October 2016 -- XDA Developers

Honor 8 Camera Focus: Road Trip to Big Android BBQ

Ronald Comstock October 31, 2016

Miles from XDA TV set out to test one of the best features of the Honor 8 phone by taking it on a road trip all the way to the Big Android BBQ in Texas. This video takes a look at some of the photos and videos that were taken so you can see the quality...

PSA: Google Assistant says it’s “Offline” when you’re on a VPN, but everything still works

Aamir Siddiqui October 31, 2016

Google Assistant is one of the most advertised features for the new Google Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones, although there are ways to enable it on non-Pixel Nougat devices as well as on non-Nougat devices. Although Google has currently restricted official compatibility to a very small subset of Android devices, you can still get full use...

ARM announces their second Bifrost GPU – the Mali-G51

Doug Lynch October 31, 2016

Back in May of this year ARM announced the Mali-G71, the company's first GPU that utilized their new Bifrost architecture. This new architecture from ARM was quickly adopted into the high-end mobile market, due to growing demand for VR gaming along with other complex and constantly evolving power hungry mobile gaming content. When building their...

Sony publishes instructions on how to build Android 7.1 AOSP for Xperia Devices

Doug Lynch October 31, 2016

Sony is one of the few OEMs that remains a firm believer in AOSP. Most companies do not bother providing necessary firmware binaries to allow developers to port AOSP onto the device. But while some OEMs actually do provide binaries for developers to make AOSP builds, like we saw with the OnePlus 3, Sony takes...

Google Pixel XL Performance Stress Tests, Throttling and Thermals Analysis — A Remarkable, Consistent Performer

Mario Tomás Serrafero October 30, 2016

Google’s new Pixel phones assume the mantle of yesteryear’s Nexus devices, which were consistently some of the fastest phones around. But while the user experience rarely suffered on a Nexus, there were some issues near the end of the line’s life. The Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X both packed a particularly flawed set of processors - the infamous...

How to Unlock Bootloader on Honor 8

Ronald Comstock October 30, 2016

Before you can root your Honor 8 or install a custom recovery, you'll want to unlock your bootloader. In this tutorial, I'll show you how to get the unlock code for your device and how to use ADB to unlock your bootloader. Backup your data first. Unlocking the bootloader will wipe the data on your Honor...

Root is now available for the Google Pixel and Pixel XL: Here’s what Changed and what Works

Mishaal Rahman October 29, 2016

As promised, systemless root for the Google Pixel and Pixel XL is now available. XDA Senior Recognized Developer Chainfire was working on root for the Google Pixel phone running Android 7.1 Nougat these past few days, and he has reached a stage in his development where he is now comfortable enough sharing his work with the community. Root access for the...

Tiered Fees are Coming to Swappa on November 1st

Doug Lynch October 28, 2016

If you haven't already heard of the service, Swappa is an online marketplace that was launched for people to buy or sell mobile devices. Over the years, the types of products available for listing on the site have expanded to include tablets, laptops, wearables, and even VR headsets. With other reseller marketplaces such as eBay becoming...

Oracle Files for an Appeal in its Case Against Google

Doug Lynch October 28, 2016

Soon after Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems, the company went after Google for allegedly infringing on copyrights and patents that are related to Java. It took two years before the case went to trial and Oracle eventually lost as the courts were unable to find any evidence of what the company had claimed. Oracle then decided...

Google Assistant Gains IFTTT Support

Doug Lynch October 28, 2016

This year, we're seeing Google take on the likes of Amazon, Apple and Microsoft in the personal assistant category with Google Assistant. The company will begin shipping out Google Home pre-orders within the next week, but the service won't be as powerful as its competition if it doesn't support a wide range of 3rd-party products and...

Verizon Pixel/Pixel XL Bootloader Unlock has been Released

Mishaal Rahman October 27, 2016

When Google revealed they had struck a carrier exclusivity deal with Verizon for sales of the Google Pixel and Pixel XL within the United States, many of us feared the worst. Given Verizon's history of preventing bootloader unlocking, enthusiasts feared that even the standard bearer for Android, Google's first truly in-house flagship smartphone, would be subject to...

Chainfire’s Systemless Root for Pixel Phones is Coming

Mishaal Rahman October 27, 2016

We all knew it was coming. It's basically tradition that within days of Google releasing a new device, XDA Senior Recognized Developer Chainfire finds a working root method. In keeping with that tradition, earlier today Chainfire demonstrated he had achieved root access on his Pixel phone with a picture of ADB shell requesting superuser access. The news...