April 2014 - Page 3 of 10 -- XDA Developers

[APK] Google Hangouts v2.1 Brings Merged Conversations, Simplified Contacts, and More!

Will Verduzco April 21, 2014

Back in October of last year, Google integrated SMS functionality into the Hangouts Android app. While many have found the added functionality to be quite convenient, it hasn't been without its own set of issues. Ignoring the obvious loss of yet another actively developed AOSP app in favor of a closed source offering, the Hangouts SMS...

Simple Guide Makes Getting Started with the Arch-Based BBQLinux Even Easier

Will Verduzco April 21, 2014

It's no secret that Android ROM and kernel development is easiest on Linux and other Unix-like OSes like MacOS X. Sure, you can find various tools to do certain other useful Android development tasks on Windows like decompiling/recompiling and Smali editing, but if you're building Android from source and don't want to use a virtual...

Decompile, Edit, and Recompile in One Tool with APK Studio

Will Verduzco April 21, 2014

If you've ever modified precompiled applications, you have undoubtedly spent time with XDA Recognized Developer Brut.all's APKTool or one of its variants. APKTool works quite well, which is why after so many years, people still use it. However, using APKTool then requires you to use a separate app such as Notepad++ to edit the decompiled binaries....

TasGear: A Tasker Extension for the Samsung Galaxy Gear

jman2131 April 20, 2014

With wearable technology taking center stage this year, one can only expect more active development to be seen in this area. This includes tighter integration of apps between wearables and our phones and tablets such as the Tasker extension for the Sony Smartwatch 2, a handy little app that allows you to control and operate...

Intelligently Place Contacts on Your Home Screen with CallWho Widget

Will Verduzco April 20, 2014

There are plenty of ways to get your contacts to show up on your Android home screen. Stock Android offers a way to access individual contacts directly, and every OEM's own skinned interface offers similar or enhanced functionality. But let's face it--you don't always want to interact with a predetermined set group of individuals. Sometimes, you...

Control TWRP from within Android with TWRP Coordinator

Will Verduzco April 20, 2014

You may recall that back when TWRP2 introduced a couple of years ago, it brought with it the open source Open Recovery System (ORS). With ORS, purpose-built applications are able to queue various recovery tasks from directly within Android itself. ORS eventually lead to the creation of various interesting applications such as the previously covered TWRP Manager. But what if...

Keep Track of Everything Your Device Does with Event Logger

Will Verduzco April 20, 2014

Regardless of their OS choice, computing power users generally share one common thread: They all like to know what their computing devices are doing at any given time. Because of this, there are plenty of event logger options on practically every platform. Android is no exception. We've talked about taking a logcat quite a few times...

A More Competitive Spin on the Addictive 2048 Puzzle

Will Verduzco April 20, 2014

You may recall that a few weeks ago, we talked about a rather interesting take on everyone's favorite number game addiction, 2048. But while the previously covered version offered great game play thanks to its selectable grid sizes, it was admittedly a bit lacking on the UI front. Now, XDA Senior Member sylsau has published his...

Samsung EFS Tool Updated to V5, Brings Universal Device Support

Will Verduzco April 19, 2014

You may recall that we've talked about XDA Recognized Contributor ricky310711's Samsung Tool a couple of times throughout the app's lifespan. For those who don't remember the name, this simple tool allows users to perform several simple but handy tasks such as backing up and restoring EFS, hot rebooting for a quick refresh, and full...

Say Goodbye to Holo Blue Once and for All

Will Verduzco April 19, 2014

When Google released Android 4.4 KitKat back in October of last year, they changed quite a bit under the hood to improve the OS's performance. But in addition to cleaning up various bits and pieces of code to make things more efficient as part of Project Svelte, Google also got rid of the dynamic status...

Android Control Center Becomes Quick Control Panel, Brings Host of New Features

Will Verduzco April 19, 2014

You may recall that back in August of last year, we talked about Android Control Center by XDA Senior Member Dr.Alexander_Breen. For those who have forgotten, Android Control Center gave Android users something quite similar to iOS 7's Control Center, but with an Android-centric spin. But in the time since then, Android Control Center has...

Polish Your Custom Themes with Theme Debugger

jman2131 April 18, 2014

Creating a custom Android theme from scratch can be quite the laborious task. In addition to designing, creating, and editing all the elements yourself, a testing phase is also essential to make sure that your theme is bug-free and working as it should. And unless you’re an absolute master at theming, chances are that you’ll...