latest
Even though it's been over a month since Google rolled out Android 13 on the stable channel, the update is officially only available on a handful of phones. But since the company has also uploaded the Android 13 source code to AOSP, the aftermarket development community has released custom ROMs based on Android 13 for quite a few devices. Earlier this month, developers on our forums released Android 13 custom ROMs for the Galaxy S7, Galaxy S8, and Galaxy Note 8. The ancient Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II are now getting the same treatment.
The Samsung Galaxy S III & Galaxy Note II may succeed the legendary HTC HD2
The HTC HD2 was a legendary device that could run almost any operating system. The Samsung Galaxy S III and Samsung Galaxy Note II may be the next devices to achieve the HD2's immortality.
Technology-oriented websites tend to focus only on the latest smartphones (and that includes us), but a large number of users choose not to upgrade their devices for one reason or another. Perhaps for financial reasons, there are hundreds of thousands of users who stick to older devices. Custom ROMs such as the now-defunct CyanogenMod have kept older smartphones alive for ages, but there comes a time when even unofficial support must end—for most devices, at least. The legendary HTC HD2 was launched in 2009 with Windows Mobile 6.5 at a time when Android 2.1 Eclair was the latest Android release, but the device has received ports of every version of Android up to Android 7.0 Nougat (not to mention multiple other operating systems.) Now, it appears that the HD2's torch will be passed on to the Samsung Galaxy S III and Samsung Galaxy Note II.
MultiROM Available for the Samsung Galaxy Note II
If you can't decide which ROM should be used as a daily driver on your Samsung Galaxy Note II, you can have them all with MultiROM multiboot!
With so many ROMs available on XDA, it's incredibly difficult to find the one that suits us most. We must choose between modified stock firmwares, AOSP-derived ROMs, or alternate OSes like Ubuntu Touch and Firefox OS. There are solutions to make the choice a bit easier, and one of them is multiboot. XDA Recognized Developer Tassadar's MultiROM is the ideal perfect solution for all you folks that can't decide which ROM should be used as a daily driver.
Imagine that you're flashing the latest nightly of your favorite ROM. If you are performing a fresh install by wiping all of your data, this also means that you have to flash all of your modified system apps, user apps, modules, and so on. And if you're doing this on a regular basis, all the wasted time really starts to add up. So what do you do? Do you manually install these apps again, or do you add them to your favorite ROM? One of the better solutions is to use Aroma Installer by XDA Recognized Developer amarullz. However, you normally need some experience to configure it properly.
If you own a Samsung device, you have undoubtedly heard of the EFS partition. If you haven't, let me explain. EFS is a partition where quite a bit of important radio data is stored. Without this data, you won't be able to use your phone correctly. It's extremely important to keep a local copy of your EFS partition, and we've already presented a Windows utility and application to backup the EFS partition on Samsung devices.
If you have a Samsung device, you've undoubtedly heard of CSC files before. For the uninitiated, CSC editors on various Samsung devices allow users to modify various hidden settings and enable certain hidden features. By modifying these files, you can do things such as disable the camera shutter, enable infinite scroll on the launcher, change the number of contacts that can be merged, make the enter key send a text message, and much, much more.
One of our goals for the year has been to better organize all of the development works (ROMs, apps, tools, kernels, etc.) on XDA. We wanted this to be useful but also to have minimal impact on how developers post to XDA and on users who are happy with the current structure of the forums.
We don't usually cover individual custom kernels here on the Portal for the simple reason that thanks to the development community, there are so many great options available that we wouldn't have time to cover anything else. However, every once in a while, a kernel developer brings so much awesome to the table that it would be downright rude of us not to sit down and stuff our faces until we are fat and happy. Devil Kernel by XDA Recognized Developer DerTeufel1980 definitely falls into that category.
Android devices support a lot of external devices. From Bluetooth speakers to external hard drives, there really isn't much you can't hook up to an Android device anymore. However, one thing that users may have trouble with is an external microphone.
There's no disputing the fact that the Samsung Galaxy Note II is a beast. This thing is gigantic in every respect. Whether it's screen size, internal storage, or RAM; there isn't another device out there that measures up. That also appears to extend to its official firmwares, which weigh in at a whopping 1043 MB. How do I know this? Well because XDA Recognized Developer Faryaab was kind enough to very recently update his official firmware thread for the Note II with a link to the European 4.1.1-based ROM.