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LineageOS 19 builds are here for the Samsung Galaxy S10, POCO F2 Pro, POCO F3, and more
The first builds of LineageOS 19 are out for the Galaxy S10, Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, POCO F2 Pro, POCO F3, Mi 10T/10T Lite, and Essential Phone.
The LineageOS team has been hard at work extending official LineageOS 19 builds based on Android 12 to as many devices as possible. The developers released the first official builds for nearly 40 devices back in April and added some more smartphones to the roster over the next few weeks. Now, the maintainers have extended support to several more devices, including the POCO F2 Pro, POCO F3, and the global Exynos edition of the Samsung Galaxy S10.
CarbonROM releases its Android 10 custom ROM for 13 Google, Xiaomi, and OnePlus devices
The CarbonROM 8.0 builds are now live for 13 devices including the OnePlus 7 Pro, OnePlus 6 / 6T, POCO X2, Redmi Note 7, and more.
In a blogpost, the CarbonROM team has announced the release of first official Android 10 based builds for Xiaomi, OnePlus, Essential and Nexus devices. The new CarbonROM revision 8.0 is codenamed PAX, after the Latin word for peace. This new release not only bumps up the Android version officially, but it also brings along the latest security patches from the month of April 2020.
[Updated] Essential Phone gets support for the Android 11 Developer Preview GSI
Although Essential has officially shut down, Essential engineers are working on supporting Android 11 Developer Preview GSI on the Essential Phone.
Earlier this month, Essential dropped the news that they were shutting down. The company would no longer continue working on its second smartphone, the Project GEM device. More importantly for customers, Essential stated they would no longer provide software support for its first and only smartphone, the Essential Phone. That meant the device, which initially launched in 2017 with Android 7.1 Nougat, won't get any updates after the February 2020 security patch rolled out earlier this month. Even though the company has shut down, it looks like Essential will give customers the opportunity to test one more update: the Android 11 Developer Preview.
Essential shuts down: No more PH-1 updates, No GEM phone
Essential has announced it will shut down immediately. The Essential Phone will no longer recieve updates and the GEM device is dead.
Started by former Android co-founder Andy Rubin, Essential burst onto the scene back in 2017 with the Essential PH-1. The company has never released a follow-up to that phone, but it has continued to offer exceptional software support with monthly security patches and major Android OS upgrades right after Google. It turns out that's where the story ends as the company has announced it will shut down immediately.
[Update: More Devices] Paranoid Android gets new features on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro, Essential Phone, and several Sony phones
Paranoid Android is rolling out new beta builds with new features for devices like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro, Essential PH-1, Sony Xperia X and more!
After a bit of development hiatus after the release of their Android Oreo builds, Paranoid Android announced their return with the release of Android Pie ROMs. Supported devices for the initial release included the Xiaomi POCOF1, Xiaomi Mi 8, Xiaomi Mi 6, Xiaomi Mi 5 and Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S, with beta releases for the Essential Phone, OnePlus 6, OnePlus 6T and the Moto G5 Plus.
First Google Camera port with Night Sight working for the Xiaomi Mi 5, Essential Phone
The first Google Camera port with a working Night Sight mode has been released, and it so far works on the Xiaomi Mi 5 and the Essential Phone.
When Google unveiled the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, they also announced a new camera feature that wasn't available at launch: Night Sight. Google showcased the feature by comparing a photo taken in low light conditions by an Apple iPhone Xs and a Google Pixel 3 with Night Sight enabled. The photo taken by the Pixel 3 was clearly superior, but it wasn't until XDA Senior Member cstark27 released a modified version of the Google Camera app enabling Night Sight ahead of its general availability that people realized just how incredible Night Sight really is. The modified version only worked on the Google Pixel, Google Pixel 2, and Google Pixel 3, but now XDA Senior Member Arnova8G2 has released a port of Google's camera app with a working Night Sight mode. So far, it has been confirmed to work on the Xiaomi Mi 5 (by the developer himself) as well as on the Essential Phone (by us and multiple community members.)
Get Google Pixel's Digital Wellbeing on the OnePlus 6/Essential Phone on Android Pie [Root]
Android Pie (Android 9) is here for Google Pixel & Essential Phone, but only the Pixel got Digital Wellbeing. Here's how to get it on the PH-1 & OnePlus 6.
Right after Digital Wellbeing, Google's new anti-smartphone addiction feature introduced at Google I/O, started rolling out for the Google Pixel and Google Pixel 2 on the latest Android Pie release, we managed to get the feature up and running on the Essential Phone which also received Android 9 today. Digital Wellbeing is actually quite easy to port to the Essential Phone and other non-Google devices running Android 9 simply because the APK itself doesn't need any changes whatsoever—just enable the right platform features, set the right permissions in the right place, and you're good to go. So long as your Essential PH-1, OnePlus 6, or other non-Google device on Android Pie has root access via Magisk (the current version already works on Android Pie), all you have to do is install a Magisk Module to get it up and running.
Download the best Google Camera port for your Android device
The Google Camera Port Hub is a centralized location where you can go to find a working port for your device. Currently, the hub has over 40 devices listed.
One of the best developments in the Android community in recent years has been Google Camera ports. The Google Pixel's picture-taking ability is spectacular, even though the camera hardware may be better on other devices. A lot of the Google Pixel's photo magic comes from the Google Camera app. Features like HDR+ and portrait mode make the camera really shine. A vibrant community of developers and users has sprung up to bring these features to as many devices as possible.
How to enable Android P's Dark Theme when Night Light is on
Have you ever wanted to have Android P's dark theme enable itself only when Night Light is on? If you have Android P DP4, then you can!
With the Google Pixel 2, Google added a partial system dark theme that gets applied when you have a dark-colored wallpaper. That feature came to the original Google Pixel and other devices with the Android 8.1 Oreo update and with the latest Android P Beta 3/Developer Preview 4, you no longer need to have a dark-colored wallpaper to use the dark theme. If you've ever wanted to make the dark mode a bit smarter, we figured out how to automate it so you can apply any condition before it's enabled. The best part is it doesn't require root!
LineageOS 15.1 now supports A/B devices starting with the Motorola Moto Z2 Force
LineageOS 15.1 now officially supports A/B devices starting with the Motorola Moto Z2 Force. Expect support for the Pixel 2 XL, Xiaomi Mi A1, and more soon.
One of the more exciting changes that Android Nougat 7.0 brought was the introduction of A/B dual partition scheme for devices launched with this OS version. This change tackled how Android system updates are applied to devices, with the aim to provide a seamless upgrade experience to the user where a simple and quick reboot brings them into the updated OS. This change also added the benefit of a failsafe which ensured that at least one workable booting system remains on the device during an OTA update, allowing devices to "rollback" to the older system if an OTA fails to boot.
Everything New in Android P Developer Preview 2
In the midst of Google I/O 2018, the second Android P developer preview was made available for a handful of devices, bringing the OS to a beta state and giving us a bunch of new features and improvements. Today, we're going over some of these improvements.
Google is clearly planning a big shift of direction going forward with Android P. It is, quite obviously, the biggest update to the Android OS in over 4 years, since Android 5.0 Lollipop and Material Design were first introduced to the public. And while the same was said for Android 7.0/7.1 Nougat and Android 8.0/8.1 Oreo, we really mean it this time: lots of behavioral changes, new animations, refined notifications and a new, refreshed UI/UX based on Google's updated Material Design guidelines make P feel like a whole different beast compared to Oreo or Nougat.
How to Root the Essential Phone (PH-1) using Magisk
A newly published step by step guide from an XDA community member shows how to root the new Essential Phone by using Magisk.
Andy Rubin's Essential Products made headlines with the Essential Phone (or PH-1), an all-titanium smartphone with modular accessories, dual cameras, and a distinctive cutout near the top of the screen. The company made a few fumbles in the interim, but it isn't giving up anytime soon. A recent price drop reinvigorated interest in the Essential Phone, and we're seeing community support come to life for it.