What Do You Look Forward to in 2017?

The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas has just recently wrapped up, and at the event we caught a glimpse of what many key players in the industry are planning for this year.

Besides many new smartphones coming soon we'll inevitably see new versions of Android for smartphones, smartwatches, televisions, and even automobiles. Plus, we're seeing growing interest in home automation thanks to the competition between Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant ramping up.

So, our question to you is,

What do you look forward to in 2017?

Let us know in the comments below!

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OnePlus Assures Fix for OnePlus 3/3T Bootloader Vulnerability in Next OTA

Just yesterday, we highlighted a bootloader vulnerability that affected the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T. This vulnerability made use of the fastboot mode on the device to toggle SELinux status from Enforcing to Permissive.

This state toggle can be done on both bootloader locked and bootloader unlocked devices. The issue was further complicated by the absence of an SELinux entry in the 'About Phone' screen, thus giving us no easy way to figure out if a device had been manipulated.

We had reached out to XDA Recognized Developer Sultanxda to shed some light on the issue:

The way that the "fastboot oem selinux <state>" command works is that it adds an extra argument onto the kernel command line when booting Linux. The extra argument comes in the form of "androidboot.selinux=<state>", where <state> can be "permissive". There's where things get funny: "androidboot.<something>" arguments on the kernel command line are parsed by Android's init. In a normal Android production build (a "user" build), the "androidboot.selinux" argument is totally ignored and selinux is always forced to enforcing.

So this bug is composed of two issues: One, users can make the bootloader pass a flag that would normally make selinux permissive on an engineering/debugging ROM build. And two, OnePlus modified Android's init in order to honor the "androidboot.selinux" flag even for production ROM builds.

Sultanxda suggested a few ways to fix the issue. You can read up on the suggestions and more on the vulnerability in our original post.

OnePlus has responded to the existence of the vulnerability. The company has assured that the vulnerability will be patched for the OnePlus 3 and the OnePlus 3T. Both the devices will be receiving this patch as part of their next OTA update.

We value the quick response received from OnePlus. Here's hoping that the next round of OTA arrives soon for both the devices!

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Gmail 7.1.1 Hints at Integrating Tasks and Reminder Snoozing

Reminiscent of Google Inbox, a new version of Gmail is rolling out soon that hints at integrating tasks and reminders. Gmail 7.1.1 will be available soon in the Play Store, but some users have already received the update and pushed it to APK Mirror earlier today. We've taken a look inside the APK file, and there are indeed some interesting changes to note.

Although the strings and files contained in the APK hint at the inclusion of a new feature, it is always possible that Google may not actually implement these features.

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Gmail 7.1.1 with Inbox Features?

Within the APK, there are some additional strings we have found that suggest two additional features will soon be integrated into Gmail. The first is Tasks integration:

Gmail Teardown

  <string name="mailbox_name_display_t4">Tasks</string>  <string name="t4_section_title_no_due_day">No due date</string>  <string name="t4_section_title_overdue">Overdue</string>  <string name="t4_section_title_later_this_week">Later this week</string>  <string name="t4_section_title_next_week">Next week</string>  <string name="t4_section_title_later">Later</string>  <string name="t4_section_title_done">Done</string>  <string name="t4_list_t4_due_date_label">Due %1$s</string>  <string name="t4_compose_button">Compose Task</string>  <string name="t4_detail_high_priority_label">High priority</string>  <string name="t4_detail_low_priority_label">Low priority</string>  <string name="t4_detail_body_content_description">Notes: %1$s</string>  <string name="t4_detail_notification_time_content_description">Reminder: %1$s</string>  <string name="t4_detail_recurrence_content_description">Repeats: %1$s</string>  <string name="t4_detail_mark_as_done">Mark as done</string>  <string name="t4_detail_mark_as_not_done">Mark as not done</string>  <string name="t4_toolbar_title_create_task">New task</string>  <string name="t4_toast_bar_title_mark_as_done">Marked as done</string>  <string name="t4_toast_bar_title_mark_as_not_done">Marked as not done</string>  <string name="tasks_edit_segment_title_hint">Title</string>  <string name="tasks_edit_segment_due_date_label">Due date</string>  <string name="tasks_edit_segment_reminder_label">Reminder</string>  <string name="t4_edit_segment_priority_label">Priority</string>  <string name="tasks_edit_segment_body_hint">Add note</string>  <string name="t4_edit_segment_recurrence_none">Does not repeat</string>  <string name="t4_edit_priority_label_high_priority">High priority</string>  <string name="t4_edit_priority_label_normal_priority">Normal priority</string>  <string name="t4_edit_priority_label_low_priority">Low priority</string>  <string name="t4_edit_priority_label_abbrev_high_priority">High</string>  <string name="t4_edit_priority_label_abbrev_normal_priority">Normal</string>  <string name="t4_edit_priority_label_abbrev_low_priority">Low</string>  <string name="t4_edit_error_empty_title">The task title cannot be empty.</string>  <string name="t4_edit_error_invalid_reminder_time">The reminder cannot be after the due date.</string>  <string name="t4_edit_discard_dialog_message">Discard changes?</string>  <string name="t4_edit_discard_dialog_keep_editing">Keep editing</string>  <string name="t4_edit_access_label_due_date">Due Date %1$s</string>  <string name="t4_edit_access_label_reminder">Reminder %1$s</string>  <string name="t4_view_conversation">View conversation</string>  <string name="empty_t4_folder">Nothing in Tasks</string>  <string name="t4_sync_off">"Task sync is off. Turn on in &lt;a href='http://www.example.com'>Account settings.&lt;/a>"</string>  <string name="t4_list_low_priority_content_description">Low priority</string>  <string name="t4_list_high_priority_content_description">High priority</string>  <string name="t4_list_recurrence_content_description">Repeats</string>  <string name="t4_list_reminder_set_content_description">Reminder</string>  <string name="t4_list_mail_content_description">From email</string>  

We can clearly see that Gmail will allow us to create and edit Tasks. These tasks can be set based on priority and can be given due dates. Furthermore, users will be able to set reminders to complete these tasks. At any time, a user can go in and mark the task as done or not done. If a user receives a reminder to complete a task but has not yet been able to complete it, the reminder notification will allow you to snooze the reminder as well, as evidenced by some more strings found within the APK:

Gmail Teardown

  <string name="t4_snooze_activity_label">Snooze</string>  <string name="t4_snooze_dialog_10_minutes">10 minutes</string>  <string name="t4_snooze_dialog_30_minutes">30 minutes</string>  <string name="t4_snooze_dialog_1_hour">1 hour</string>  <string name="t4_snooze_dialog_tomorrow">Tomorrow</string>  <string name="t4_snooze_dialog_snooze_button">Snooze</string>  <string name="t4_reminder_notification_snooze_button">Snooze</string>  <string name="t4_reminder_notification_done_button">Done</string>  

The notification button will expand to a dialog allowing you to snooze the reminder until 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, or 1 day later. If you are done with the task, you can mark the task as "done" straight from the reminder notification.

We believe it is highly likely that these features will make it into Gmail, given that we found not only strings within the Strings.xml file, but when performing a diff of the files present within each APK we discovered that much of the layouts have already been included. Within /res/layout of the new Gmail APK, we found the related XML files for editing the task and creating a task from the floating action button within Gmail. Furthermore, within the AndroidManifest file, the appropriate Alarm services and receives have been defined, so that the application will be able to notify you for any reminders you have set.

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Android Experiments: Eating Time App Prevents Users From Using Their Phones During Meals

Google's Android Experiments projects are always fun to try out. Google launched Android Experiments last year to let developers showcase their innovative and inspiring projects built using for Android. The program allows anyone submit their project irrespective of their skill level as long as it's on Android.

The criteria here is to get creative with technology. Approved projects then get featured on the Android Experiment site, while their companion apps also get listed on the Google Play Store.

This new app called Eating Time is one of the many creative projects that has been featured on the Android Experiment site. The idea behind Eating Time is to help people spend quality time with their loved ones during meal, a social activity which often gets sidelined by our obsessive usage of smartphones. Whether it's checking an email or sharing a post on Facebook or clicking pics of said food for Instagram, many people use their smartphones during meal times. This can be annoying to the people immediately around them, especially those in situations where social interaction should take prime focus.

Eating Time relies on an external on/off button which acts as a switch to toggle the Eating Time app functionality. When activated through the physical button, Eating Time locks down all connected Android devices. All interactions with the smartphone, including receiving phone calls or restarting through the reboot menu, are blocked out by a persistent overlay. To unlock the device(s), use the physical button to toggle to off state and restore normal functionality. Hopefully, you do this once the locked smartphone users have finished their meals.

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Eating Time app is available on the Google Play Store for free. All Android Experiments are open sourced, so you can check out the source code for Eating Time from its Github page. You can check out other cool projects at the Android Experiments homepage.

Source: Android Experiments

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IFTTT Comes to AutoVoice, AutoTools Gets Nougat’s App Shortcuts, and AutoNotifications is Updated with Chronometers (Betas)

If you've ever used Tasker before, then you've likely heard of the developer joaomgcd as well. He has published a number of plugins for Tasker that really take it to the next level (even though it's always been so far ahead of its time). AutoVoice, AutoTools and AutoNotifications are all developed by jaomgcd, and each of these apps have just received some interesting updates that we wanted to share with you.

First up is AutoVoice, an application that enables you to create custom voice actions for Google Now. Actions that have yet to be implemented officially by Google are now possible thanks to AutoVoice. This update brings support for the IFTTT service so you can trigger IFTTT events with your voice and directly from your Android device; joaomgcd tells us that we don't even need Tasker for this to work, since you can simply create a command within the app and add a corresponding applet with a matching event.

App Shortcuts were introduced with Android 7.1 Nougat, and they enable you to create app icons on your home screen that will do specific things or take you directly to a specific spot in the application itself. This feature is now supported in joaomgcd's AutoTools application and this enables you to add dynamic app shortcuts depending on where you are, what time it is, etc. They've even setup a tutorial for this feature that can be found here.

The last of their apps that received an update recently is AutoNotifications, and it now comes with chronometers. For those unaware, a chronometer is an instrument used to measure time and this functionality has now been added into AutoNotifications. So now you can have chronometers show up in notifications and you can set them to either count up or down. There's a demo video of this on YouTube that can be found here.

Source: /r/Tasker

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Chromebook Spotted with Android 7.1.1 Nougat Apps and Resizable Window Support

Android applications on Chrome OS have been evolving for a while now. What first started as an extension called ARC Welder has transformed into a better, more unified approach and has resulted in what we have today with full Google Play support. However, some issues remain, which was to be expected given that most, if not all, Android applications weren't built with Chromebooks in mind. But that is a big reason why Google is still developing the system and only allowing Android applications to run on certain Chromebooks using the developer and canary branches.

As it is now, most Chromebooks run applications as if they were an Android 6.0 Marshmallow tablet. While this is certainly better than nothing, it does mean that a lot of key features are missing when it comes to the full Android application experience on Chrome OS. One feature that many have been anxiously waiting on is the resizing window feature that was introduced with multi-window on Android Nougat.

This highly anticipated feature could be coming sooner rather than later though. A longtime reader of Chrome Unboxed sent in a screenshot they took on their Lenovo ThinkPad Chromebook. This device was set to use the Canary branch of Chrome OS and was recently updated to Android 7.1.1 Nougat. Other Chromebook owners with eligible devices have set to update using the Canary branch, but it seems Google isn't testing Nougat on all devices yet.

This person has been testing the resizable window feature for Android apps since they received the update, and a screenshot of that can be seen in the feature image of this article (just click the image at the top of the page to see it in full size). We've seen this type of functionality in devices that run the Remix OS software, but this will soon be possible on supported Chrome OS devices as well.

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Source: Chrome Unboxed

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Four Reasons Why UMi Z is Worth Buying

The UMi Z, the first phone to offer the Helio X27 deca-core CPU, is dressed in metal and sports a 5.5-inch display with impressively thin side bezels. The SHARP-made panel has a resolution of 1080×1920 pixels and its colors can be fine-tuned to the users' liking thanks to the MiraVision technology, provided by MediaTek.

The CPU is split into 10 processor cores with three different clusters – each designed to work under different loads. This way, the phone is easy on the battery consumption when doing light tasks, but can increase the performance when doing demanding tasks — the maximum clock speed of the Helio X27 is 2.6 GHz, whereas its "light load" cluster works at 1.6 GHz. The SoC is coupled with 4GB of Samsung-made RAM for extra multitasking prowess. The internal memory is a fast eMMC 5.1 chip, also made by Samsung, which provides 32GB of storage. If this looks like it's not enough — the UMi Z accepts microSD cards of up to 256 GB for storage expansion.

Dual ISP 13MP Camera delivers top-tier photo and video capture

Both the cameras are 13MP Samsung-made sensors, which essentially means that your selfies will be turning out as good as your landscape shots with the main camera. The back-facing camera uses both laser autofocus and phase detection autofocus for fast and reliable snaps. Additionally, the selfie camera has a soft light to enhance your selfies, while the flash on the back features a quad LED setup for more light and color-accurate shots during the night.

For the first time, UMi released a full metal body, with only the two thin antenna lines in plastic for signal reception. Having a full metal body will mean having a uniformity of colors and materials which is impossible to get when using plastic parts.

Large 3,780mAh battery, just 8.2mm slim

The battery of the UMi Z is made by Sony, and is 3,780mAh, which, combined with the Helio's promised power-saving capabilities, should have an average user lasting for two days.

Pure Android

Certainly not least on the list, we have the operating system on board. The UMi Z ships with a "pure" Android 6 Marshmallow installed — this means no heavy re-skins and no plethora of system-bogging features. UMi promises that the handset will get patched to Android 7 Nougat in the next few months via an OTA update.

UMi Z  is offering $60 off at Presale

The UMi Z is currently up for pre-sale on a few websites for $219.99. The manufacturer says that shipments will start before the 25th of January. When the phone is officially out, its price will be around $279.99. Of course, shipping and taxes may apply, depending on where you live.

Buy now here:

Gearbest

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Tomtop

Thanks to UMi for sponsoring this post.

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