Project Ara gives fans a sneak peek of Spiral 2 prototype PCB

With the Project Ara Module Developers Conference coming up early in 2015, Google is hyping up interest in Project Ara – the popular modular smartphone project. It should be known to Google that a number of competitors in modular smartphone development have come up, and the conference should be a great boost for them. With that in mind, here comes a sneak peek of Project Ara’s Spiral 2 prototype PCB.

The image was posted on Google Advanced Technologies and Projects’ (ATAP) Google+ page as a sneak peek into what the team is doing to prep for the launch of version 0.20 of the Project Ara Module Developers Kit. Take a good look below at the image.

This would ostensibly be the subject matter for the developers conference scheduled on January 14 for these locations: Mountain View, Buenos Aires, London, and New York. There will also be another serving of the event on January 21 for these locations: Singapore, Bangalore, Shanghai, Taipei, and Tokyo. The event will also be livestreamed for those who can't attend in person.

Google ATAP is set to offer updates on hardware and software during the conference. Looking at the image, it would be interesting to know how the hardware bus architecture is laid out for the Spiral 2 prototype. The fans would also be expecting better performance from the prototypes Google would be showing, if ever.

SOURCE: Google ATAP

Story Timeline

• Sennheiser teams up with Phonebloks for modular phone thrust


• Vsenn is a Project Ara competitor in modular phones


• Puzzle Phone another Project Ara competitor in modular phones

Cubic Castles: a sandbox, platformer, MMORPG, puzzle game all in one

Creative gamers may like playing a lot of uniform, standard games, but there will come a point when they'd want to create a gaming world of their own, even without developer or programming skills. This is why sandbox games like Minecraft have massive popularity. What if you can have one that is a sandbox, platforme, puzzle game and is also a massive multiplayer world? This is what Cubic Castles is trying to be.

The developers of the game (who are mostly ex-Popcap Games employees) have found a way to combine the Minecraft-type of building and mining with the fun, virtual gaming world of the classic Nintendo platforming games. You can create whatever you want on the piece of land that you've claimed and then let other people in to play the game you've created.

You can also go and play in the mini RPG worlds that others have created. Basically, anything goes in this world (but with parameters of course to protect the players' own created games) and the customization options are massive. You can also personalize your playing character, making it as cute as possible (it is Nintendo-like after all). You can also build collaboratively with the other players, anything from puzzles to parkour runs to 3D platformer games. The game's world biomes have resources that you can mine in creating your game; from forests to mountain ranges to tropical islands and more.

Cubic Castles is free to download from the Google Play Store. There are some in-app purchases available, but only for some premium items and not to "buy to win." Everything else in this world can be "bought" with in-game currency or cubits, which you get when you're rewarded.

Snake Defender: a classic game now with an RPG twist

Back when we all had normal or "not so smart" phones, we whiled our time away either by endlessly texting our friends or marathon playing a game called Snakes. It was simple and graphics were basic, but it was oh so addictive (and difficult at times). Now game developers have "resurrected" that game and given it an RPG twist in the new Android game, Snake Defender.

If you want to enjoy the old school snake game without the added complications of defending your planet from enemies, then you only have to choose the classic mode. But if you want more of a backstory and giving your snake extra powers, then you can go with the career or endless mode with enemies. While you're eating up the nodes all over the place, enemy ships will be shooting at you and you can shoot back at them as well. There are 10 different missions in the game wherein you face different kinds of enemies, all bent on destroying your planet.

To give you extra boost, you can add more nodes to your snake, or even change the kind of nodes you have - shooting, node-factory, or energy node. You can switch back and forth from among the 3, depending on your current need. There are also three ways to control the game, either through a virtual joy pad or by swiping or touching.

And if you're feeling a bit competitive, there is a world ranking of players so you can see where you are compared to your friends and everyone else in the world who's playing. Snake Defender can be downloaded for free from the Google Play Store, but with in-app purchases available.

Vivo X5Max has all the thinnest components

So Chinese OEM Vivo has again managed to pull it off and has unveiled what is most likely the world's thinnest smartphone. Measuring only 4.75 mm, the Vivo X5Max naturally has to have similarly thin components in order to reach that size. And yet, it still manages to cram a regular 3.5 mm headphone jack on top of it all. And it even has one or two gimmicks to keep it interesting as well.

The smartphone is powered surprisingly by a Qualcomm chip, specifically the 64-bit octa-core Snapdragon 615. There's 2 GB of RAM and only 16 GB of storage, though that can be expanded by a micro SD/TF card (more on that point later). The screen is a rather big 5.5 inches, yet it only reaches 1080p resolutions. The 13 megapixel rear camera is powered by Sony's IMX214 sensor and it has a selfie-friendly 5 megapixel front shooter.

But you're probably more interested in the thickness, or rather thinness, which is really the Vivo X5Max's defining trait. To pull off the 4.75 mm size, Vivo sought out the thinnest possible parts and frames. Supposedly, it has the thinnest motherboard at 1.77 mm, made possible by using a unique "one-sided" layout. The Super AMOLED display is also claimed to be the thinnest there is at only 1.36 mm. The speaker box is also quite thin, though thicker than the rest at 2.45 mm. That, by the way, is driven by a Yamaha YSS-205X Hi-Fi chip. Despite that thin-ness, there is still a regular size headphone jack, which cause a slight bump on that edge of the smartphone. Battery is at 2,000 mAh, on par with the thickness. The custom Funtouch OS 2.0 is based on Android 4.4 KitKat.

The Vivo X5Max has another rather intriguing feature. Like almost all Chinese smartphones, this one supports a dual SIM setup, but that second card slot has a split personality. One one hand, it house a nano SIM card for your second SIM, while the main SIM slot houses a micro SIM card. But in case you don't have or want a second SIM, you can use that to hold a microSD card instead. A pretty ingenious way to save up space and avoid adding thickness, but it does mean you can't have an expanded storage and use two SIM cards at the same time.

You get all of these for only 2,998 RMB, roughly $486. The Vivo X5Max goes on sale December 22, but you can already pre-order it now. That is, of course, if you're located in China.

SOURCE: Vivo

VIA: Weibo

Story Timeline

• Vivo X3 is here, world's thinnest phone so far


• Vivo Xplay3S hits all the buzzwords including a 2K display


• Vivo wants thinnest crown back with the X5 Max

Tap2Unlock Brings Security to Tap2Wake

Android OS offers many ways of unlocking your device. Among the most popular are entering a pattern or PIN and face unlock. Although patterns and PINs can be pretty secure, there are still ways to improve upon them.

The Android kernel offers many functions that can be used even when the screen is powered off. Double-tap-to-wake is a common feature that can be found on many custom ROMs here at XDA. XDA Senior Member goutamniwas created quite an interesting method for screen unlocking using the tap2wake technology.

With Tap2Unlock, you can unlock your screen by entering a PIN code while your screen is off. This module splits the screen into four squares. Pressing the wrong pattern will light up the screen but disable touch, so the person who enters will not be able to use the phone. Entering the correct pattern will fully unlock the device.

This kernel feature can work with most currently available kernels built from source. The developer was kind enough to provide necessary patches that need to be cherry picked in order to make it work.

If you are a kernel developer, you can consider adding this to your project. If you’re just a user, you can also request the feature to be implement by your favorite kernel developer. You can learn more by visiting the Tap2unlock – a new tap2wake feature with pattern forum thread.

The post Tap2Unlock Brings Security to Tap2Wake appeared first on xda-developers.

HTC One M7 GPe Gets Lollipop, Verizon G3 CM11 Nightlies – XDA TV

Android 5.0 Lollipop is available for the HTC One (M7) Google Play Edition! 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 Lollipop landing on the Sony Xperia S, Ion and Acro S and be sure to check out the article talking about Cyanogen to update the OnePlus One globally, even in India! 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 droidmodd3r shows you how to turn off the forced encryption on Lollipop. XDA TV Producer TK released a video talking about his top Nexus 6 Mods. 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:

• HTC One (M7) GPe Gets Lollipop, OTA Captured


• Sony Xperia S, Ion, and Acro S Get Unofficial Android 5.0 Builds


• Locked Sony Xperia SP Gets Lollipop Port


• Verizon LG G3 Finally Gets CM11 Nightlies


• Cyanogen to Update OnePlus One Globally, Even in India


• Best Google Nexus 6 Mods – XDA TV


• How to Disable the Forced Encryption on Android 5.0 Lollipop – XDA TV


• Device Review: Nvidia SHIELD Tablet

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

The post HTC One M7 GPe Gets Lollipop, Verizon G3 CM11 Nightlies – XDA TV appeared first on xda-developers.

The Extra-Private Phone Is Getting Its Own Private App Store

The Blackphone is an Android handset for people who think 'tinfoil-hat-wearing' is a prudent measure, not an insult. It launched earlier this year , but now it's getting the ability to actually install third-party apps. Aww, our little baby, he's growing up so fast.

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