Safestrap is a recovery that works on rooted, bootloader locked devices. If you have a rooted Verizon Wireless Samsung Galaxy S5 on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, then you can install this Safestrap build made by XDA Senior Member mohammad.afaneh by using Flashfire. Read the thread for detailed instructions, precautions, and requirements.
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It was the first Huawei Watch that kickstarted a new round of premium Android Wear devices — with an exquisite steel body and a sapphire glass coating on top of a beautiful, fully round AMOLED screen, that watch looked excellent from every angle, standing above the competition.
Long-lasting battery life, the ability to easily replace straps (with some good options provided by Huawei out of the box, to boot), and even some slight future proofing in the form of a speaker later enabled by a software update, the Huawei Watch ticked all the right boxes at the time. But smartwatches have evolved since, so Huawei naturally felt compelled to refresh the Huawei Watch for today's market. The result is twofold — as in, there are two Huawei watches now, with the "plain" Huawei Watch being a more-rugged alternative for sports and fitness tracking now. While the original Huawei Watch was anything but sporty, Huawei made sure to target those looking for a durable smartwatch to take on any kind of trip this time around.
| Huawei Watch 2 | Huawei Watch 2 Classic | |
|---|---|---|
| Display | 1.2-inch 39×39 P-OLED (Gorilla Glass 3) | 1.38-inch 480×480 P-OLED (Gorilla Glass 3) |
| Processor | Snapdragon Wear 2100 1.1GHz | Snapdragon Wear 2100 1.1GHz |
| RAM | 768MB | 768MB |
| Storage | 4B | 4B |
| Connectivity | LTE, WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC |
| Battery | 420mAh | 420mAh |
| Resistance | IP68 | IP68 |
| Case Size | 45mm | 45mm |
| Straps | User-Replaceable | User-Replaceable |
| Price | TBD | TBD |
Following Google's template, Huawei has released two devices, with the more-expensive and feature-packed of the two being targeted towards outdoors users. The Huawei Watch 2 is a sportier variant that's LTE-capable, while the Watch 2 Classic assumes the mantle of the original Huawei Watch. Unlike the recently-announced LG Watch Style, though, even the non-LTE variant Huawei offers is feature packed.
Starting with the software, both watches are running Android Wear 2.0 with Google Assistant for all your needs, although most features are identical to what the standard Search option on Wear 1.X offered, other than support for connected devices. Android Wear 2.0 offers a refined UI with better less clutter, a dark background and streamlined navigation, but perhaps the bigger news here is that both the Watch 2 and Watch 2 classic support Android Pay, as they both feature NFC chips. This is different than Google's approach to the LG Watch Sport and LG Watch Style, as the cheaper offering by LG doesn't allow for a true showcase of Wear 2.0.
Both watches are equipped with the basic heart-rate sensor for fitness tracking, but both also pack a GPS for accurate location (and steps/distance) tracking too. They are also IP68-rated for dust and water resistance — while the Watch 2 might be the more rugged option, the Watch 2 Classic can certainly hold its own for lighter fitness tracking. Of course, the rubberized back of the Watch 2 is better-suited for long, sweaty workout sessions, and its LTE connectivity allows you to take it with you anywhere and stay connected without your device (at the expense of pitiful battery life when actively making use of your mobile connection). Ultimately, the software in both allows for a myriad of fitness information, with stage-guidance, statistics, warnings and in-depth assessments.
So far, no details have been given on pricing and availability for the US, but we'll keep you updated when we get more details. Pricing in other markets is set to start at €349.
What do you think of the Huawei Watch 2 and Huawei Watch 2 Classic? Let us know your thoughts below!
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MIUI 8 is a heavily modified skin of Android, and one of its peculiarities is the inability to disable system applications from within the Settings app. To solve this, XDA Senior Member Thri11 has put together a short guide on how to disable pre-installed apps without using root access or ADB. Quick and easy!
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Google Assistant was one of the main selling points of the Google Pixel and Pixel XL. This software addition from Google formed a key part of the Pixel experience, and the company intended to keep the experience exclusive for a while. You could still find ways to make use of Google Assistant on unsupported phones, but for the most part, average users would have limited choices if they wished to experience Google Assistant.
That changes today, as Google has lifted the exclusivity of Google Assistant from the few select means to now include a wide range of devices. All devices running on Android 6.0 Marshmallow and above with Google Play Services installed will now be able to access and enjoy Google Assistant just like they could on the Pixel.
Allowing all Android 6.0+ devices access to Assistant expands the apps support to more than 30% of Android users. This is a significant jump when one considers that Android 7.0 and 7.1 together constitute only 1.2% of Android devices as per the Android distribution numbers from February.
Google is also opening up Google Assistant to OEMs to include in their devices. The newly announced LG G6, as a result, will also be shipping with Google Assistant.
Assistant will begin rolling out this week to English users in the U.S., followed by English in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, as well as German speakers in Germany. We'll continue to add more languages over the coming year.
Google says its goal is to eventually "make the Assistant available anywhere you need it." Opening up to previous Android versions is one step in that direction.
What are your thoughts on Google rolling out Assistant to all devices on Android 6.0 and above? Do you look forward to trying it out on your phone? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: The Keyword Blog
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It has now been a full year since the ill-fated launch of the G5, a device that aimed too high yet fell too short of it' potential. After the device's launch, it was mired by reports of questionable build quality and firm competition.
Now at MWC 2017, LG Electronics is back with some major changes to the design and user experience of their flagship line-up, this time with no trace of modularity.
Specifications
Gallery
Cameras
Build Quality and repairability
Comments
| Device Name: | LG G6 | Android Version: | 7.0 Nougat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chipset: | Snapdragon 821 | Display: | 5.7" 18:9 (2880×1440 / 564 ppi) 600 nits |
| Memory: | 4GB LPDDR4 | Battery: | 3300 mAh (non-removable) |
| Storage: | 32GB, 64GB1 | Charging Method: | Qualcomm QC 3.0, Type-C 3.1 compatible |
| Rear Cameras: | 13MP wide angle (F2.4, 125°) / 13MP Standard OIS 2.0 (F1.8, 71°) Sony IMX258 | Max Charging Speed: | 50% in 32 min, 100% in 96 min |
| Front Cameras: | 5MP wide angle (F2.2 / 100°) | Dimensions: | 148.9 x 71.9 x 7.9 mm |
| Colours: | Ice Platinum / Mystic White / Astro Black | Misc: | Google Assistant, IP68, Hi-Fi DAC2, Wireless Charging3, NFC, SD support. Dual SIM4 |
Things may seem confusing as you read the spec sheet, because LG has seemingly left the specs race with the G6 as shown by the use of a Snapdragon 820-era chipset, which have powered three of their flagship devices. A spokesperson for LG stated that they believed that this was the right decision for both them and their customers, as their engineers are now experienced with this particular SoC, allowing them to decrease boot times by 10%, reduce power consumption by 10%, and visibly improve scrolling and browsing performance (as always, we'll be the judges of that). The 835 may be the superior hardware, but for now, LG feels that they can offer a better experience without the bump in specs and we certainly hope that it lives up to expectations.
Quite a few features of the G6 are region-specific. The phone will only feature dual SIM support in the middle east and CIS, the larger storage option is mainly for the Asian market, the US is the only region getting wireless charging and HiFi quad DAC is not available in the vast majority of the world as well. When questioned on the matter, LG had the following to say "We see different needs in different markets, we chose to support these needs individually to be more local to the markets. Most markets don't appreciate DAC." To justify the lack of wireless charging outside the US, they stated that other markets prefer the speed of charging with cables over the ease of wireless charging.
The first thing anyone handling this device will notice is the unique 5.7-inch display, which with an aspect ratio of 18:9 (1:2), appears to be much taller and slimmer than that of its predecessor (this also means you don't get the same amount of horizontal space as a regular 5.7-inch display). This new aspect ratio, which they predict is becoming a new standard, is justified by LG through the desire to make a large-screen device that can still be used one-handed — a clear return to the philosophy of the LG G2 and LG G3. The unusual choice of ratio means that content can still be viewed at 16:9 or more while still keeping the navbar present on the screen. This new ratio should allow for more content or text to be viewed in apps or usecases such as Facebook, instant messaging, and article-based websites. While most apps will automatically scale to 18:9 without any problems, LG are not leaving it to chance, and heading to the settings of the device you can find the option to open specific apps in different aspect ratios including 16:9, 16.7:9 and of course 18:9. To make the most of this new ratio, LG has recreated their UI around the concept of having two squares to utilize. In the stock media player you will notice that the screen is divided 50:50 with the artwork taking the top half and media controls taking the lower half. Likewise, the stock email and SMS apps when held horizontally will split down the center showing the inbox on the left and message content on the right (who types an email like that, though?).
Those of us who consume huge amounts of video content on our devices will be glad to hear that the G6 supports both HDR10 and Dolby Vision playback, the latter of which provides brighter and sharper video content while using 10% less bandwidth than HDR. At the current time both Amazon Video and Netflix offer a moderate amount of supported content for both but they are continuing to grow.
Following industry trends, the G6 has stayed away from previous design choices. The iconic leather back seen on the G4 doesn't return and neither does the rubberized back of the V10 nor the metal back of the V20 (and thankfully, the primer coating of the G5 is dead and buried), with LG instead opting for a sleek panel of Gorilla Glass 5. Having considered adding a refracting pattern under the glass, they decided against it which gives the device a minimal, professional aesthetic. An interesting choice of design was the rounding of the corners of the display, which is a very nice effect on the black unit as the bezel and black border merge into one. However, on the silver and white units, the display corner does curve at a different angle to the black border as seen in image four in the gallery below. To try the rounded corner concept for yourself check out the app Cornerfly in the forums, it works best with AMOLED displays and black slab fronts.
The rear of the G6 features two 13MP cameras, each using 1.12 micron pixels, meaning that unlike the G5 when you switch to wide angle you are not losing quality. The device's predecessor featured both a 16MP standard angle camera and an 8MP wide angle meaning you saw a significant drop in quality when switching to the latter. Now switching between the two cameras should be far more consistent and with greatly improved image post-processing, so even the standard angle camera should provide superior images to the G5's. The cameras also offer 2x optical zoom and 16x digital zoom.
The device also ships with a new set of options in the stock camera, and these are all based on the new square design that comes with the 18:9 ratio. Known as square mode, these options consist of effects that are useful for heavy users of apps such as Instagram and include:
Grid shot: This option allows you to take four photos or videos and combine them in a 2×2 grid
Match shot: This allows you to take 2 photos and connect them side by side, the ability to take one on the front camera and one with the rear cameras allows you show both yourself and what you are looking at, at the time.
Guide shot: this places an overlay over your cameras such as a plate of food or a hand holding a phone this allows you to take multiple photos with the same composition.
Snap shot: This mode takes a square photo and then displays the full image in the lower half of your screen while keeping the top half free to take more photos.
Having learned from the mistakes of the G5, LG has doubled down on the build quality increments we saw in the V20, this time adding an excellent IP68 finish which means that the device is certified as protected from dust and water damage when submerged in 1.5 metres of water for 30 minutes. LG also stated that the device has survived the same tests in both fresh and salt water. The Glass back of the phone feels incredibly sturdy in hand, with no creaks or flexing, and the dreaded camera bump is now entirely gone. The sides of the phone are Aluminium with the SIM tray sitting flush, which is an issue commonly seen across the industry. The front of the unit is made of Gorilla Glass 3 (unlike the previously-mentioned GG5 on the back) which stretches from edge to edge only being disrupted by a small logo above the charging port.
Interestingly LG has moved the antennae bands away from the corners with this device. The bands now sit 18mm from the corners unlike many devices, this is intended to reduce the possibility of severe damage when dropping the phone. According to their research, 48% of phone drops result in the device landing on one of its corners, and by moving these weak points they aim to significantly increase the device's durability.
As a community, XDA tends to be more DIY when it comes to repairs than most people, that being said if you were hoping that, in the event of your battery wearing down or your display being damaged, you could replace parts of the LG G6 yourself, then you are out of luck. While the device is simple enough to disassemble in just a few minutes with the right tools, the battery and display are just about the only two parts of the phone you couldn't replace. The battery is held firmly in place and any attempt to remove it could result in damage, the display is built right into the frame of the unit and so cannot be replaced easily either.
What do you think to the G6? Do you have any questions? Leave a comment below!
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Music is a major part of everyone's life, and our smartphones allow us to truly enjoy our music anywhere. Over the years, Android has received a fair share of excellent music player apps, and Shuttle Music Player has managed to stand out.
Shuttle is a music player following Google's Material Design guidelines, and its listing is nearing 4 Million downloads. Currently, the app offers two versions: free and paid. The paid version is priced at $0.99 and has received over 50 thousand downloads on the Play Store already.
Recently, the lead developer of Shuttle Music Player made a post at r/Android stating that the music player has now been open-sourced. The lead developer is looking for contributors and the project is set to experience an active development.
In the same post at r/Android, the developer of Shuttle also states that Shuttle Music Player was his first ever project. What started out as a bunch of emails to Andrew Neal (lead developer of Apollo Music Player) made him an approximated amount of $AU150k. Moreover, the lead developer is now a full time app developer for Android and iOS.
This clearly shows that anyone with the spirit and attitude to learn can make it big in Android. Keeping this in mind, we're launching a series called "Anyone Can GitHub" very soon. Stay tuned!
Shuttle Music Player on GitHub
Grab Shuttle Music Player right here!
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In the last several weeks, I have been exploring mobile photography and have striven to offer our readers some advice for editing their own photography and shooting in RAW, and have also made a case for modern smartphones as valuable tools in and of themselves for anyone interested in exploring the art.
I hope to have assisted readers in beginning or continuing their exploration of photography by demonstrating the capabilities of the device(s) already in your pocket and by providing tips for better editing the photos you take.
Missing from this omnibus, of course, is a guide for users who are inexperienced with the actual process of taking photos, whether be it on your smartphone or a dedicated camera. Almost all cameras marketed towards the majority of modern consumers utilize automatic camera modes by default. As of late, Android cameras have furthermore been marked by a move to "auto-HDR" software features, a feature which Google's Pixel line has widely popularized among Android fans following a barrage of (arguably well-deserved) praise that was bestowed upon its camera after release.
Automatic camera modes have significantly improved over time, but any photographer with experience in manual settings will be well aware that a completely automatic camera mode is at best a tool for specific times and places and at worst an attempt to cram a vast array of photographic situations into a one-size-fits-all tool. Thus, an automatic camera mode may ultimately deteriorate the quality of all photos taken for the sake of user simplicity.
The universality of by-default automatic cameras is ultimately a self-fulfilling prophecy, and it is hard to imagine consumers ever incentivizing device and software manufacturers to promote manual photography. The general consumer prefers ease of use and a device that "just works" over something that might require constant adjustments. This is understandable, however, a great number of devices and applications either come with or support manual camera controls.
If you have ever struggled desperately against an automatic camera to produce an accurate or desirable photo, taking the leap into manual photography has the potential to benefit you immensely. It also is typically necessary to shoot in manual mode if one wants to shoot in RAW, something I have previously argued as being a boon to the potential quality of smartphone photography. Hence, I will guide you through how to use manual camera controls so you can improve your photography skill.
If you have a device available, open up the camera and take a look in the settings or in any other menus presented. Once you find the 'modes' settings (Auto, Panorama, Timelapse, etc.), scan for a "Manual" option or something phrased similarly to that.
As can be seen above, different device manufacturers and their (ahem) diverse collection of Android skins expose manual camera settings with a broad range of usability, utility, and setting names. Thankfully, most choose to go with the default, precise terms normally used in photography: ISO, shutter speed (often shown as a clock or stopwatch), white balance (typically WB), manual focus (usually a dashed square), and manual exposure tweaking (often a box with a + and – inside it). Each different implementation is likely to be dissimilar, however, and some manual settings will forego exposure tweaking or add additional options (like LG's very well-featured manual video settings).
ISO is first and foremost a product of the International Standards Organization, hence the acronym. ISO is a standardized scale used in the camera industry for measuring a sensor's sensitivity to light. As ISO increases, sensitivity to light also increases, as illustrated in the photo above. The viewfinder of my OnePlus 3T demonstrates the blown highlights produced by increasing the ISO in conditions with lots of light.
As a general rule of utilizing ISO, a lower ISO should always be your goal if you are attempting to produce high-quality photography. While ISO mainly increases sensitivity to light, a consequence of this sensitivity is a significant increase in image noise. This is partially what makes low-light photography much more difficult than photography in conditions with more light, as any automatic camera mode will increase ISO, and thus also noise, in low-light situations. This is intrinsically connected to shutter speed.
Innately connected to the goal of ISO manipulation is shutter speed, better understood as the length of light exposure a given image will receive. Shutter speed is measured in fractions of a second, and most cameras will feature an exposure range of 1/8000th of a second to 30 seconds. As with all aspects of manual photography, users will come to discover that each modification of settings results in other changes that may be less desirable.
With exposure length, a very brief exposure is optimal for anything moving, as this will prevent motion blur. However, shorter exposures, like 1/8000 as shown above, mean that the image sensor will receive only a small amount of light. In bright conditions, this is usually optimal and helps to prevent blown highlights while also contributing to less motion blur if there is motion in the frame.
However, it is often impossible to use faster exposures when lighting conditions are darker, and this is where ISO becomes a crucial aspect of photography in low-light. Automatic cameras, for example, will detect low-light environments and subsequently raise ISO in order to keep exposure times as short as possible. Readers may have noted that low-light photos they take are often very noisy and sometimes blurred or generally lacking in fine detail.
When there is little light available to a sensor, it needs to expose for considerably longer to produce a useful image. This is good in principle, but a longer exposure also means more opportunities for a human's shaky hands or a moving subject to introduce considerable blur. Automatic camera modes try to prevent taking a blurry image by aggressively increasing ISO to allow for faster exposures and thus hopefully less blur.
These are all valuable things to keep in mind while dipping one's feet into manual photography. Shutter speed and ISO are by far the main methods through which one controls the appearance of the final product, and it effectively becomes a balancing act between limiting motion blur/image noise and capturing the subject in a manner you intended. The added control of having those settings, however, is absolutely invaluable in an array of situations.
White balancing is a process in which a camera will attempt to detect the type of white light largely visible in different environments. This is typically utilized to account for different light sources (fluorescent, incandescent, etc.), as well as different weather types and times of day (overcast, sunny, sunset, etc.). White balance generally focuses on collecting the proper temperature of white light in a scene, which ranges from cold (blue-tinted) to warm (orange or gold-tinted).
This is one setting that is often best left on automatic settings, unless the viewfinder suggests that the automatic white balance is obviously wrong. Of note, RAW images will have to be manually white balanced in post-processing, as RAW shooting will not modify the white balance in-camera.
Manual focus controls are a more recent and much-appreciated addition to the control suite of manual smartphone photographers. OnePlus features a simple and intuitive circular slider which can be used to accurately set focus manually in lieu of the jumpier and imperfect auto-focus, something which is often exaggerated when trying to take photos of close subjects.
A wonderful feature of the OnePlus camera app, nevertheless, is the ability to select the automatic alternative for any of the four settings that can be controlled, including focus. Manual focus is typically unnecessary, as modern auto-focus methods are typically extremely capable and will rarely falter.
While I do not have any sample photos to use from my OnePlus 3T, manual exposure is a small supplement to ISO and shutter speed settings, and it is one of the rarer manual settings one will find in smartphone camera applications. If a combination of shutter speed and ISO produce an unsatisfying image, manual exposure is often offered as a way of tweaking the brightness of an image in-camera. It can quite easily be replaced by simply modifying brightness after taking the photo, but it can sometimes be more efficient to get the image right the first time.
While auto modes in modern cameras and camera apps have gotten increasingly versatile and intelligent, they are still often akin to using a hammer to kill a fly. Even if manual settings are only adopted while shooting in JPEG, the resultant images will often be much sharper and in control when compared to auto versions of the same scene. There is also something distinctly satisfying about understanding the different features manual cameras offer and applying that knowledge for the production of beautiful images. One could delve very deeply into an exploration of the homogeneous photography modern automatic cameras produce, but that is a rabbit hole we won't dive into today.
Of course, manual photography is simply another tool for the photographer, and it is not intended as an either/or choice for users. Automatic modes simply cannot always cope with the vast number of different situations and individual tastes they will be faced with and forced to conform to. Shooting manually can simply offer an experienced user a more fluid, less fickle method of consistently producing beautiful photography, something that anyone who has dealt with exceedingly stubborn automatic camera modes can likely sympathize with.
Unfortunately, while many manufacturers support manual photography in their stock software, there are still many who do not. Whatever the reason, there are certain cases where users of the shunned devices will be able to download Android camera apps which will offer manual controls. Due to the nature of software and how cameras function, however, certain devices simply will not have the API or kernel support necessary to manually control the devices' cameras.
Nevertheless, I will still recommend a handful of manual photography-enabling apps available through the Google Play Store. My personal favorite, which I used frequently before I purchased my OnePlus 3T, is Manual Camera. This application is minimally designed, but still quite beautiful and functional, and it only costs $3. Camera FV-5 is another highly-rated and functional paid option at $4. Regarding free camera apps with manual settings, I would recommend Open Camera or Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, which both feature capable and ad-free camera alternatives to your default app.
Regardless of the application you use, learning to use manual camera settings is a way to both better understand photography and also potentially improve your own photos. As always, the best method of learning these photography-related skills is to simply go and take some pictures while challenging yourself to make use of the manual settings you have at your disposal. You may experience missteps and some ugly pictures initially, but developing an intuitive grasp of manual photography is a reasonably quick process and should not require more than a healthy dose of frustration.
Have you taken any photos lately that you are particularly proud of? Share your work in the comments for a chance to have it featured in an upcoming article featuring XDA reader photography!
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