Samsung Sent us a “Note 7 Return Kit” with a Thermally-Insulated Box and Safety Gloves

Samsung is apparently sending out packaging for returning Galaxy Note 7 devices, and we received one of these "Return Kits" at our XDA office. The contents and instructions highlight the extents to which Samsung is going to ensure the safety of their customers.

The Return Kit comes with various boxes, including a thermally-insulated box for the device and safety gloves for handling the procedure. The instructions are precise and also we've learned this should only travel through ground shipping. We've attached the documents below, plus a video of the kit for your viewing pleasure.

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Humble Mobile Bundle 21 Includes Goat Simulator, _PRISM and More

The team behind Humble Bundle has just announced the 21st mobile bundle, and it comes with a number of Android games that you can get for a low price. As with all of the Humble Bundles lately, this month's offering is broken up in the three different tiers. So depending on which games you want, you could pay as little as $1, or as much as you'd like. As usual, portions of the revenue from this bundle goes toward charity.

The least expensive tier is $1, and for this occasion you get three different games for Android. First up is Westport Independent and this is a game about censorship, corruption and newspapers. The second game offered in the $1 tier is _PRISM and this is a puzzle solving game with 13 levels that can take around an hour to complete. Lastly, you will receive a copy of Sage Solitaire, a new solitaire variant that combines some poker elements into its gameplay.

For the second tier of the Humble Mobile Bundle 21, you will need to pay more than the average (which is currently at $5.12 as of writing this). There's only two games listed here as of right now, but in a week they will reveal some more games that will be added. The first game offered in this tier is Ghosts of Memories and this is another puzzle game that has you trying to free a woman trapped in crystal. The other game is Door Kickers, which is a real-time strategy game that has  you controlling a SWAT team.

The third and final tier of this bundle will cost you $6, and it comes with two different games. Unlike the second tier, there won't be any additional games added to this tier. The first game under this tier is Twofold Inc., and this is another puzzle game that has you unraveling tiles and matching them together so you can clear them away. The other game in this $6 tier is Goat Simulator, a silly physics simulator that has you controlling a goat and playing around in a sandbox environment.

Source:Humble Bundle

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Google Assistant Has Been Ported To The Nexus 6P

As expected, after the Pixel's system images leaked it didn't take long for users to find a way of porting Google Assistant to other devices; Simply altering your build.prop and installing the latest Google App (Velvet) is sufficient on the Nexus 6P.

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Unoffical CyanogenMod 13 Available for Huawei P9 Plus

An experimental version of CyanogenMod 13 is now available for the Huawei P9 Plus. Be warned though, there are plenty of bugs, so make backups before you try this out!

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Lior Tal Replaces Kirt McMaster as Cyanogen Inc. CEO

Cyanogen Inc. is undergoing a bit of reform recently. The team had laid off a large portion of its staff in late July 2016, and there were reports and refusals of Cyanogen Inc. shifting focus towards apps. Cyanogen Inc. refuted by stressing on the point that they were still an OS company, but their latest announcement mentions otherwise.

Cyanogen NOT pivoting to apps. We are an OS company and our mission of creating an OPEN ANDROID stands. FALSE reporting was outstanding.

— Kirt McMaster (@cyanogenone) July 25, 2016

As the Cyanogen Blog notes, the changes that Cyanogen Inc. is undergoing right now is the departure of Kirt McMaster from the role of CEO of the company. Kirt, famously quoted for his desire to "put a bullet through Google's head", is handing over the managerial reins of the company to Lior Tal, who was appointed as the COO around the same time the layoffs came. Kirt's current position within Cyanogen Inc. is of Executive Chairman, which as he reportedly notes, is more external-facing than internal. To add to the position shuffling, Steve Kondik is stepping down from his role of CTO and taking up the role of "Chief Science Officer", and will be reporting to Stephen Lawler, who is currently Cyanogen Inc's SVP of Engineering.

The other part of the changes comes with Cyanogen Inc. (and NOT CyanogenMod — sorry, but this needed to be made clear) moving out of the complete OS (full stack) business and venturing into a "modular" approach which is being called the Cyanogen Modular OS Program.

The new partnership program offers smartphone manufacturers greater freedom and opportunity to introduce intelligent, customizable Android smartphones using different parts of the Cyanogen OS via dynamic modules and MODs, with the ROM of their choice, whether stock Android or their own variant.

If we understand correctly, this is exactly what they had earlier refuted — moving from the OS business to Apps, albeit the form of it may have changed through the concept of MOD.

The announcement blog also mentions this:

At the same time, the program will offer the broader eco-system and developers the opportunity to tap into Cyanogen's expanding Artificial Intelligence cloud services, which learn usage patterns throughout the operating system and introduce smarter and more effective ways to resolve intent and interact with smartphones in a personalized and highly contextual way.

Details on the exact workings are sparse on this topic. Rather than speculate on what it is, we hope that more information is released on Cyanogen Inc's AI Cloud Services.

We will have to wait and watch what other developments take place with and within Cyanogen Inc., and whether their new mission is more feasible than their old one. With the reduced staff, a new CEO and a different purpose, Cyanogen Inc. certainly has another uphill battle ahead of it.

What are your thoughts on the recent changes within Cyanogen Inc.? How do you think these would affect the existing Android ecosystem? Let us know in the comments below!

Source: Cyngn Blog

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Samsung Temporarily Halts Production of Note 7; US Carriers Halt Sales

The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is turning out to be a bit of a blight to Samsung's otherwise impressive phone lineup, sales records and reputation in the market — all of which have taken a big hit ever since the Note 7's started catching fire. After the first few reports, Samsung had initiated a recall for the device and offered replacement units that were deemed to be "safe". But fresh reports pointed that these units were not any safer than the previous batch as several reports originated that these too had battery explosion issues.

Just as experts were pointing out that Samsung could face a second recall of the device, other stakeholders have swooped in to avert possible damage to customers. The latest in news comes from South Korea where it is being reported that Samsung has temporarily halted the production of the Galaxy Note 7. The halt is in cooperation with consumer safety regulators from South Korea, United States and China. The halt also includes a plant in Vietnam that was responsible for global shipments of the device.

In addition to this, shipment of replacement units to customers have also been paused. And to complement these moves, carriers around the world — including the Big Four in the USA and Telstra in Australia — have stopped selling the device. They are also advising customers to return the replacement units of the device as well. Many of the carriers are also offering customers the chance to pick up any other phone in the carrier's lineup as well, along with issuing refunds for accessories purchased in relation to the device.

There is strong insistence that the production halt is temporary in nature, but the carriers and the customers may not be as willing to give Samsung a third chance on this phone. The recall and its merits have been tarnished, and there is no way Samsung and the Note lineup walks out unscathed from this.

What are your thoughts on the overall scenario and its handling by Samsung? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Android Cast: Episode 21 – “Pixel Imperfect”

This week on The Android Cast:
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– The crew discusses the latest October Announcement from Google.
– We look into the implications of Google's shift away from the Nexus line
– Finally we wrap up on a discussion about the other recently announced hardware such as Google Home and Daydream VR.
——

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The Android Cast will bring you the best news each week from the perspective of the XDA team. Each week you can find our latest episode here, on Stitcher, on Google Play Music Podcasts, on TuneIn, on iTunes, on Youtube and on your favorite podcast app through the RSS feed: http://ift.tt/2cxz4n5.

Audio Version!

 

Video Version!

 

Today's cast includes:

Mario Serrafero: Twitter
Corey Feiock: Twitter
Daniel Marchena: Twitter

Check Out XDA on Social Media. Twitter, Facebook and Google+

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