Substratum is one of the hottest theme engines out right now. This video is a bit of an introduction to this theme engine and an explanation of what it can do. Follow our expanding playlist of videos focused on homescreen design here.
Follow the official thread on the XDA forums.
Download Substratum on the Play store here:
This October's multi-Google-device launch brought us a better glimpse at the now-released Google Assistant, arguably the most talked-about Google project of the year. Months later and with the release of the Pixels and Google Home, discussion on Google's new ecosystem has only grown louder.
All the buzz surrounding Google's AI works, smarthome developments and incursion into virtual reality overshadowed what was received as one of the most boring announcements Google made in 2016 — Google Wifi. These are tiny and inconspicuous Wi-Fi routers which Google showed alongside its more-ambitious projects, and given that the routers and service have taken a while to arrive to the masses, not much has been discussed since. Indeed, on its face Google Wifi is essentially a router, albeit one that aims to be fast and reliable for its $129 price-point, and also one that's very easy to mesh with other Google Wifi pucks. Even then, though, not many of us care much about our routers — we often take them for granted, and they mostly sit in a corner of our house, unattended and unnoticed, for the majority of their lifespan. A router is hardly something to get excited about, yet Google felt it was its duty to make not one, but three of these things: before the tiny white Google Wifi, we had (and have) the towering OnHub routers by TP-LINK and ASUS. Back then, Google's efforts at marketing a better "router experience" (whatever that means) were even lamer than they were today, but those devices did kindle some level of curiosity on certain enthusiast subgroups.
I happened to be one of the few that jumped aboard the Google OnHub, with a reasoning surprisingly similar to what Google intended from its target demographic: I was moving to a new neighborhood, finally being able to access sweet Fiber internet, and I wanted to make the most out of it. However, given I have a girlfriend obsessed with the aesthetics of our home, placing a traditional router in the middle of our house (for optimal coverage) wasn't something she was willing to accept, and the less antennae and cables it had (or the less it looked like a spider) the better. The OnHub looks surprisingly pleasant for a router, and I also wanted to give its "smarter" network management and app a go. Plus, I was very interested in what Google could do with the device in the future given it had so much unused hardware at the time, not to mention an interesting software foundation. We even have (pretty dead) Google OnHub forums here at XDA, so as a Google Services user, I had all the excuses to buy into this wacky experiment.
Almost a year has passed since I bought my OnHub, and I must have interacted with the physical device no more than three times since. It was very much the "fire and forget" setup that Google advertised in this regard– they made setting up an internet router as simple as it can possibly get. Network speeds have been expectedly great, and I haven't had a single complaint regarding my internet… something extremely satisfying after living in the third world for twenty years. But none of that is necessarily exceptional or out of the ordinary for an expensive router, and I would say that great coverage and consistency alone probably wouldn't justify the hefty $200 price I paid for my OnHub. Truth be told, most routers at that price should give you the same level of "internet quality", only perhaps with a bit more effort and fine-tuning. The OnHub's strengths and uniqueness ultimately don't come from traditional router functionality anyway, and I grew happier with each OnHub app update bringing new features and more polish, leading up to the point where the app finally turned into Google Wifi with the release of the new router.
"The Google Wifi app is extremely easy to use and tidily organized"
I would go as far as calling it my favorite Google app in terms of design and considering what it's supposed to do (which it pulls off magnificently, in my opinion), as I've never experienced any bugs or odd app mechanics and every update has made it more feature-rich without muddying up the user experience. But what makes Google Wifi as a service so special?
The setup process is the first thing that stood out to me, as it was done entirely on the app and it was as simple as setting up any Google product, like the Chromecast or Google Home. After that's done, the app greets you with a simple screen showing a diagram of your internet, router and connected devices, and tapping on any of them will bring up more information. For example, by tapping the internet icon you can access usage statistics going back to 60 days, and you can also view usage in real-time. The router also runs routine speed tests and keeps a log of your network speeds on each day. All of this is useful to understand your usage, but it's not something you wouldn't find on other routers — it's just simple to use, easy to access and nicely displayed. The same goes for the screen showing your connected devices, where you can easily check up on what kind of traffic each of your gadgets sees, or has seen over the past couple of months. Each device can also be expanded individually to better track download and upload statistics, or prioritize it for faster download speeds (this can also be automated or scheduled). Of course, you can also kick or pause devices on your network.
The Google Wifi app also has an "Assistant" tab to inform you of recent changes and the new features that arrive to the service. The right-most tab of the main view hosts a variety of features: one of the more useful ones is a quick network check, which you can use to test either your internet speeds or the network strength of your particular device at range. A neat touch to the speed tests is a little graph telling you of what your internet is capable of based on its speed, informing users whether they can, for example, stream 4K video without issues.
This is done through the OnHub's web platform, accessed by going to "on.here" on a browser while connected to a network. From here, guests can access your controllable devices should they want to easily stream a video or control your house lights — that's right, Google Wifi can integrate with Phillips Hue, and the on.here hub allows any device with a browser to easily manage all of the connected lights, including the ability to change their color through an extremely simple interface. Is this overkill? Perhaps. Is it useful? Certainly, and I personally enjoy the ability to control my lights from my browser on my computer, as it's sometimes easier than taking out my phone or yelling "OK Google" across the room. These little conveniences are the kind of touches that make Google Wifi a valuable experience, even if they aren't particularly unique.
IFTTT integration is also a nice feature that Google Wifi allows for, and while recipes are limited, the potential for automation is there. I personally have mine set to log every device that connects or disconnects to the network, so that I can better keep track of whether I was home or not at a particular time. Finally, the OnHub has gained better configuration over time as well — while you can't customize to the degree that other premium routers allow for, you still can tweak DNS and WAN settings, forward ports, etc. Also, granting network management privileges to a house mate or significant other is extremely simple and only requires the person's e-mail, and the app only needs your Google account to manage the network, so setting it up on new devices or ROMs is as easy as downloading the app again.
Google's incursion into the router space of all places might have sounded odd a year ago, and while many dismissed the OnHub as a simple companion to their Fiber efforts, few would predict it'd become the foundation for a new proper service – Google Wifi – that would neatly integrate into their Internet of Things strategy. The Google OnHub and Wifi routers are still not as interesting as Google Home or a new smartphone, but I am also pleasantly surprised at the level of quality and satisfaction that the experience provided to me. It's undoubtedly well-made with a nifty app and extremely accessible features — I personally know friends and family who dread dealing with router issues, from resetting a network to forwarding ports. To my older relatives, their routers are mysterious black boxes with blinking lights and a mesh of cables behind them. The OnHub and Google Wifi routers solve this problem on every level — from their inconspicuous appearance to their simple setup and network management options. It might not offer the same level of granularity as a top-of-the-line router, but for people who want the best out of their home Wi-Fi with as little hassle as possible, Google Wifi is surprisingly effective.
I have a strange feeling of excitement for my router's future updates
And this is, perhaps, the biggest surprise: I've been routinely disappointed by Google releases these past couple of years, and our community does have a tendency to overhype each and every new Google thing. With Google Wifi, the story is different — it wasn't discussed much, even after the update properly hit the OnHub and the new hardware went on sale. It's great that Google didn't abandon their OnHub platform and delivered on its promise of software updates, and after the last major changelog, I have a strange feeling of excitement for my router's future updates. That's the magic of Google Wifi if there is any at all: the router goes from a passive instrument in your house to something you can easily interact with, customize, make the most out of, accessible and that gets better over time. And unlike Google Home, the OnHub in particular has been great from the start — barring some unavailable configuration options, it has never failed me thus far, and updates have added cool features like IFTTT integration and now the Google Wifi features and revised app, additions I only half-expected given Google's support track record.
The OnHub and Google Wifi offer the rare kind of service that simplifies a process so much that it actually becomes more engaging, and makes you want to interact with the product more frequently as a result. I find myself opening the Google Wifi app at least once a day, whereas I never really interacted with my routers or Wi-Fi settings in the past unless I had to fix an issue or forward a port for gaming. In this sense, Google Wifi is transformative: it made the cumbersome Wi-Fi management experience more attractive and even fun; other routers might be able to ultimately achieve the same features, but Google's solution is intuitive and integrated into their ecosystem in a way that makes everything flow extremely well. I never thought I'd ever write an editorial on how much I enjoy my fidgeting with my router, so in this sense, Google Wifi has been the "sleeper hit" of 2016 for me.
Check out XDA's Google OnHub Forum!
With the initially highly anticipated Galaxy Note 7 exploding in Samsung's face, a lot of attention is being focused on Samsung's next flagship: the Samsung Galaxy S8.
Earlier this week, we learned about the existence of Synaptics' new optical-based fingerprint sensor which is stated to offer high-resolution fingerprint scanning through 1mm of full cover glass. The sensor is expected to go into mass production in Q2 2017, with samples being shipped to smartphone manufacturers during Q1 2017. Some have suggested that this sensor may be seen in the upcoming Galaxy S8, but with the upcoming Samsung flagship expected to be announced at Mobile World Congress at the end of February 2017, the timelines don't seem to match up.
That's not to say the Galaxy S8 won't feature Synaptics' new fingerprint sensor, but that we're merely operating off of rumor and speculation if we assume that it is. There's nothing wrong with a little bit of rumor now and then, provided that the speculation appears somewhat grounded in reality. Hundreds of Android related rumors circulate the web each day, but most are based on little to no evidence. In the occurrence that we do cover a rumor, it is because the idea seems plausible – though as with all rumors, it might not come to fruition. That being said, there is a new report out from the news section of the highly-popular South Korean web portal Naver that states the Samsung Galaxy S8 may feature its fingerprint scanner on the rear of the device.
An industry insider spoke to Naver regarding the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S8. In the report, the insider mentions that Samsung may forego the home button entirely and feature its fingerprint scanner on the back. Furthermore, the iris scanner found on the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 may return on the Galaxy S8 – not without its fair share of improvements, however. In addition, Samsung is said to re-launch its Samsung Pass service using its iris recognition technology.
Now, given the fact that every Samsung Galaxy device has had a home button, this rumor may seem far-fetched. Apple has had a home button on their iPhones from the very beginning as well, but that company recently made very significant changes to their home button with the latest iPhone. On iOS devices, it's the norm to see devices with physical home buttons. On Android devices, Samsung is technically the odd one out with their continued use of a physical home button. Rear fingerprint scanners already exist on many Android devices, such as most Huawei phones equipped with a fingerprint scanner and the new Google Pixel phones. Finally, with the rumored re-introduction of the iris recognition scanner which resides on the front of the device, we can see how Samsung would justify removing the home button.
Of course, as we've mentioned before, a rumor is a rumor. None of this information is confirmed until we see actual production models of the phone out in the wild (unlikely) or we wait until Samsung officially unveils it in 2017. But it's nice to speculate once in a while about what features upcoming flagships might rock.
Do you prefer a fingerprint scanner on the front or back of the device? Are you in favor of physical or software navigation keys? Let us know below!
(Feature Image Credits: Motorola)
Earlier this week, we argued that the Motorola Moto Z quietly transformed smartphone modularity.
Although the Moto Z family is far from the true modularity promised by the likes of the now-defunct Google Ara project, Motorola's attempt demonstrated that the concept is indeed viable. We had mentioned that Motorola was committed to supporting Moto Mods, and the company even boldly proclaimed that they will release 12 new Moto Mods in 2017. Motorola/Lenovo has thus far launched a developer portal, partnered with Indiegogo, and teased some potential Moto Mods that the company has been working on.
But during last weekend, Motorola hosted a 24 hour hackathon in New York City to gauge what modular components indie developers could dream up. During the first 'Mod the Future' hackathon, developers and entrepreneurs from 5 different countries gathered to come up with a winning concept for the Moto Mod program. Mod ideas included a video paging mod, a retail shopping cart mod, an emergency situation mod, insulin monitoring mod, and even a water pollution testing mod.
After 24 hours, though, 3 teams would emerge as the winners of the hackathon. Here are the three winning Moto Mod concepts:
Motorola's next hackathon will take place on January 21-22, 2017 in San Francisco. Winning teams will receive a $5,000 cash prize as well as a Moto Z and Moto Mod Development Kit. Winning teams will also be allowed to send one representative to meet with Motorola representatives and pitch their ideas in front of a panel. If their idea impresses the company, the team's idea may even receive funding to bring it to mass market.
Outside of a few niche topics (and a few fairly large Android discussion circles), Google+ has failed to catch on as a social media platform.
That's why Google has been (rather annoyingly) pushing Google+ wherever and whenever they can. For those of you who lament being forced to sign up for a social media platform, fortunately Google has been backtracking on forcing Google+ integration on all their services. Last year, the company announced that they would no longer require YouTube comments to be made via Google+. At the beginning of this year, Google announced that any new Play Games accounts would have player IDs that are not tied to Google+. Yesterday, however, the company made public that all Google+ integrations would cease to function starting in February 2017.
Since Google Play Games was announced in mid-2013, the service has allowed for users to view statistics about players that you are connected to via Google+ circles. Features such as social leaderboards, gifts, and real-time multiplayer relied on returning a list of friends in your Google+ profile to make Android gaming more social. However, this of course required users to actually set up their Google+ account, which can be difficult to get behind if none of your friends are using the platform.
Google Play Games/Google+ Social Leaderboard
Starting February 2017, all games that request Google+ social data will return empty lists. Google will no longer use Google+ accounts as a back-end for Play Games social integration. Instead, the company is moving to adopt the Google Sign-In API for authentication. This change unifies their approach across their different platforms, and will no longer requires Android gamers to build a profile on Google+. Gamers can continue using their existing Google account which is far more widely used on Android devices.
Source: Android Developers Blog
We increasingly see the use of curved glass on smartphones, sometimes even emulating Samsung's "Edge" design trademark, and concept phones like the Xiaomi Mi Mix suggest a new focus on slim bezels could be on the horizon.
Many people have also criticized the bezels of 2016 devices like the Moto Z and Pixel XL, although there are also arguments in favor of bigger chins and sides: it's arguably easier to reach the navigation bar (particularly software keys) with a larger bottom bezel, and if the sides are too thin the UX might suffer due to accidental touches. Some people like their phones as compact as possible, while many will argue this impacts touch accuracy, grip or general ergonomics. So we ask you,
How important are slim bezels to you? What about maximizing the top and bottom bezels with speakers or fingerprint readers? Does it impact your purchasing decision at all? What are your phone's bezels like, and what would you change?
Join the discussion in the comments below!
Custom ROM enthusiasts browsing our forums prior to 2011 might remember the days of repeatedly clicking the volume and power button to get anything done in recovery.
This was before the advent of touchscreen-enabled custom recoveries, of course, which are ubiquitous today. Leading the pack is Team Win's Recovery Project (TWRP), which supports virtually every device with an unlocked bootloader and features custom themes, custom scripts, and powerful partition management options all wrapped up in a simple UI designed for ease of use.
But despite how user friendly TWRP itself is, updating the recovery would require manually downloading the latest TWRP recovery image from their website onto your internal storage and flashing it over the fastboot protocol or within TWRP. Although there are a few fairly popular third-party applications on the Play Store that promise the ability to update the recovery partition without fastboot or recovery use, many of us prefer to use first-party applications in order to support the original developers. For the past 5 years of TWRP's existence, such an option has not been available. Today, however, the official TWRP application launches on the Google Play Store!
Available starting today on the Play Store and soon as an APK directly from TWRP's website, the Official TWRP App is the first app that was developed by Team Win's Dees_Troy for the explicit purpose of maintaining TWRP. The app is free to use without any advertisements and does not require Google Play Services. Its main features include the ability to find and download the latest TWRP image for your device, flash said image to the recovery partition (requires root), and flash downloaded boot images to the boot partition (requires root).
As shown in the screenshots above, the app allows you to quickly find the latest TWRP image for your phone. In order to download the recovery image, you are temporarily re-directed to the TWRP website's download page for the image, but upon returning to the app you can quickly use the built-in file manager to find and select the downloaded image. Prior to flashing the image, you are given a final confirmation dialog in case you selected the wrong partition to flash to. Once you hit "okay" the TWRP app will automatically flash the image to the recovery partition using superuser access. If you downloaded a boot image from our forums and wish to flash that, you can use the built-in file manager to find, select, and flash the boot image to the boot partition all the same using this app.
Finally, in the settings menu you have the ability to check for TWRP updates in the background. You can select to check for an update once everyday (default) or every other day depending on your preferences.
In order to encourage users to keep their recovery regularly updated, new versions of TWRP will include a slimmed down version of the application package baked into the recovery image. In order to fit within the limited space available for the recovery partition, this slimmed down version of the app serves as simply a placeholder app which directs you to install the full application from the Play Store.
Don't worry, though, as TWRP will not force this app on you. Instead, you will be given the ability to opt-in to install this app via a prompt shown before rebooting the device within TWRP. This app can be installed as either a system or a user app, depending on whether or not you have system read-write permissions granted to TWRP. There will also be a check box you can select to stop TWRP from asking you to install the app, in case you want the prompt to disappear. All officially supported TWRP devices will receive an update in the coming days including this feature, with plans for the current Nexus devices, OnePlus phones, and a handful of Samsung devices to be first in line for the update.
Lead developer on the project Dees_Troy describes the application as an "open beta" of sorts. This means that the app is not fully feature complete right now, but there are plans to support additional features in the future. Currently, what's on the to-do list includes:
The official TWRP application was developed in conjunction with P3 Insight GmbH, a subsidiary of the P3 Group. P3 Insight is well-known for their performance and service quality evaluation of U.K. mobile networks for which they have released several network testing applications. As a nature of this partnership, the official TWRP application will allow users to participate in global mobile network testing for P3 Insight. This service is opt-in. Denying the application permission to collect network quality data will not limit functionality of the main application in any way.
In any case, if you are interested in participating in P3 Insight's network testing, you will have the ability to opt-in during initial set-up of the app.
At the bottom of the set-up page, you are asked if you agree to enabling "insightCore." This is the technology that P3 Insight uses to collect network statistics. If you click on the "terms and conditions" link, you can view the full privacy policy prior to consenting to testing. The terms promise that no personally identifiable information (PII) is collected or shared outside of what data is necessary to compare various network metrics.
Once you agree or disagree with the terms, you will be brought to the main splash page of the app where you can either enter the main TWRP actions screen as shown previously or view the Network Statistics page provided by P3 Insight. If you denied access during set-up, you can click on Network Statistics to bring up the terms and conditions consent dialog once more. As of now, opting out cannot be performed without re-installing the app, but support for opting out within the app is planned for a future release.
Network Statistics are collected silently in the background while you are using your phone. There are three metrics being tested here: Download Speed, Data Availability, and Signal Strength. Each of these are fairly self-explanatory, but there are some important things to note regardless. As shown in the "help" prompt for each metric, the app tries to ensure very minimal use of your data for those of you on metered connections. In addition, the app tries to avoid excessive battery drain by deriving statistics from very tiny packets of data or collecting statistics from data sent from other apps.
Finally, one thing I would like to mention is the color scheme used in the network statistics. Some of you might notice that the blue background coupled with the shades of blue used for the bar graphs in each network metric make viewing the graphs a bit difficult. I spoke with the developer regarding this, and he informed me that he will work with P3 Insight to improve the readability.
I myself have only tested the app and all of its features using my Nextbit Robin for the past day, so I have not been able to collect enough network statistics to contribute to the overall metrics shown within the app. But the hope is that enough people will find the app useful that they will contribute to P3 Insight's crowd-sourced study regarding mobile network performance and quality in their country. We're always excited to see the work done by members of Team Win, so we'll keep you updated if any major developments for the app occur.
