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Thursday, March 29, 2018

Razer Phone Android Oreo update now available in Developer Preview form, brings Project Treble compatibility

When we think of gaming phones, our minds turn to the Sony Xperia Play of yesteryear. Since then, there hasn’t really been a true gaming flagship smartphone, though the Razer Phone is close to being it. Razer will say that the phone is marketed at gamers rather than being a gaming phone, but its specifications should appeal to any Android enthusiast: a 5.7″ 1440p 120Hz LCD panel, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, 8GBs of RAM, 64GBs of internal storage with microSD slot, and a 4,000 mAh battery. The phone initially launched with Android 7.1 Nougat on board with a promised update to Android Oreo by the end of Q1 2018, and as we approach the last days of Q1 Razer has announced that the first Android 8.1 Oreo Developer Preview update is now available for the Razer Phone.

This announcement was made on the company’s official Facebook page. The official stable release of Android 8.1 Oreo will be made available in mid- to late April 2018. Users interested in flashing the release should head on over to this page to grab the Android 8.1 Oreo factory image for the device. Instructions on how to flash the release can be found here. If you’re looking for a USB 3 Type-A to Type-C spec-compliant cable, Razer recommends you check out Benson Leung’s post on Google+. Razer will not be providing release notes for the build nor will they provide an official upgrade path from the Developer Preview to the official release, so you should be comfortable with flashing factory images by the time the official release is available.

We predicted that the phone would skip Android 8.0 Oreo and jump straight to Android 8.1 Oreo. The one thing we couldn’t predict is whether or not the update would bring Project Treble compatibility, but we can now confirm that it does. We checked the build.prop file of the release and found ro.treble.enabled was set to true. We haven’t been able to flash a Generic System Image (GSI) to truly test it, but we don’t think that the company would set this property to true if the device isn’t Treble compatible.

Some other minor tidbits about the release are that it comes with the February security patches but not the most recent March patches. We presume that the March patches or maybe even the April patches will arrive in the stable update. This Developer Preview will also not support any carrier-specific modifications which can include VoLTE, Wi-Fi calling, and other modifications to improve signal strength or network connectivity on certain carriers.

If you flash the update, do let us know if you come across any new interesting features. Also, let us know your thoughts on the Razer Phone’s Android Oreo update in general!

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U.S. Unlocked Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ will receive update to enable FM Radio

The newly released Samsung Galaxy S9 and the Samsung Galaxy S9+ come with the usual improvements you’ve come to expect when the next generation of devices comes along. One of the more peculiar promises with the Galaxy S9 was FM radio support. While supporting FM radio is not so odd in itself, Samsung devices have omitted the feature for years. This is because while the necessary hardware exists in most flagships, the FM radio chips themselves are locked down and unusable. Samsung had announced it was teaming up with NextRadio to bring back the functionality, but users of these two devices have discovered FM radio support isn’t present – not yet anyway.

Strangely, the radio works fine on carrier-locked units of the Galaxy S9 and S9+, making it seem like the company just simply made a mistake and forgot to add the feature. XDA Senior Member wolfgart flashed the T-Mobile carrier firmware on his unlocked device and FM radio worked. NextRadio later confirmed to PiunikaWeb that the problem is indeed a result of a software bug that Samsung accidentally included in unlocked variants of the devices. A software update will be released in the future fixing the issue.

FM Radio may be a novelty in the day and age of mobile data streaming. However, for many without a data plan or those who are subject to service outages, it can be a vital feature in a smartphone. The nostalgia factor aside, FM radio can also be a life-saving feature when in the event of an emergency. Important information is often transmit primarily over radio-waves. It’s not necessary in some cases as most smartphones don’t even support it anymore, but there are times where it can be useful. For those who wanted to use FM radio, let’s hope the update comes soon for the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+!

Source: NextRadio Via: PiunikaWeb Via: AndroidPolice

Samsung Gear S4 may be in the works with improved S Health features

The smartwatch business is nowhere close to the size of the smartphone market, but the competition is similar. On top of this market is Apple, whose Apple Watch captures a big chunk of the wearable market share. Following Apple are companies like Fitbit, Xiaomi, Garmin and Huawei. But Samsung has also been in the wearable game for a long time now, with their Tizen-powered Gear watches being promoted as the better companion choice for Samsung Galaxy phones. The Gear S3, featuring 4G connectivity and Samsung Pay support, was the latest flagship iteration of the line, but a successor, the Gear S4, may be approaching on the horizon.

A Samsung smartwatch bearing the model number SM-R800 is apparently being worked on, according to SamMobile. According to previous trends, it would be called the Samsung Gear S4. We’re not expecting this to be an overwhelming upgrade, however, if rumors end up being correct. Aside from the usual improvements to the internals and the software, which always come with yearly updates, Samsung is also improving the health and fitness options. The S Health app will be getting better in-depth sleep tracking and possibly more.

Unfortunately, very little is known at the time of this purported smartwatch. The leak train should start running very soon and tell us about the upcoming improvements packed within this new watch. As only the model number has leaked, it’s also not certain whether this watch will be the Gear S4 or a successor to the Gear Sport. Only time will tell, however. As with all rumors, we advise you to take this with a grain of salt and be skeptical until actual leaks start appearing. The Gear S3 was released in 2016, so it is indeed due for a refresh very soon. We hope that’s what Samsung has in the pipeline.

Source: SamMobile

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EMUI 8.0 Beta on the Honor 7X

The EMUI 8.0 Beta for the Honor 7X has pushed to phones of users who are participating in the beta program. This update brings Android Oreo to the 7X, which has become an international best seller on Amazon.

This update brings some new EMUI features to the 7X along with everything you can expect in an Oreo update. Some of these new features include updated icons, new settings layout, AR lens, and floating nav bar.

EMUI 8.0 Homescreen

EMUI 8.0 App Drawer

Picture in Picture Mode

Google Feed Toggle in Home Settings

Floating Nav Bar Toggle

AR Lens

So far the beta is running very smoothly and even has some significant performance improvements. Benchmarks across the board are providing higher scores with Oreo.

Check out the forums to follow the developments of the Beta.

Honor 7X Forums Learn More About the Honor 7X

Verizon is reportedly planning to launch a Palm-branded Android phone

It’s interesting to see old phone brands that died down in popularity years ago have a revival, with BlackBerry and Nokia being two of the most famous examples here. These two smartphone brands are owned by different companies, TCL and HMD Global respectively. They are also experiencing contrasting reception in the smartphone market as sales of BlackBerry-branded devices are much lower than sales of Nokia-branded devices.

Palm is another old brand which has experienced a lot of success in the past, as the company pioneered PDA devices back in the 1990s. It also launched webOS to compete with Android and iOS, but the venture was not successful. The company was sold to HP in 2010, with webOS rights being sold to LG in 2013. TCL acquired the rights to the Palm name back in 2015.

Last year, a TCL executive confirmed that the company was planning to launch Palm-branded smartphones in 2018. Now, Android Police states the current plan is that at least one such device will be launching on U.S. carrier Verizon Wireless in the second half of 2018. The phone will be powered by Android, but apart from that, nothing is known about its specifications.

Android Police notes that Verizon has been a long-time partner of Palm. The carrier had sold most of Palm’s webOS phones, including the Pre 2. It also intended to carry the Palm 3, but HP canceled the phone before it could be released in the US.

As of now, it’s unknown whether the Palm-branded Android phone will have a normal slate touchscreen form factor or something different (such as a slider having a hardware QWERTY keyboard). TCL’s recent BlackBerry-branded phones haven’t been a huge hit recently, but that doesn’t mean that Palm-branded phones will receive the same reception. It all depends on how well the phone is executed in the market. On a different note, it’s worth noting that the legacy of webOS lives on in gesture navigation, which is starting to become popular in some Android phones.

We expect to learn more about the upcoming phone in the coming months.

Source: Android Police