RCS Messaging Support on Google’s Messenger App Rolling Out on Sprint

SMS once was a very integral part of communication, but the service no longer holds the same charm as it once did. With the advent of Internet-based IM apps on our smartphones, the reliance on SMS as a primary means of communication has been phased out.

A lot of this does have to do with the fact that SMS is limited and outdated, despite its reliability in certain situations.

People have realized that SMS is in dire need of an upgrade to keep up with current use-cases. Communication these days is no longer limited to just textual information between two parties — there's more media flowing through, and there are more people participating in conversations. Recognizing this need, the GSM Association along with Google joined hands in an initiative to upgrade the SMS experience.

Today, Google has announced that it is launching Rich Comunications Services (RCS) on Sprint, making this the first carrier launch from Google. RCS Messaging on Sprint, powered by the Jibe RCS cloud platform, will bring new features to SMS, like group chat, high resolution photo sharing, read receipts and more. To make use of this upgrade, users on Sprint need to grab the latest Messenger update. Further, new Android devices from Sprint coming next year will come with Messenger preloaded as the default SMS and RCS app.

The coming of RCS is a huge step for Android users in general as it gives the platform a lot of future potential. By implementing a universal profile on the carrier end, RCS is as close as we can get to an iMessage experience out-of-the-box across the wide plethora of Android devices. While other IMs have stepped in to fill the void that SMS failed to fill so far, a solution that is universally available and does not require any setup will be a boon for the average Android user. The advantages of modern IMs with the universality of SMS? Sign us up!

What are your thoughts on RCS finally coming out? Let us know in the comments below!

Source: Google Blog

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The $99 UMi Diamond is Shock and Scratch Resistant

Our friends at UMi have just released a new model: the UMi Diamond, which, as the name suggests, is built to be tough (as a diamond…get it?) thanks to its impact and scratch protection. Not only is it likely to survive a drop unscathed, but it's packing some pretty good specs for a phone that is less than $100 during the pre-sale which ends November 14 (when the price goes up to $129).

It's a phone for people that like a smaller device, with its 5″ screen. The powerplant comes from a MediaTek octa-core CPU with 3GB of RAM and 16GB of storage with microSD expansion. The battery is 2650mAh which is more than enough for a phone of this size. Like all UMi phones, the Diamond is running near-stock Android Marshmallow, but the company plans to have an upgrade to Nougat ready by the end of next month.

In terms of design, the UMi Diamond reminds us a lot of a Galaxy S7 in the way that there's a metal frame going around the outside, while the back has a nice taper for a comfortable in-hand feel. It's really quite beautiful.

The Diamond is available in black, gold, and white. Each color has a matching front and back unlike some phones that only change the back color and not the front panel.

Check out the above video where UMi puts the durability of the Diamond to the test.

  Buy an UMi Diamond

Thank you to UMi for sponsoring this post, and keep an eye on the Portal because next week, we're giving one away!

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Android’s Global Market Share Grows to 87.5%; Windows Tablets Grow in Shipments

Android has dominated the mobile market for a while now but the latest reports from independent researchers show it has reached yet another milestone.

For the third quarter of 2016, a report from Strategy Analytics says that Android as an OS was able to amass 87.5% of the total smartphone market. Competition from BlackBerry OS, Windows Mobile and Tizen collectively make up 0.3% of the market. Then we have Apple's iOS sitting at just 12.1% of the global market share for smartphones, which is down from 13.6% compared to the year before.

It's unlikely that Apple is worried about this right now though since they make more profit selling smartphones than any other company in the business. The Android space is getting more crowded each passing year, and it's becoming difficult for some to even make a profit. Some OEMs have resorted to lowering prices in order to compete, but this will likely cause a number of them to go out of business if they're unable to make a profit from their venture.

That should not have a negative impact on Android as a whole though, since other companies can jump in and fill that gap if something like that happened.

While Android smartphone shipments are up, Android tablets are actually down for the third quarter of this year. Another report from Strategy Analytics tells us the Android tablet market share dropped by 17% last quarter and Apple tablets also saw a decline of 6%. This brings Android's tablet market share down to 65% while iOS market share is sitting at 20% for the quarter for the tablet market.

With these two platforms dropping so much in the tablet space, it may be surprising to learn that it was Microsoft's Windows platform that was able to grow tablet shipments an entire 25% compared to the third quarter of last year. Since the debut of the Surface RT in 2012, Microsoft has been able to steadily grow their 2-in-1 tablet presence each and every year, bringing their market share to 16%. While still behind Apple and Android tablets, Windows tablets are the only one increasing in shipments.

Source 1: CNBC | Source 2: Softpedia

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Homescreen Critique 08

In the 8th episode of Homescreen Critique, Taylor is reviewing some of the best homescreen submissions of the week. Check out these awesome setups below.

alan smithee

Apps used in this homescreen:

• Nova Launcher
• Calendar Widget: Month
• Eye In Sky Weather
• KWGT Kustom Widget Maker
• Long Shadow Icon Pack
•  Min – Icon Pack

Check out this homescreen here.

Hiraethic

Apps used in this homescreen:

• SIMPAX ICON PACK
• KLWP Live Wallpaper Maker

Check out this homescreen here.

Rashad83

Apps used in this homescreen:

• Launcher 8 WP style
• 1Weather: Widget

Check out this homescreen here.

Submit your own homescreen in this thread to be featured in the next video.

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SuperSU is Updated to Version 2.78 SR3, Fixes Pixel Related Issue and More

A little over a week ago Chainfire announced he was able to gain root access to the Pixel phones, and that it would be packaged up and released in a few days. Not long after, we saw the first official root method released for both the Pixel and Pixel XL. Thousands of us were instantly able to gain root access to our Pixel phones thanks to the work he put into the project. Many thought he would take a break and relax for a little bit, but yesterday Chainfire released a bugfix update for SuperSU.

In a Google+ post published right after lunch time, Chainfire released version 2.78 SR3 of SuperSU. He tells us that most of the changes in this update are related to the A/B partition layout of the Pixel phones, but that it included some additional fixes as well. The first change we're told about is a System bind, and how SuperSU has now replaced the /system to /system_root/system symlink with a bind mount for devices that have the A/B partition layout (like we see in the Pixel and Pixel XL).

This change fixes the absolute paths to something that Android actually expects and as a result it has fixed the System UI crash issue when the battery dropped to 15%. Chainfire says this will also fix some root apps that manipulate the /system partition as well. The next fix in this update was getting SuperSU's Full Unroot feature to work on devices that used the A/B partition layout.

This bug fix update also allows systemless root to survive when the Factory Reset Protection feature is enabled. However, we are told that updates to SuperSU that were installed from the Play Store will be lost. These were the three biggest changes/fixes that are included in the latest update to SuperSU, but Chainfire also gives us a full changelog of the minor fixes too.

• Fix 'Full Unroot' on slot-based systems
• sukernel: replace system symlink with bind mount
• sukernel: add missing slot check for system_root import
• sukernel: fix ramdisk backup segmentation fault
• supolicy: adjust priv_app policy to be able to call su
• launch_daemonsu: adjust su.img size detection
• ZIP: improve loop device setup
• ZIP: add factory reset protection (FRP variable, default if slots used)

Source: +Chainfire

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Jide Announces the Remix IO+

Toward the end of last month, Jide announced a new piece of hardware that they were trying to get launched on Kickstarter. They call it the Remix IO, and it's a Android-powered TV box that can also be used as a gaming and PC hub. The set top box runs Android 7.0 Nougat, can output 4K content at 60 frames per second and also has HDR support. The product is priced at $99 and their Kickstarter campaign was aiming for $250,000 in funding to make it possible.

There's a little more than 2 weeks left in this Kickstarter campaign, and they have already been able to amass more than twice the amount in funding they were aiming for. As of writing this, the community has pledged $513,507 so far. Thanks to the overwhelming success, they have been able to take this product even further than they originally planned. Jide read through the comments and feedback and came up with what they're calling the Remix IO+.

The $99 Remix IO comes with support for 4K 60FPS, HDMI-CEC, DRM Level 1& 3, HDMI 5.1 Pass-Through, and a small CPU fan to keep the device cool. For $130 though, you can now get the Remix IO+ that is slated for a May 2017 delivery date (estimated). The Remix IO+ will cost you an extra $30, but the device will have USB 3.0, 10-bit color, a big.LITTLE ARM SoC, a gigabit ethernet port, and 32GB of internal storage (instead of 16GB).

Jide has labeled both of these as early bird prices on the Kickstarter page, so if you wait until the products have officially launched then it will likely go up. You can check out their prototype gallery here, or simply take a look at their Kickstarter campaign video here. As always, the official Remix OS forums are right here on XDA, and the dedicated sub forum specifically for the Remix IO can be found here.

Source: Kickstarter

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Photos and Specs Reveal the Upcoming Moto M

We've been hearing about the Moto M from Motorola since back in August of this year. Previously, there had been a device that appeared on GFXBench that was reported as being the Moto M, but it was only listed as a smartphone with a 4.6″ display. Since then, the Moto M has been rumored to sport a 5.5″ 1080p display. When the Moto M received its TENAA certification in August, we were able to get a good look at the front, back and sides of the unannounced Motorola smartphone.

Then a month later in September, it was reported that the Moto M would have Microsoft applications pre-installed on it. While this still hasn't been confirmed, if true, it would be the result of a patent cross-licensing agreement between both Microsoft and Lenovo. We've actually been seeing this from Microsoft a lot lately as they have been using their patents as leverage to get their applications installed on various devices. A similar deal has happened with Xiaomi and it has also happened with ASUS.

Steve Hemmerstoffer is also known as OnLeaks, and he's responsible for a number of leaked renders of Android smartphones that are based on CAD specs. This week he tweeted real life photos of the upcoming Moto M smartphone. They look just like the photos that we saw back in August from TENAA, so the company is likely getting ready to launch this in select markets. At this time, Motorola has not revealed anything about where it will be available or how much the device will cost.

Steve's source also reveals some details about the specs of the smartphone. If true, the Moto M will have a 5.5″ 1080p display, the MediaTek Helio P15 SoC, 8MP front camera, 13MP rear camera, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage and a 3,050mAh capacity battery.

Source: @stagueve

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