (the not-so-endearing term for carrier-sponsored software) without the users’ permission is crossing some sort of a line, and yes, Digital Turbine’s Ignite app allows carriers to do just that.



Digital Turbine is a developer of app management, search, and shopping app solutions for carriers – which include Vodafone, Verizon, Telefónica, T-Mobile, SingTel, Smart, Telstra, and Cricket among others. The Ignite app is its biggest moneymaker – which ostensibly is an app that will allow developers to speed up the roll-out of apps and updates for smartphones. The video below will show you what’s up.




Sounds good so far? Now, Verizon and T-Mobile are clients of Digital Turbine – and the Ignite app has reportedly been installed rather quietly onto T-Mobile devices under the package of a “performance enhancement” update. Here’s where the problem starts.


Reddit user “Real666_” has spoken out that the DT Ignite app on his Galaxy Note 4 has allowed the installation of 3 apps – Cookie Jam, Drippler, and RetailMeNot – without even getting his permission. This means that the DT Ignite app has bypassed Google’s app permission requests, which were put there for this very reason.


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How does one resolve this issue? Well, if you find the DT Ignite app in your list of installed apps – you can disable it and it should not be a problem anymore. You can only uninstall the app if you have a rooted device – another reason why you should root your phone and another reason why mobile carriers frown on the process.


VIA: Android Authority / Reddit





Hex:99 Android game: when something simple is really hard

It seems that the credo of a lot of new mobile games these days is simple is the new hard. Games that are easy to explain and understand (some even minimalist) are suddenly extremely difficult to play. But hey, we're not really complaining because if all games were easy to play, then it would be boring.



Entering the realm of these types of games is Hex:99, an action game that feels like an endless runner at times. The objective of the game is to not let your silver hexagon ball die. But the developer assures you that you will be "dying very often". And they admit that only 3% of those who start playing the game will actually finish it. So why even bother? Well, if you're the type who relishes challenges and wants to challenge that percentage, then you definitely will want to.


It is easy to play the game on paper, as the controls are pretty simple. The music will actually keep you in the mood as it is fast-paced and highly energetic. The visuals, while simple and minimalist, are actually pretty well made and adds to the appeal of the game. But make no mistake, this twitch-controlled running game is still pretty difficult, and getting through the checkpoints and zones until you reach 1999 is really challenging.


Hex:99 is available to download for free from the Google Play Store. There are some in-app purchases so make sure your permissions are protected so that no unwanted or unnecessary purchases can be made from your device. We can't guarantee that you won't buy lives or bonus items just to be able to finish this game.


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Optimize Your Media Scanner – XDA Xposed Tuesday

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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.


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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.


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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





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