Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Regulatory Filing Shows LG is Hiring More People Back into its Smartphone Division

LG has not had the best of luck over the last few years. The company was happy with the success of the LG G3 and were feeling optimistic about both the LG G4 as well as the LG G5. Sadly though, the LG G4 didn't sell as many as the company had hoped, but they kept their spirits up and beg big on their next flagship smartphone. However, the LG G5 was simply a flop due to a number of reasons and this caused the company to start cutting back on its staff.

In the first quarter of 2015 (just before the release of the LG G4), LG's mobile division reached its peak of 8,049 employees. Since then, the number has been decreasing year after year, but things have changed since the fourth quarter of last year. Thank to a regulatory finding, we have learned that LG's mobile division now employs 6,790 total workers. It's unclear if this ramp up was only for the brand new LG G6, and whether or not we should expect to see this number decrease throughout the year.

Still, it shows that LG has at least some confidence in their mobile division again and it could be due to the new person in charge of the company. LG G6 reviews are starting to pour in and things are looking good for the company so far. Some are even saying that the LG G6 is so drastically different from last year's offering, that it seems as if the device was made from a completely different company. We'll just have to wait and see if the company's sales numbers reflect this.

As a comparison, South Korea's largest technology company, Samsung, currently employs 26,398 people in its IT and mobile division. A number that has been going down every quarter since hitting 27,490 people at the end of 2015.

Source: The Korea Herald



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Monday, April 3, 2017

Android 7.1.2 Factory Images and OTAs as well as April Security Update Now Available for Supported Devices

Google has been very diligent in keeping its word as far as security updates for its supported Pixel and Nexus devices are concerned. This time around, not only do we get factory images and OTA zips for the April Security update, Google is also throwing in separate Android 7.1.2 Nougat builds (with the new security patches) into the mix.

As far as the security update goes, the partial security patch level up to 1st April contains patches for 1 vulnerability marked critical, 6 marked high, and 5 marked as moderate severity. The complete security patch level up to 5th April contains all of those patches as well as patches for 8 critical, 26 high and 14 moderate severity vulnerabilities. You can find more information on all of these vulnerabilities over at Google's April Security Bulletin.

The security patches for supported devices can be found on both Android 7.1.1 and the newly released Android 7.1.2 build, so users who are manually flashing have a choice to make. It is generally advisable to be on the latest Android version with the latest security update, but in case you find anything against your liking, you can switch to a previous version without losing out on the security update.

Device Android 7.1.1 with April Security Patch Android 7.1.2
Pixel XL "marlin" NOF27D N2G47E
Pixel "sailfish" NOF27D N2G47E
Pixel C "ryu" -not yet available- N2G47D
Nexus 6P "angler" N4F26U N2G47H
Nexus 5X "bullhead" N4F26U N2G47F
Nexus 6 "shamu" N6F26Y -not available-
Nexus Player "fugu" -not yet available- N2G47H
Nexus 9 LTE "volantisg" N6F26X -not available-
Nexus 9 LTE "volantisg" N6F26X -not available-

Curiously, the Nexus 6 does get an option of an older build as the April security patch is included on Android 7.0.0 as well in the form of NBD92G and NBD92F builds.

A change-log isn't usually provided alongside these monthly updates, but this time around a Google Community Manager over on the Reddit /r/GooglePixel subreddit has posted a change-log for the Google Pixel and Pixel XL devices.

Google Pixel and Pixel XL April 2017 Update Change-log

  • Improved fingerprint swipe performance
  • Additional improvements/fixes for the audio popping issue some users were experiencing while playing audio at high volumes
  • Bluetooth connectivity improvements
  • Fix to the early shutdown issue
  • Battery usage alerts
  • Fix to the pink banding issue a small number of users were experiencing on the camera

These updates will be made available via OTA to all users gradually. In case you cannot wait, you can always manually flash the OTA or the factory image, available for download at their respective hyperlinks. Just make sure you download the correct build and for the correct device.

Have you flashed the new update? What changes have you noticed? Let us know in the comments below!



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Magisk Module Lets You Increase Volume Steps to 30

XDA Senior Member veez21 is new to Magisk, so their first test module is a way for you to increase the number of volume steps to 30. It even comes with a terminal command (vol_magisk) that lets you customize the volume steps even further.



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MultiROM with No Kexec Workaround Ported for the Galaxy S5

XDA Senior Member mohammad.afaneh has just released their port of MultiROM (and a modified version of TWRP) for the Galaxy S5. With this using the no-kexec workaround, it allows  you to use MultiROM without having to flash a kexec enabled kernel.



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Erado Can Erase Your Data Remotely if it’s Lost or Stolen

Google's Android Device Manager requires an internet connection to wipe your data remotely. But with Erado from XDA Senior Member mrYoussef135, you can wipe it after a certain SMS has been sent, when removing/replacing a SIM card, or when a SIM card has been blocked.



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Magisk v12 Gets Patched to Run on Sony Devices with Running Sony RIC Service

Magisk does work on Sony devices, but only if you patched the boot image with ta_poc or rootkerneltool and disabled the Sony RIC service. So XDA Senior Member Tobi@s has patched v12 of Magisk so that it works on Sony devices with the RIC service.



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Samsung’s Screen Recorder APK for the Galaxy S7 Edge Running Marshmallow or Nougat

Some screen recorders on the Galaxy S7 Edge running Nougat will actually force close. So XDA Senior Member hardik190 has found a hidden system application that can be installed then accessed with Activity Launcher, allowing you to screen record with stock Samsung software.



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