Tool to Partition your micro-SD Card for Adoptable Storage

Feature Image Credits: Dotmana

Adoptable storage is a neat feature introduced in Android 6.0 Marshmallow that allows you to "adopt" a microSD card to use as internal storage to store app data. By default, Android's tool to adopt a microSD card requires you to format the entire disk for use as internal storage, and leaves no space for other use. If you are uncomfortable with ADB commands and are looking for a tool to partition your microSD so that only 25, 50, or 75% of the disk is reserved for adoptable storage, then check out this tool by XDA Senior Member Octanium91.

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App to Activate Moto Display on the Moto G5 using the Proximity Sensor

Moto Display is a signature feature on Motorola devices, but the feature works differently on Moto G and Moto E devices compared to the flagship Moto X and Z series. On the Moto X/Z series, Moto Display can be activated by waving your hand over the proximity sensor, which cannot be done on the Moto G/E series. That's why XDA Senior Member bin.sayantan has developed an app called MotoDisplay Handwave, which activates Moto Display when the proximity sensor is triggered.

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Here’s a Magisk Module to Quickly Debloat your Device, Systemlessly

What's defined as "bloat" is ultimately up to an end user. Some OEM apps are useful to some people, others find them all useless. If you want to customize what system apps you want to remove, then check out this Magisk module by XDA Senior Member veez21. It allows you to customize what applications you want to uninstall through a UI provided in a terminal.

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2G2S Application Uses 2GIS to Provide Turn by Turn Navigation

2GIS is an application that provides a detailed map of several Russian, Eastern European, and UAE cities. With the help of 2G2S from XDA Recognized Developer chrisstavrou, you can find a destination in 2GIS, share it with 2G2S, and can then load Sygic in drive mode (or other supported navigation applications).

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Mod Adds the Pixel Nav Bar and Animations to the OnePlus 3/3T with OOS 4.1

XDA Senior Member jassycliq recently released a mod made for the OnePlus 3 and the OnePlus 3T that is running OxygenOS 4.1. It will give you the look of the Pixel navigation bar, as well as the animations, with a simple flash of a ZIP file.

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DisplayMate Crowns the Samsung Galaxy S8’s OLED Display as the Best Performing Smartphone Display

Every year since the past 8 years, Samsung attempts to cram the best of what it can mass manufacture into their flagship smartphone, which then becomes a hardware benchmark for every other smartphone. Samsung's Galaxy S-series flagships are thus commonly used as the "standard" that other OEMs need to aim for and beat.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 works along on that philosophy as well, aiming to set a high standard as one of the best Android devices overall. And Samsung may have set the highest standard this year as far as display is concerned, as the Galaxy S8 now gets crowned as the Best Performing Smartphone Display by DisplayMate.

According to DisplayMate, the Samsung Galaxy S8 delivers consistent and all-around Top Tier display performance. Thanks to the excellent ratings it received in all of DisplayMate's Lab Tests, the Galaxy S8 earns DisplayMate's highest ever A+ grade. On its way to such a grade, the Galaxy S8 matches or beats several display performance records such as:

• Largest Native Color Gamut (113% DCI-P3 and 142% sRGB)
• Highest Peak Brightness at 1020 nits.
• Highest Contrast Rating in Ambient Light (227)
• Lowest Screen Reflectance (4.5%)
• Smallest Brightness Variation with Viewing Angle (29%)

Every display lab test and measurement from DisplayMate shows some improvements when compared to the Galaxy S7, and we know that to be a very good display.

The Galaxy S8 and its multiple screen modes and color management also receive wide praise. The number of user-selectable Screen Modes each with different color gamuts, levels of color saturation and display calibration based on user and application preferences. The selectable screen modes are Adaptive Display (set as default), AMOLED Cinema, AMOLED Photo and Basic Screen Mode.

The Galaxy S8 has the Standard Wide Color Gamut called DCI-P3 (which LG has been employing for a while now), which is being used for 4K Ultra HD TVs and in Digital Cinema for the movie industry. DisplayMate comments that the Absolute Color Accuracy on the AMOLED Cinema mode is likely to be considerably better than a living room 4K UHD TV. The AMOLED Photo mode is commented as being a very accurate Standard Adobe RGB Color Gamut display. The Basic Screen Mode on the other hand targets Standard sRGB/Rec.709, and comes out at being very likely to be better than your HDTV and computer monitor.  The Adaptive Display Screen mode has the largest color gamut and significantly higher color saturation, as it seeks to vary the White Point, Color Gamut and Color Saturation based on the image content and color of the surrounding ambient light as measured by the Ambient Light Sensor (which measures color in addition to brightness).

You can read the rest of DisplayMate's display review over here.

All in all, the Samsung Galaxy S8 not only has one of the most unique designs we have seen in the flagship segment, but it also backs it up with hardware that performs extremely well as far as we can tell. As far as the display is concerned, it will be difficult for other OEMs to one up the Galaxy S8 without using the same generation, Samsung-provided AMOLED panel.

What are your thoughts on DisplayMate's assessment of the Samsung Galaxy S8's display? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Source: DisplayMate

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Samsung Slightly Cut Back on Research and Development Spending in 2016

Samsung is the leader of multiple technology markets across the globe. Love them or hate them, they sell the most Android smartphones each and every quarter and this also puts them at the top of the heap when it comes to all smartphones too. The IDC reports that Samsung shipped over 72 million smartphones in Q3 of last year while Apple held onto second place with just over 45 million shipments. This was even down compared to 2015 when Samsung shipped almost 84 million smartphones during Q3.

Considering how many components Samsung manufactures themselves, it makes sense to see them investing so much money into research and development. In 2015, reports showed that Samsung was in the #2 spot when it came to research and development spending worldwide. The company invested $14.1 billion and the only company that bested them was Volkswagen who invested $15.3 billion. Other notable appearances here had Intel in 3rd, Microsoft in 4th, Google in 6th and Apple in 18th.

So last year, it seems as if Samsung has shifted its focus a bit and has started to acquire technologies through mergers and full-on acquisitions. We saw this recently with Harman and then it happened again with Viv. But it's not as if Samsung has cut research and development spending by a lot. Data shown off by the company this month tells us that Samsung spent $13.2 billion on research and development last year. This is actually 7.3% of the company's total revenue for that year.

In comparison, Samsung spent $13.19 billion on research and development in 2015 and then another $13.6 billion in 2014. So we are seeing a decrease in spending year over year, but it's not as if the number is drastically decreasing. Samsung has also been focusing on expanding its manufacturing capabilities to meet demands, and invested $22.65 billion last year to do just that.

Source: The Investor

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