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Google Play Services is dropping support for Android ICS (API 14-15)
Google announced that Google Play Services is discontinuing support for API 14 and API 15. This includes Android versions 4.0 to 4.0.4.
There comes a point when we have to move on in life. This can include a particular relationship, a job, or something trivial like an older version of Android, which is the case with Google Play Services. Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich was released over 7 years ago and Google believes it's time to retire this old sweet treat. This week the company announced that Google Play Services is discontinuing support for API 14 and API 15. This includes Android versions 4.0 to 4.0.4.
Android Q to warn users running apps targeting Android Lollipop or older
Android Q may warn users that try to run apps that target Android Lollipop or earlier. Android Pie warns on apps targeting Android Jelly Bean or earlier.
It's usually in the best interests of a developer to update their apps to support the latest Android platform features. Each new Android versions offers new APIs and features that earlier versions of Android don't offer. However, each new Android version also adds new restrictions to what apps can do, which some application developers aren't a fan of. For example, many apps avoided bumping their target API level to Android Marshmallow or later so they could avoid having to implement runtime permissions. Google finally started to crack down on this behavior with new restrictions imposed on apps uploaded and updated to the Google Play Store, but they also added a warning in Android Pie to shame apps that still haven't updated past Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. According to a recent commit in the Android Open Source Project, it seems that Android Q will warn users if the app they're running targets Android 5.1 Lollipop or earlier.
Effectively Optimize Your Media Scanner Service with Xposed
This Xposed module helps you effectively optimize the Media Scanner service on your device.
Typically, all media files housed on your external storage are scanned upon boot. The service that does that is called Media Scanner, which saves its output in Media Store. Android's developers have tried hard to optimize it, but Media Scanner is still a service that drains battery quite effectively for the first few minutes following a reboot.
Disable the APK Installation Screen with Xposed
Don't waste additional time when installing an APK app from your SD Card. Make it faster with AutoInstaller Xposed module.
Many applications available here on XDA that aren't available on the Google Play Store. There are usually a few reasons for their absence: Developer accounts cost money, they are too “hacky” to be acceptable on the Play Store, or simply developers don't want to release their work in the biggest app store for Android. You can find plenty such applications in the various forums we have here.
Android is an extremely flexible OS, in which almost everything can be adjusted to fit your personal needs. However, a problem arises when an application is downloaded from Play Store and it happens to have an ugly icon. Luckily, you have a few ways to change the icon or even its displayed application name. One of them is to recompile the app and set a new icon and name, but very often it won't work because of errors in smali and XML code. The second way is to use a theme, but that's a luxury reserved for users of ROMs supporting theme engine.
Having your phone download a long list of application updates to oftentimes unused applications is nothing unusual. This consumes lots of time, storage space, and bandwidth. To prevent such a situation, you can either disable synchronization with the Google Play Store, or you can backup your applications and restore it when you want to use it.
In recent Android releases, Google has become more and more unwilling to cater to the use of external SD cards. It was never quite clear why Google decided to abandon SD card support in their Nexus devices, but many believe this to be due to the added simplicity of removing another storage area.
You may or may not recall sometime last year, when a member by the name of XDA Recognized Developer rovo89 introduced a brand new concept to this world, named Xposed Framework. This essentially enables the user to hack any ROM and change virtually anything without coding, cracking the ROM open with a kitchen, or even flashing a zip through recovery. Possibilities with such a tool are virtually endless, and it is nearly risk free. Some people have released a few things here and there, but as with most novel concepts, things take time to take a foothold in people's minds. The good news is that more and more people are beginning to see the wonders of this framework and have begun using it to add functionality that would otherwise require a brand new ROM (as what you want may not be available for your favorite ROM). XDA Forum Member ruqqq is among those people, and he has released something quite interesting based on Xposed.
One of the key advancements in the mobile industry is the fact that people want to break away from the chains of a desktop (and even laptop) computer. Not having to carry 5-7 lbs of tech on your back is always an interesting point to consider when deciding what you want to get for work/play. However, since our devices are not (yet) fully capable of replacing our computers, the best thing we can do is try to utilize what we have and make ourselves as comfortable as humanly possible. After all, even if it is a pain, being able to use your PC from a distance with wireless devices is not nearly as bad or cumbersome when you are sitting in your most comfortable couch. The only issue with this is that you need to spend money on wireless devices (such as keyboard and mice) to do what you normally do on a PC, and these are not always cheap. If you are reading this article and are on XDA, you more than likely have a wireless-enabled mobile device. Why spend more money when you have something perfectly capable of accomplishing said task?
HotSpot functionality: the forbidden apple of mobile telecommunications. Being able to share your Internet connection with others or even with your own multiple devices is something that we did have always desired, particularly those who hate the idea of paying a "convenience/access fee" to a carrier. The feature/idea of tethering from our mobile devices is not new, and in fact has been around since well before the PDA Phone came to be. However, ever since its implementation, both manufacturers and carriers have been on a crusade to limit or flat out eliminate this functionality from our devices. Android comes with native wireless tethering capabilities, which again, are disabled, blocked, or removed from the OS for a wide variety of reasons. Well, if you fall under this category, XDA Elite Recognized Developer Chainfire can help you with his latest work.
As our devices become more powerful, larger, and are filled with more and more software from the manufacturers (bloatware and some spyware); some things tend to take a hit that tend to make our experiences with our devices rather short lived. The battery is about the only thing in the entire technological salad that comprises our mobile devices that does not keep up with the rest. In this day and age, you will see similar sized batteries (in terms of capacity) to what you saw 2 years ago for far less power hungry devices. On top of that, as stated earlier, some software packages pre-installed do not help with your battery life either, which is why custom ROMs (particularly those of the AOSP variety) are a blessing as they are not loaded with the extra overhead. These extra apps are not only unnecessary, but many of them have a rather nasty side effect: They prevent your device from fully going to sleep when it has to.
For most people, this is an old tune, one to which they have danced before: the eternal promise of extending battery life, making your device smooth and silky as the time it was taken out of the box. We have had these programs such as task managers, app killers, RAM savers, and so on for a very long time. The truth of the matter is that Android is actually quite capable of handling apps in a very efficient manner, and more often than not, these are not normally needed. Also, the available RAM on most newer devices certainly makes them obsolete (for newer gen devices anyways). Furthermore, leaving programs in RAM (when available) prevents the need to relaunch them the next time you open them. However, when a new approach is tested, it is always worth looking into it, and that happens to be the case with Greenify by XDA Forum Member oasisfeng.
As mobile devices have evolved, so have the tools for performing every day tasks. What used to require Microsoft Office on a standard computer can now be accomplished with various mobile applications that can create, edit, and view Office documents (because Microsoft still can't figure out how to mobilize their mammoth, memory-hungry, piece of... oh never mind). Further expanding the analogy, we used to use apps like Notepad to edit text files, and now we have a bevy of apps on the desktop that allow you to not only edit a text file, but also features color-coding for different programming languages.
Starting with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the OS switched to MTP from USB Mass Storage mode for access to the device's storage via USB. MTP stands for Media Transfer Protocol, and it carries several benefits over USB Mass Storage. Unlike the latter, MTP allows you to simultaneously access the storage on both the device as well as the computer. Also, with MTP, corrupt file transfers are theoretically much less probable.
There are many different launchers out there. Whether it's an old favorite or something you can't normally get, there are options galore. A favorite here on XDA is when a launcher intended for specific devices gets ported to be used on all devices. Now, the Xperia Launcher has been ported to work on any device running Android 4.0.3 and up.
So, you got your new shiny, slim, and Intel-loaded Motorola RAZR i, and could not be more grateful to Motorola for allowing you to unlock your bootloader simply simply handing them your soul warranty. Your device is now ready to flash anything that comes across your screen, be it a kernel or a ROM. However, not too many devs have purchased the device yet, and as a result, not too many ROMs are available. So, you are stuck with stock. However, thanks to having the bootloader unlocked, you can get your device rooted for all your root-requesting apps needs.
Great news, CM lovers: After months of coding and tweaking, the CyanogenMod team has released the stable version of ICS-based CyanogenMod 9 for all supported devices on the official CM mirror network. The nightly and release candidate CM9 builds have been around for a while and were already quite stable, but this step marks the final release of the ICS-based builds.
Please note that the following is an addition to the infamous PDroid, developer by XDA Forum Member svyat back in December 2011. As its name clearly suggests, PDroidAddon acts along side (and will interact with) PDroid, which was basically a security suite that allowed you to "cherry pick" which apps get access to your personal information. Today, we have XDA Forum Member CollegeDev bringing us an interesting alternative that handles privacy in a different manner, or at least it targets a different source of "leaks."
Not too long ago, we witnessed the launch of Asus most recent entry into the world of tablets with the shinny, slim, and fully loaded Infinity Pad (a.k.a. the Asus Transformer TF700T). As is customary for Asus, the bootloader on the device was locked upon shipping from the factory. However due to the constant demands, petitions, and bashing from the developer community in similar cases with the Prime (TF201) and the TF300T, they have now released an official tool to unlock the bootloader of the device.
Having root access on your device is usually key to enjoying the vast development available here on XDA. Unfortunately, updating stock firmware usually means kissing goodbye to root access. This is not the end of SuperUser permissions, but merely another step in the rooting process. Although new firmware seemingly revokes your right to root, your custom recovery almost always remains intact.