2016 is finally coming to a close – in fact, it might already be over for you – and it was definitely an exciting year for smartphones, Android and our development community. We saw amazing new devices and gadgets, the massive Android Nougat update and useful modifications and apps come from our forums.
For...
Saturday, December 31, 2016
2016 in Review: What was the Biggest Disappointment this year?
As we enter the final days of the year, it’s time to get your opinion on all the events, news, releases and controversies that we witnessed so far in 2016.
We witnessed plenty of OEMs try out something new this year. Some succeeded, but others failed. In some cases, marketing departments of some companies...
Editorial: Bezels in 2016, and the Trends that Will Shape Smartphone Designs in 2017
This past year has been quite experimental in the realm of smartphone design: smartphone OEMs attempted to push the envelope and find new ways to differentiate their products and push the industry forward....
Galaxy S7 Vs. Clone
Smartphone clones have always been around and always will be. For this video, Harris compare a Galaxy S7 to a clone of the same device. Let’s see how it holds up.
Packaging
Unless you know what to look...
Win an UMi Z: The First Phone with Helio X27
We’re excited to be giving away the UMi Z (contest is open to all countries!), the company’s latest premium phone that happens to be one of the first (if not the first) phone on the market with the MediaTek Helio X27 decacore flagship CPU. This new chipset features a tri-cluster configuration...
Stable Nougat for OnePlus 3 and Nougat Open Beta 1 for OnePlus 3T Are Here
OnePlus promised we’d see Android Nougat hit the OnePlus 3 before the end of the year, and that the OnePlus 3T would see an Android Nougat beta when the OnePlus 3 received its stable release. With just a few hours left on the clock and barely two days after the last beta release, OnePlus delivered.
Carl...
Friday, December 30, 2016
2016 in Review: What was the Best New Feature Introduced in Android this year?
As we enter the final days of the year, it’s time to get your opinion on all the events, news, releases and controversies that we witnessed so far in 2016.
Google’s latest big thing for the world of Android was Nougat-y flavored. Android 7.0 Nougat incorporated many new quality of life enhancements...
Android 7.0/EMUI 5 is Available For The Huawei Nova Without Unlocking the Bootloader
Using EMUI’s download mode you can update your European Huawei Nova to EMUI 5/Android 7.0 Nougat without the need to unlock your bootloader. Senior Member Jozinek has gathered the files and created a quick guide explaining the update process over in the thread....
Wileyfox to Issue Update to Migrate Away from CyanogenOS
Wileyfox is not a well-known global brand, but for its humble beginnings, it has its own loyal customers in the European Union and U.K. The company is known for its affordable smartphones ship with decent specifications and, most notably, close to stock Android software in the form of Cyanogen...
XDA Forums Dedicated to LineageOS Now Live!
Ever since Cyanogen Inc. announced that they will be discontinuing all Cyanogen OS related services, many users wondered what would happen to CyanogenMod. Unfortunately, the worst scenario played...
An Unofficial Build of TWRP is Available for the ZenWatch 3
Yesterday, XDA Recognized Developer Maxr1998 published his own build of TWRP for the ASUS ZenWatch 3. This build was made possible thanks to joeykrim and T10NAZ, as Maxr1998 used their guide for the ZenWatch 2 to compile the kernel and recovery....
Report Says Flexible AMOLED Shipments Could Triple in 2017
We’ve been watching the trend of preferred smartphone displays shift from LCD to AMOLED over the last year or two. Samsung is the company who showed their dedication to the technology even when it was more expensive than an LCD panel. Some people have been put off due to burn in issues when the technology...
Leaked Render Could Reveal an Unannounced Motorola Device for 2017
OnLeaks, in collaboration with Android Authority, has been able to show us what an upcoming Motorola smartphone could look like. As with most of OnLeaks’ reveals, this render is based on factory CADs and have had its details filled in by the artist. This device was originally reported as being the 2017...
Report: Chinese OEMs are Expecting Lower Sales in Q1 2017
There have been a lot of eyes on some of the bigger smartphone OEMs from China due to their incredible growth over the last couple of years. Companies like Huawei, LeEco and Xiaomi have become common names around the Android enthusiast community, and for good reason. We’re seeing an expansion coming from...
Thursday, December 29, 2016
2016 in Review: What was the Worst OEM Decision of 2016?
As we enter the final days of the year, it’s time to get your opinion on all the events, news, releases and controversies that we witnessed so far in 2016.
In the name of change and “courage”, we were treated by OEMs with what will likely go down in history as a failed experiment or as a pivotal point...
XDA Subforums Now Live for Honor 6X!
The Honor 6X comes in with a 5.5″ FHD and the Kirin 655 SoC, offering great value at affordable prices. Now, XDA subforums for the Honor 6X are live, giving users a common area for talking about the device and development!...
Android N-ify Development Ceased by MrWasdennnoch and Main Contributors
Developer MrWasdennnoch and the two main contributors paphonb and Maxr1998 have announced that they will no longer be developing the popular Xposed module Android N-ify.
MrWasdennnoch reminded users that updates have been sparse over the last few weeks with his last commit being over...
Nougat’s Open Beta 10 for the OnePlus 3 is Available
OnePlus has been plowing through these open betas for its Nougat update on the OnePlus 3 lately. We saw the 8th open beta released toward the end of November, and now we’re already up to number 10. This could very well be the last open beta update we see for the OnePlus 3 before the official Nougat...
Wednesday, December 28, 2016
2016 in Review: Which OEM Improved the Most in 2016?
As we enter the final days of the year, it’s time to get your opinion on all the events, news, releases and controversies that we witnessed so far in 2016.
The year saw some heavy performances, and some duds, from all OEMs – big or small. We’re looking for the OEM that deserves the most praise for trying...
The VisionTek BTi65 Speaker: Impressive Sound at an Impressive Price
A few months ago VisionTek Products shared word that they were coming out with a new Bluetooth speaker. The BTi65 was IP65 waterproof rated, could remain connected up to 30 feet and play for...
Worst Apps of 2016
We had a bunch of great apps in 2016. So many fun and exciting apps made their way to your homescreen. This year was not without fails though. Google launched two massively hyped apps that didn’t last more than a day before they were irrelevant. We also saw old favorites become cluttered and terrible....
Full ADB Root, System Read/Write, and dm-verity Off Achieved for All LG G5 Variants
Expanding on their previous guide, XDA Senior Member Honestly Annoying has demonstrated how to get full ADB root access, system read/write permissions, and disabling dm-verity protection for all variants of the LG G5. This was previously released only for the Sprint model, but is now available...
Qualcomm Accused of Antitrust Violations in South Korea, Faces a $853 Million Fine
Qualcomm has faced antitrust accusations in multiple countries over the last few years. The company recently settled a big one within the country of China, and they were accused of similar allegations in the EU back in 2015 as well. Today, it’s been announced that a regulator within South Korea wants...
Rumor Suggests Samsung is Integrating Bixby in the Galaxy S8’s Native Apps
Back in October, Samsung announced they were acquiring Viv Labs and their entire AI platform. For those who are unaware, the founders of Viv Labs were the same group of people who worked on Siri (before Apple acquired them back in 2010). The big product from Viv Labs is an AI-powered voice...
Tuesday, December 27, 2016
2016 in Review: What did you think of the Tablets Released in 2016?
As we enter the final days of the year, it’s time to get your opinion on all the events, news, releases and controversies that we witnessed so far in 2016.
While all price points of the smartphone market saw fierce competition, one segment which was once hotly contested barely saw any attention this...
Unofficial CM14.1 ROM for Honor 8
In this video, TK takes us through an unofficial CM14.1 ROM for the Honor 8. This ROM is currently in the beta stages, so not everything is working yet.
Currently Working:
Touchscreen * Charger ( not Off Mode )
MTP & ADB * Internal/External Storage
Screenrecorder
WiFi
Bluetooth
Network & data...
Snapprefs Gets Updated to 2.1.0, Adds Support for 9.39.5.0
XDA Senior Member MaaarZ has just announced a new update to Snapprefs. This update adds support for Snapchat version 9.39.5.0, adds a Now Playing filter, a fling to save feature, a way to disable auto-advance, and more....
Alleged LG G6 Render Shows a Similar Design to the LG G5
Details about the LG G6 have been pretty scarce this year. A rumor earlier this year claimed that LG would be ditching the metal build material next year for a glass one. Even though the LG G5 was built with metal, it received a lot of complaints in reviews for not feeling as premium as other devices...
The Official Gerrit for LineageOS is Now Up
With the departure of Steve Kondik from Cyanogen Inc, we knew there would be a big shakeup with the way CyanogenMod was handled. An official blog post announced the servers and funds that were keeping CM up and running would be discontinued on December 31st. Then seemingly out of nowhere, CyanogenMod’s...
December Prizes Awarded for Honor Incentive Program
It’s time again to give out prizes to the most active members of our Honor forums through our community incentive program (as a result of a partnership we have with Honor). As a reminder, we have a special script running that looks at everyone that participates in any Honor forums and assigns points,...
Monday, December 26, 2016
2016 in Review: What was the Best Smartwatch of 2016?
As we enter the final days of the year, it’s time to get your opinion on all the events, news, releases and controversies that we witnessed so far in 2016.
Moving on from flagships, midrange and budget smartphones, we move our discussion over to smartwatches. We didn’t see too many smartwatches this...
Report: LG Plans to Make LG G6 Available Earlier to Avoid Competition
LG failed to excite consumers with the LG G5 despite the massive push made towards (pseudo-)modularity. Furthermore, the LG V20 failed to shoulder the responsibility of carrying LG this fiscal year. Despite the failure of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, LG has thus far not been able to...
Opinion: The Problem with Default Launchers and Why OEMs Should Take Pointers from Alternatives like Nova
On my desk, I have a multitude of devices from different manufacturers, with different price tags and some running vastly different software. They all have one thing in common, and that’s their homescreen...
Sunday, December 25, 2016
Some Nexus 6P Users are now Experiencing Random Bootloops
The Google Nexus 6P, to the dismay of many Android enthusiasts, is the last device in the Nexus lineup. With some of the most impressive specifications at the time of its launch, the device was able to hold its own against 2016 flagships especially among those who prefer running the latest version...
Saturday, December 24, 2016
2016 in Review: What was the Best Budget Smartphone of 2016?
As we enter the final days of the year, it’s time to get your opinion on all the events, news, releases and controversies that we witnessed so far in 2016.
Our first discussion was regarding your opinion on the best flagship of the year, followed by your opinion on the best midrange smartphone....
China’s Fluctuating Mobile Market And Future Trends
China’s mobile market is by a comfortable margin the largest in the world, with over 1.3 billion monthly mobile subscribers across the three carriers. It is understandable then that short term trends...