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Keyboard Mod for the Motorola Moto Z series has been canceled
The Keyboard Mod for the Motorola Moto Z series of smartphones has been canceled. Instead, the company is working on a new phone with a sliding keyboard.
Although Project Ara never saw the light of day, Motorola's Moto Mod initiative has actually resulted in quite a few successful products. Motorola's promise of three generations of support for Moto Mods means that even this year's Moto Z3 Play and Verizon Moto Z3 support Moto Mods. We've seen Motorola announce a Gamepad Mod, Wireless Charging Mod, a Smart Speaker mod with Amazon Alexa support, and more. Unfortunately, one mod that was announced at CES this year won't be released: The Livermorium Slider Keyboard Mod. The keyboard mod would have attached to any Moto Mod-compatible phone (any Moto Z device), equipping it with a dedicated sliding keyboard. The product's Indiegogo page was updated today announcing the cancellation of the product.
LineageOS 15.1 Changelog 18: Reader Mode, "Chrome Home" in Jelly, Per-app network restrictions, and more
Since the last release of LineageOS 15.1, a ton of new features and devices have been added. We go over what's new in LineageOS including features like Reader Mode, a new reachability Chrome Home-like feature in Jelly browser, per-app network restrictions, and more.
On all supported devices, LineageOS 15.1 is released on a weekly basis. It can be hard to keep up with what's new in the popular AOSP-based custom ROM unless you religiously follow their Gerrit, so the team has put together a changelog to keep you updated on what's new in the ROM. Today, the team has published their 18th changelog, and there's a lot of features to cover since their last changelog post on April 1st. Here's what's new:
Developer gets Android P booting on the Motorola Moto Z
The Android P Developer Preview is officially only available for the Google Pixel and Pixel 2 devices, but a developer has managed to port it over to the Motorola Moto Z thanks to unofficial Project Treble support.
We're just 10 days away from Google I/O 2018 where Google is expected to unveil a lot of details about Android P such as the rumored navigation gestures and Material Design revamp. The first Android P Developer Preview is available for the Google Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, and Pixel 2 XL and there's a lot we've already seen in the first release, but there's still a lot to look forward to before the final release of the new version of Android. For those of you without Google Pixel phones, you'll probably be waiting a long time before P is made available for your device. However, developers on our forums aren't going to wait for OEMs to officially update their devices (if at all), so they're taking matters into their own hands. One such developer has managed to get the first Android P Developer Preview booting on his Motorola Moto Z.
Here's a list of Android devices updated with Project Treble support
Project Treble is a major re-architecture of the way Android works. The result is that Android software updates should come faster on devices that support it. Also, it opens up a whole new avenue of custom ROMs. Check out if your device supports it!
Whereas Apple is able to keep most of their devices, even many older ones, up to date with the latest software (which sometimes involve rather controversial features), Android device makers have varying degrees of success keeping their devices up to date. Some device makers like Essential and Google are pretty good at providing security patches, while others can delay updates by months at a time. That's without considering major software updates such as from Android Nougat to Android Oreo, a software release which is installed on only slightly more than 1% of all Android devices. To combat slow Android updates, Google introduced Project Treble.
Get the Latest Moto Display APK from the Moto X4 on your Moto Z
The latest Moto Display APK from the Motorola Moto X4 appears to fully work on the Motorola Moto Z without needing root. It brings all the latest features.
When the Motorola Moto Z2 was released, they updated the Moto Display system application with a new feature that allows you to reply to messages without unlocking your phone. However, they never brought this feature over to the original Moto Z. That doesn't mean you can't enjoy this new feature, however.