Posts From Zachary Wander

Zachary Wander
Zachary Wander

Started out rooting and installing custom ROMs before moving onto modifying Android apps in Smali and subsequently developing various customization and utility apps for Android, such as SystemUI Tuner. Check me out on Twitter: https://twitter.com/wander1236.

Galaxy Watch 4 update promises to improve touch bezel responsiveness

Galaxy Watch 4 update promises to improve touch bezel responsiveness

September 10, 2021
It's been a little under a month since Samsung announced the Galaxy Watch 4 series, and they're already receiving their second update. The latest Galaxy Watch 4 update, with build number BUI5, doesn't have many details in the changelog, but after installing it on my own watch, here are the changes we found. Touch Bezel Improvements For...
Flutter 2.5 released with full-screen Android app and Material You support

Flutter 2.5 released with full-screen Android app and Material You support

September 9, 2021
If you're into cross-platform development, chances are you've heard of Flutter. Using the Dart language, Flutter is a cross-platform UI framework that aims to make developing for anything from iOS to the web as easy as possible. Yesterday, Google announced the release of Flutter 2.5 and Dart 2.14, and there's a lot that's new. This article...
How to enable ECG and blood pressure on Galaxy Watch 4 paired with non-Samsung phones

How to enable ECG and blood pressure on Galaxy Watch 4 paired with non-Samsung phones

August 24, 2021
Starting with the Galaxy Watch Active 2, Samsung added sensors to measure your blood pressure and take an ECG reading. These features are also available on the company's latest Galaxy Watch 4 series and last year's Galaxy Watch 3. But because of regulatory requirements, the functionality has quite a few restrictions. To record your blood pressure...
How to install Windows 11 on almost any unsupported PC

How to install Windows 11 on almost any unsupported PC

August 17, 2021
Windows 11 is Microsoft's brand-new operating system. Leaked on June 15th and officially announced on June 24th, the first Windows 11 preview build became available to users on June 28th. Besides having a new look and feel, it also comes with some (very) recent minimum hardware requirements to run. Microsoft is allowing some unsupported computers to...
JetBrains launches Kotlin Basics, a free starter course on Kotlin

JetBrains launches Kotlin Basics, a free starter course on Kotlin

August 12, 2021
Back in 2019, JetBrains launched its Academy program. Academy lets anyone who wants to learn a language do so through guided lessons and projects, with integrations in JetBrains' IDEs. For instance, JetBrains advertises lessons in over 400 topics related to Java programming. In general, full JetBrains Academy courses cost money, while courses in beta are...
JetBrains Compose for Desktop and Web is now in alpha

JetBrains Compose for Desktop and Web is now in alpha

August 4, 2021
If you haven't heard of Jetpack Compose, where have you been lately? Google created this declarative UI framework to replace the standard XML layout engine in Android. Compose lets developers create their layouts and accompanying logic all in Kotlin. JetBrains, the company behind Kotlin, also got in on the Compose action and is working on...
Google launches Android Studio Arctic Fox and Jetpack Compose 1.0

Google launches Android Studio Arctic Fox and Jetpack Compose 1.0

July 28, 2021
Today, Google is releasing both Android Studio Arctic Fox and Jetpack Compose to stable. This isn't exactly a surprise announcement, since Google first announced that the latter would be released to stable this month back in May. We've got a bunch of coverage (linked below) in case you're not in the loop. But either way, you...
Amazon Appstore is working on supporting Android App Bundles

Amazon Appstore is working on supporting Android App Bundles

July 16, 2021
About a year ago, Google announced that it would be requiring developers to use its new App Bundles format on the Play Store. We already wrote an article about this new format and why this requirement is worrying some, but here's a quick recap. App Bundles are a new way to distribute apps. By splitting up...
Why Google Play’s APK replacement is scaring some security experts

Why Google Play’s APK replacement is scaring some security experts

July 1, 2021
Last November, Google announced that developers will be required to publish new apps on the Play Store using the Android App Bundle (AAB) format instead of an APK. Just the other day, Google reminded developers of this upcoming requirement, setting off a firestorm of controversy from users who believe that Google is killing APKs, eliminating...
Google unveils loads of new Firebase features to streamline app development

Google unveils loads of new Firebase features to streamline app development

May 18, 2021
Google I/O kicked off earlier today, and at the big Developer Keynote, we're getting a lot of Android development-related news. There have been changes to Flutter, new features in Jetpack, and, if the title of this article didn't tip you off, new things in Firebase. In case you don't know, Firebase is Google's cloud-based app tooling...
Flutter 2.2 announced at Google I/O 2021 with new features for app development

Flutter 2.2 announced at Google I/O 2021 with new features for app development

May 18, 2021
Google I/O is happening right now, and that means, of course, there's a bunch of new Android development news! If you're reading this post, then that means Google has just (or already) announced Flutter 2.2, a new version of their cross-platform app development framework. Flutter Adoption Stats There's actually quite a bit of new stuff for a...
Google unveils new features for Android Jetpack, Android Studio, and Kotlin at Google I/O 2021

Google unveils new features for Android Jetpack, Android Studio, and Kotlin at Google I/O 2021

May 18, 2021
We're now well into the Google I/O 2021 developer conference, and so we're seeing a bunch of developer-centric news for all of Google's development products. On top of changes to Flutter and Firebase, we've also got some new features for native Android development, including announcements about Android Jetpack, Android Studio, and even Kotlin. Jetpack Compose Jetpack Compose...