Just a little more than a month ago, Paranoid Android made a grand reentrance to the ROMing world with builds of the ROM built off of 7.1.2 Nougat. Paranoid Android introduced a heap of new features with its last version, and the fine folks over at the PA team are back at it again with their latest release. The ROM is still based off of Android 7.1.2, but the version for PA is now 7.2.0.
The dev team behind Paranoid Android have been hard at work on this new build over the past month, and a lot of time has been spent eliminating pesky bugs, improving existing features, adding new ones, and introducing support for even more devices.
Paranoid Android’s crew has been lurking through Google+ and other platforms to track any and all user complaints from the previous build, and as such, any bugs that were present in PA 7.1.2 should now be a thing of the past with the 7.2.0 version. Furthermore, a lot of the new features that have been added were done as a result of what the community was asking for!
New Features in 7.2.0
Global Changes
- Double tap on status bar to sleep device
- Screen off action for button settings
- Fixed navigation bar swiping gesture
- Improved notification light performance
- PA Browser is now based on M60
- Fix for pulse on pickup bug
- Various fixes for contact handling with Google apps
- Removed bugs causing Bluetooth connectivity issues
- Improved lighting for hardware navigation keys
- Higher quality stock wallpapers
- Optimized speed for fingerprint unlock
- Fixed message when rebooting your phone or putting it into recovery mode
- Enhancements for device performance
- Power-related enhancements
- Numerous other improvements and fixes that you’ll notice the more you use the ROM
Changes specifically for the OnePlus 3/3T
- Resolved camera crashes
- Fixed manual ISO control issue
- Better post-processing for photos using custom HAL camera
- Improved performance and accuracy for GPS
- Improved power and performance for Wi-Fi
- Optimized NFC toggling speed
- Resolved errors for specific VoLTE setups
- Automatic brightness tuning has been reworked
- Added fix for LID support
- Numerous performance improvements
- Better memory management
- Fixed the known idle drain issue
- Multiple power-related enhancements
Changes specifically for Google Pixel/Pixel XL
- Fixed crashes with the Google camera
- Fixed NFC tile
- Kernel has been updated to latest EAS upstream
- Merged latest security patches
- Backported changes from the Android O Developer Preview
- Better memory management when device is under pressure
Accidental Touch
Games for Android have gotten extremely good over the years, but while graphics have gotten more life-like and gameplay has become more intuitive, one issue has remained among all of this development – accidentally pressing the navigation buttons during the middle of an intense gaming session. Buzzkill!
This is a very common issue to stumble upon, and it’s especially true when playing games that have your fingers flying all over your screen. Thankfully, Accidental Touch aims to fix this once and for all. Accidental Touch is a feature that allows your phone to recognize when the touchscreen is being used, and when it is both on-screen and hardware navigation buttons will switch to an inactive state.
While most useful when playing games, Accidental Touch could also come in handy while messaging friends, browsing the Web, or scrolling through Twitter. Anytime you’re using the touchscreen, accidentally grazing over your nav buttons won’t send you flying back to your home screen when you didn’t intend to do so. It’s a simple feature, but it’s one that proves to be extremely useful in regular day-to-day use.
Pocket Lock
Another feature that aims to reduce accidental inputs on your device is Pocket Lock. However, unlike Accidental Touch that prevents input when using your phone, Pocket Lock helps to minimize on accidental device use when your phone is in your pocket.
Pocket Lock works by, “switching off major input sources and consuming additional exceptional inputs.” The feature works very similarly to OxygenOS’s Pocket Mode, as the screen will essentially go inactive if the phone notices that anything is covering ambient light sensors typically found near the top of your phone.
Color Engine Improvements
Color Engine was first introduced with PA 7.1.2, and it allows you to change your phone’s primary and accent colors throughout the user interface. The Color Engine still works in the same fashion as it did with the previous Paranoid Android builds, but you’ll now be able to use a new gray color option as both a primary and accent color.
Furthermore, all known compatibility issues that existed with the Substratum Theme Engine have been addressed as well.
Shuttle+
Lastly, Paranoid Android has partnered with the makers of Shuffle+ to bring the music app to all devices running PA. Shuffle+ is a great-looking app with a lot of features to play around with, including:
- Ability to Google Cast songs to your TV
- Directly embedded lyrics
- Scrobbling to Last.fm
- Editing for ID3 tags
- Batch playlist creation
- Custom themes
- And plenty more
The Nextbit Robin is one of many new devices supported by PA 7.2.0
Newly Supported Devices
Paranoid Android 7.1.2 launched with a pretty impressive device roster last month, and even more smartphones and tablets have been added with this latest release. The full list of new devices that are now officially supported with PA 7.2.0 include:
- OnePlus One (bacon)
- OnePlus X (onyx)
- Nexus 6 (shamu)
- NextBit Robin (robin)
- LeEco Le Pro3 (zl1)
- Xiaomi Mi 5 (gemini)
- Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 LTE (gts2ltexx)
If you own a Sony Xperia smartphone and are bummed out that there’s still no official support for any of Sony’s devices, the PA team hasn’t forgotten about you! It’s currently impossible for the Paranoid Android team to support every single Sony device out there, so in an attempt to make sure that all time and resources are spent as effectively and efficiently as possible, you can vote for which Xperia devices you’d like to see supported by PA in the near future. There’s currently no word as to when PA support will head to Sony phones, but the Paranoid Android team has confirmed that they’ll release builds for the Xperia phones that receive the most votes.
OTA Updates
Following the release of Paranoid Android 7.1.2, there were numerous device-specific issues reported. While users were likely expecting OTA updates to resolve said issues, the Paranoid Android team was unable to push these out as Paranoid Hub (the OTA update system for PA) was broken at the time. Paranoid Android 7.2.0 features a working version of Paranoid Hub, so the PA team will now be able to push out OTA updates if/when there are device-specific features and fixes that need to be added.
Hands On With Paranoid Android 7.2.0
We were able to play around with a pre-release build for Paranoid Android 7.2.0, and the screenshots below have all been taken from said build.
Paranoid Android 7.2.0 seems to be a great update to what was introduced last month with 7.1.2. The changes that have been made are a touch more conservative than what we saw with the previous release, but when you add together all of the bug fixes and new features that have been added, there really is a lot to love.
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