October 2017 -- XDA Developers

Google is Eliminating Preferred Care Deductibles for Pixel 2 & Pixel 2 XL Warranty Repairs

Mishaal Rahman October 31, 2017

Rejoice! If you own a brand new Google Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL, then we have some good news to share. Google is sending out emails to its Preferred Care customers tonight telling them that they are eliminating deductibles if you experience hardware failures due to normal wear and tear during the warranty period—now...

HTC U11+ & U11 Life Appear in Hands-On Video Ahead of Launch Event

Arol Wright October 31, 2017

It's now 2 days until HTC officially announces their final 2017 devices, the flagship HTC U11+ (with a larger 6" 18:9 LCD display and key improvements over the regular U11) and the mid-range HTC U11 Life (an Android One device with a Snapdragon 630 SoC many U11 features at a cheaper price point). As we...

Create Custom Voice Activated Hotwords for Tasker with the Hotword Plugin

Doug Lynch October 31, 2017

Many have wondered why Google doesn't allow you to create custom hotwords for its voice assistant when other OEMs like Motorola do. Thankfully, we can handle the issue ourselves with the help of Tasker and this new free plugin called Hotword Plugin. The Tasker plugin is from XDA Senior Member Humpie and it uses Snowboy Hotword to listen to...

Get the New Pixel 2 Boot Animation on Any Device (Flashable Zip)

Kishan Vyas October 31, 2017

Just a few weeks after the Pixel 2 and 2 XL launch, we've managed to show you how you can easily get many of the Pixel 2's "exclusive" software features on your device. That includes the new Pixel Launcher with the bottom search bar, updated Google Camera app with Portrait Mode and Motion Photo, as...

Google has Resolved Android 8.1 Developer Preview 1 Installation Issues

Idrees Patel October 31, 2017

Google released Android 8.1 Developer Preview a few days back and the stable version of the maintenance release for Android Oreo will be released in December. However, shortly after releasing the update, a myriad of Pixel and Pixel 2 owners who opted in the Google Beta Program reported they were not able to install the...

Fast Pair Enables Quick Bluetooth Pairing with Compatible Devices

Doug Lynch October 31, 2017

Some like to point at how long it takes for major versions of Android to roll out as a fragmentation issue. While that is definitely something that needs to be worked on, a lot of new features can come from Google Play Services updates. These new updates are rolled out via the Play Store and...

Google Issue Tracker Exploit Allowed the Viewing of Unpatched Vulnerabilities

Doug Lynch October 31, 2017

Google recently launched a new Issue Tracker and with all new pieces of software, there are bound to be various bugs that may not have been brought to the attention of the developers. Recently, a security researcher named Alex Birsan started noticing his vulnerability reports were being handled by opening a thread within the platform....

Android 8.1 Lets Users Restore Data After Initial Device Setup

Idrees Patel October 31, 2017

In Android 6.0 Marshmallow, Google added the option to backup app data, device settings, call history and SMS messages to Google Drive, thus significantly removing one of the major pain points which had existed in Android for years. To restore app data, users had been relying on solutions which required root such as Titanium Backup....

Remap Bixby Button with bxActions

Ronald Comstock October 31, 2017

Eric has a tutorial for anyone who wants to get more from their dedicated Bixby button. This video shows you how to remap your button to use it with other apps, or disable it altogether.

Google is Adding AAC Bluetooth Audio Codec for All Devices in AOSP

Doug Lynch October 31, 2017

Android has been criticized in the past for the way Bluetooth as a whole performs on Google's mobile platform. Some people have issues getting Bluetooth devices to connect properly, others have come across audio playback skipping and there's also been complaints about the audio quality itself. With the Pixel 2 and the Pixel 2 XL...

Asus Announces the ZenFone 4 Pro, the ZenFone 4, and the ZenFone 4 Max for North America

Idrees Patel October 31, 2017

Asus has launched the ZenFone 4 series in North America. To be precise, the ZenFone 4 Pro, ZenFone 4, and ZenFone 4 Max are now available in the United States. Asus states they are the first family of smartphones to all have dual cameras. The price range of these devices goes from $169 for the...

T-Mobile & Sprint Merger Efforts Have Been Reportedly Dropped

Adam Conway October 31, 2017

A few months back, we reported that T-Mobile and Sprint were in talks for a potential merger, months after a previous attempt. Previously, problems relating to the US Department of Justice may have posed a problem to the telecom giants in America, but doubts about the Trump administration's views meant that the merge may have...