In this modern world, we tend to forget that the primary function of the mobile devices in our pockets is to serve as a cellphone. Their most basic feature is the facilitation of rapid communication with people in the world around us.

XDA Forum Member esword, has made it his mission to ensure that users of Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 platform can dial others with ease. His application, known as RapDialer, does just that through the inclusion of features not normally found in the OEM dialer, including:

Extremely fast launch and search speed.
+ Fast search with T9 keypad (or system keyboard as you like)
+ A contact profile page (open it by tapping contact photo)to share contact’s info easily.
+ Support speed dialing.
+ Support prefix dialing.
+ Support favorites.
+ Support outgoing call history.
+ Plenty of custom options, including three keyboard styles, key tone, keypress vibration and so on.
+ The SMS mode helps you to quickly select multiple people to send a group text
+ Phone number location display, including global country calling codes and localization supports for United States, Canada, UK, Australia, China Mainland and Taiwan.

The list goes on, and the developer actually included several YouTube videos to detail all of the functionality that he built into the app. So head on over to the application thread and give it a spin.

A few weeks ago, a petition was started by XDA Senior Member wideopn11 to get the bootloader of the Asus Transformer TF300T unlocked. The demands were simple—to provide the same type of utility tool that unlocked the Asus Transformer Prime. It’s only fair, right?

Well, Asus responded. Unlike Motorola, who seems to enjoy infuriating their rooted users, they said okay. XDA Forum Member maspro has posted a new thread after finding out that Asus has released version 7 of their unlocker utility. The big update? It’s now compatible with the Transformer TF300T!

For those who don’t remember how it’s done. The unlocker tool is a simple apk file that users install and run. The app then connects to Asus servers, logs the user’s device ID and then unlocks that bootloader. It’s a very simple process, but users must remember that Asus will remember that you’ve done it and thus it’ll void your warranty. This is nothing that HTCDev users haven’t been dealing with for ages, and if you’re looking to unlock your bootloader, it is something that you should be expecting anyway. In any case, the device is now officially unlocked and everyone is pretty happy about it.

For the link to the Asus page and more information, hit up the original thread and get your bootloader unlocked once and for all.

Yesterday was a sad day we all knew would eventually come—the Windows Marketplace for Windows Mobile applications finally ceased to exist, as Microsoft officially killed Windows Mobile and mostly everything related to it sometime last year.  The market brought the capability to do what Apple’s Appstore was doing at the time, which was to try and centralize all the available free and paid applications so that people could easily find their favorite apps in one, single place. The introduction of the marketplace didn’t come without its share of issues and scandals due to various flaws in functionality. For instance, Windows Marketplace was restricted geographically. More specifically, you couldn’t use it in certain parts of the world because your device would simply not be allowed access to the servers. Please note that this practice still takes place today with services such as the Amazon Marketplace, Hulu Plus, and several other popular services.

Of all the gripes that people had with Microsoft about protection, the copy protection patch that Microsoft released sometime in 2009 was by far the most annoying. Essentially, it forced developers to submit the applications in such a way that they could not license it under their own models. Instead they had to be licensed by Microsoft under a single model. The patch forbade people from protecting their apps, and because of that, they could be bypassed and even have the code stolen and copied. XDA Elite Recognized Developer Chainfire cracked this new “protection” measure from Microsoft within two hours of it being released. The license check was easily bypassed, and he created a hack to go around it, disabling the license check code added by MS to all the apps in the MP. Due to his own morals, Chainfire decided not to release this hack for a very simple reason… it could be used for piracy.

Today, since MP is already dead, he has decided to go in full detail regarding how me managed to crack Microsoft’s protection model in less time than it takes to prepare a good meal. Oh, and he did it in Pascal (yes, yes… roll in agony). He also went ahead and released the source code via github, which can be found in the link below. If you are interested in some history and overall hacking insight, please be sure to visit his blog (linked below).

Now that Marketplace for 6.x has been closed, I thought it time to release some WM hacking/patching details and some source for this claim of cracking the Marketplace.

You can find more information in the original thread as well as Chainfire‘s blog. And if you still want more Chainfire after all that, be sure to check out his interview. Thank you Chainfire for all your hard work.

Want something published in the Portal? Contact any News Writer.

[Thanks Chainfire for the tip!]

The Samsung Galaxy Note we reviewed previously is an amazing device. A hybrid of tablet and phone, it fits into a niche that defies normal conventions. Recently though, we mentioned that the current leaked builds of ICS for the Note have been plagued with a superbrick bug.

Much to our surprise, Samsung has just released the ICS kernel source code for the Note! It is in no small part thanks to the work of community members like SamsungJohn and XDA Elite Recognized Developer Entropy512 that Samsung has responded to our pleas and has given us what we need to work around the problems.

Of course, we here at XDA would like to thank the folks over at Samsung for the quick turnaround time. Here’s hoping that we can work together to fix the problem. If you’re eager to take a crack at the code, head on over to the official release page.

Thanks to its international reach, XDA TV gets to try and experiment with some very interesting, and sometimes unheard of phones and devices. The dual-core version of the Meizu MX is really only available in China and parts of Europe. Though there is talk of their next quad-core phone coming stateside. Regardless of the Meizu MX’s stateside popularity, there has been some significant development. Some of that development has been covered by XDA Portal Administrator Will Verduzco in this article.

In today’s episode of XDA TV, Will teaches us how to root the Meizu MX and install Ice Cream Sandwich on the device. Will begins by installing Ice Cream Sandwich on the Meizu MX. He then takes us through the process of getting the Meizu MX rooted using tools from the XDA Developers Forums.

For  more Meizu MX goodness check out this thread. Be sure to stay tuned for our full review of the Meizu MX.

Check out other great rooting Videos on XDA TV like XDA Forum Moderator and Recognized Developer shenye‘s How to Root Videos covering the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the HTC One X. Make sure to check out the Samsung Smart App Challenge 2012!

With the Galaxy S III firmware leak, it was expected to see some of it ported to other devices. It began with the porting and removal of S-Voice, only to see its triumphant return. With the trouble that has brought, perhaps its time to check out a less dramatic, but still totally awesome port. Samsung Galaxy S II I9100 owners now have access to the Galaxy S III TouchWiz launcher.

XDA Forum Member Smando has brought the SGS3 TouchWiz Launcher port to the Galaxy S II. The launcher looks really nice and is pretty slick. Unfortunately, it only works on Samsung based ROMs, so those running AOSP can’t taste the Galaxy S III goodness just yet.

The launcher comes in a recovery-flashable update.zip, so installing is a breeze. Users then have two options: They can either choose the stock launcher with a 4×5 layout—4 columns and 5 rows—or a modified one that’s 5×5. The release has already received some updates to get some things fixed such as the layout of the widgets page. However, users will still get force closes on some 4×4 widgets, so it’s not perfect quite yet. This is still a great way for Galaxy S II users to check out the Galaxy S III’s software goodness.

For additional information and downloads, hit up the original thread.

The Team Win Recovery Project has been picking up major steam for awhile now. And since its update to version 2.1 that we covered not too long ago, it’s been getting closer and closer to being one of those must have recoveries on newer devices. Unfortunately however, not every device has made the list quite yet. That doesn’t mean it can’t be.

Samsung Epic 4G Touch users have been clamoring for a TWRP 2.1 release for some time now, and XDA Recognized Developer Dees_Troy wants all the Epic Touch users know that Team Win is listening. While Team Win can’t personally get the recovery working on the Epic Touch, as they don’t have the Epic Touch to test it, Dees_Troy wants to spur the device’s already vibrant development community:

The TWRP source code is all public, including the GUI. It’s pretty easy to compile and work with and we have a nice guide to help you out here: http://tinyw.in/nP7d

If you need help integrating TWRP into your builds or have questions about compiling TWRP, feel free to find us in #twrp on Freenode.

So this begs the question, why the complicated response from Team Win? Well the answer, as expected, is rather complicated as well. As with most Samsung phones, there isn’t a proprietary recovery partition. Or rather, as Dees_Troy calls it, they don’t use a proper recovery partition. What actually happens is that the recovery is packed into the boot.img. This means that whenever a user installs a new kernel, they’re stuck with whatever recovery comes with that boot.img. As many Epic Touch owners will tell you, there’s a few different recoveries roaming around depending on which kernel you flash. This makes porting the recovery a little more difficult than normal because you not only need to port the recovery so it works, but you also have to compile a kernel in which to pack it. So, Team Win has made the code available for anyone who wants to go through all that for the Epic Touch.

For additional discussion and information, check out the original thread and let the porting begin!

Not too long ago, we highlighted the launch of FreeYourAndroid. For those who don’t remember, FYA was created by the folks at VillainROM (namely XDA Recognized Developer nprussell and Developer Admin pulser_g2) in the hopes of delivering structured information to help noobs and seasoned veterans alike.

Naturally, FYA has found great success in its mission, amassing a rather large following in the process. And how do they intend on rewarding that following? By having a meetup, of course! As its name implies, the event will be in Glasgow on May 25, 2012. It will run from 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM, local time, and will be held in the Piper on the Square. In the words of VillianROM and FreeYourAndroid community member and event organizer Gary Weldon:

It seems rather strange that the Glasgow Android meetup started out as a chance for 6-8 Android Fans to meet up in the Glasgow City Centre for a few drinks and Android related banter considering where we are now.

Planned from scratch by Gary Weldon (@UbuntuBhoy) and born out of a love for socialising and all things Android, the Android Glasgow meetup is now considered an event which looks to be attended by somewhere between 30 and 50 people.

Now officially hosted by Android websites Free Your Android and Land of Droid, the Glasgow Android Meetup has support from a number of major OEM brands, Mobile Networks and Retailers alike.

Those interested should check out the event’s official website, and follow their Google+ and Twitter pages. While they’re currently at-capacity, you can still stay in the loop by visiting the aforementioned links. For those lucky enough to attend, there will be cool swag given away such as a number of XDA-Developers T-Shirts!

One of the most common questions here at XDA over the past several months has been, “When will my HTC device receive Ice Cream Sandwich?” Now, thanks to a tip from XDA Senior Member neoofoox we have our answer.

Although we previously mentioned the devices confirmed to get ICS from HTC’s blog back in March, it was only recently that HTC finally confirmed their timeline for this year’s releases. According to HTC:

What is the overall timeline of Android 4.0 updates?
The majority of devices will receive upgrades in June and July 2012 and we expect to finish upgrades in August 2012 for all announced devices.

When will my device get the Android 4.0 upgrade?

The target timeline for announced devices is below. Because of partner and network testing, and approval processes for device updates, it can take up to 45 days for all carriers and countries to get the update after a rollout has begun.

Device	Schedule
DROID Incredible 2 by HTC	To be determined (by the end of August)
HTC Amaze 4G	May-June
HTC Desire S	June-July
HTC Desire HD	July-August
HTC EVO 3D	June-July
HTC EVO 4G+	May-June
HTC EVO Design 4G	June-July
HTC Incredible S	June-July
HTC Sensation	March-June
HTC Sensation 4G	March-June
HTC Sensation XE	March-June
HTC Sensation XL	April-Jun
HTC Rezound	June-July
HTC Rhyme	June-July
HTC Thunderbolt	July-August
HTC Velocity 4G	March-June
HTC Vivid	March-June

Please note these dates are targets and may shift due to testing and approvals.

For a detailed look at when your specific device will be getting a taste of frosty Android goodness and several other questions answered, head on over the official page and salivate over your upcoming good fortune.

Owners of the Motorola Atrix 2 have recently faced a different problem than most Android enthusiasts are used to. Normally, when you install a custom recovery, it stays there. You can boot into it pretty much whenever you want and do whatever you want, knowing it’ll be there when you need to restore a Nandroid in the future. However, for Atrix 2 owners, that has been a bit of a challenge, as their problem is actually more of a choice. They can either have working GPS or a normal custom recovery experience. However, installing the custom recovery likes to break GPS. This is sort of a major bug, but luckily, it has been rectified.

XDA Senior Member rdavisct has released a guide that helps users install a custom recovery permanently on their Atrix 2 without borking the GPS. The method uses a mod created by developer Brandon McAnsh, and requires a little terminal emulator work, but it’s not too hard, and it isn’t very time consuming. Users attempting this will find that the method is quite easy to follow.

For more info, hit up the original thread.