Samsung Confirms a Galaxy Note 8 for Release in 2017

Samsung's Galaxy Note brand took a devastating blow this year with the recall and eventually being discontinued entirely due to some battery issues. This has sparked a new trend in the Android community, and with news publications in general, where each and every Samsung phone that catches fire seemingly needs to be reported on.

Don't get me wrong, the Galaxy Note 7 issue was huge and it deserved the attention it received. But the batteries we use in our phones are not 100% safe and these defective units do pop up from time to time.

With Samsung being highlighted in headline after headline about smartphone fires, many started to speculate about what the company was going to do with the Galaxy Note brand in general. This even started some rumors that Samsung would release a variant of the Galaxy S8 that was bigger and included an S Pen so they could retain some of their Galaxy Note fans without having to use the brand name. This speculation was stretched even further with some people thinking Samsung would ditch the Galaxy Note brand entirely.

The loss of revenue from the Galaxy Note 7 debacle didn't seem to hurt Samsung's overall profits during the fourth quarter of last year. Granted, a lot of this profit is from their component, display and appliance divisions, but they still managed to bring in over $7 billion in pure profit for the quarter. CNET was able to sit down with Samsung's mobile chief, D.J. Koh recently, and they talked about how the battery issue would impact the Galaxy Note series as a whole.

Mr. Koh isn't scared and feels they can win back the trust of their customers by creating a "better, safer and very innovative Note 8." He feels the fans of the Galaxy Note series are very dedicated and that it will be too difficult to simply walk away from that segment of the market. This makes a lot of sense too considering there aren't many OEMs who currently offer a premium smartphone experience that includes a stylus.

Source: CNET

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New Report Reveals Possible Galaxy S8 Display, Camera, & Release Date Details

We've seen a number of Galaxy S8 rumors circulating throughout the Android community, from developing a new personal assistant, to moving the fingerprint sensor to the back of the device, and aiming for IP68 water and dust resistance. The device is said to come with the largest 5.7″ display, and we've heard that Samsung will be heavily leveraging their new personal assistant feature in multiple ways with the Galaxy S8.

Now, we have a report from The Guardian who backs up some of these claims and refutes some of the other rumors we have heard about.

Many have worried about whether or not Samsung's upcoming flagship phone will ditch the 3.5mm headphone port like other OEMs have done already. Sources close to The Guardian are backing up previously leaked renders that say the 3.5mm headphone port is still there on the Galaxy S8. We've known that Samsung is investing heavily into edge-to-edge displays and this new report describes the panel on the Galaxy S8 as an "infinity display."

The new rumor claims the camera will be similar to last year's with only an incremental increase in performance. They're under the belief that 64GB will be the smallest storage size option and that Samsung is keeping the microSD card slot as well. The Galaxy S8 should have a USB Type-C port and they're carrying over the iris scanner that was debuted with the Galaxy Note 7. The Guardian is backing up the rumors about the fingerprint scanner being on the back of the Galaxy S8, but doesn't mention anything about the physical buttons transitioning to software ones.

Their sources are telling them the Galaxy S8 will be released in two different size variants, with both of them being in the range of 5 to 6 inches. This clashes with the rumors we've heard that the bigger one could be as large as 6.2″. They're even being told that the phone will be available on April 21st, but it's unclear if that is the worldwide launch date, or specific to a certain region.

Source: The Guardian

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The Last Android Wear 2.0 Dev Preview Includes Support for iOS

We've heard rumors that Android Wear 2.0 is going to be launched next month on February 9th. We've seen this huge update to Google's wearable platform be delayed already, so it will be interesting to see if they'll get it close to this rumored launch date.

Before things can be finalized though, Google has rolled out one last developer preview build to make sure the developers have their applications ready for the official release.

As we've seen with all of these developer preview releases for Android Wear 2.0, this last one is bringing some incremental changes to the table. The biggest one that will impact developers of the Android platform is the inclusion of an update to the Wearable Support Library. If your Android Wear application is compiled with API level 25 and this support library, then it is considered ready for deployment in the Google Play Store. There are some enhancements and bug fixes included, but it does not come with any updates to the preview watch image or emulator.

As far as enhancements and bug fixes are concerned, Google tells us this update includes support for NFC HCE (Host Card Emulation). We also learn there is a way to toggle to the single-page, icon-only action drawer with this new Android Wear 2.0 update. This change provides a faster and more streamlined navigation to different views in your app. We're also seeing some changes to the ProGuard and Complication API so the new configuration means complication data container classes will no longer be obfuscated.

The last thing Google talks about in this Android Wear 2.0 developer preview update is the addition of iOS support. This means that developers can distribute your applications to iPhone-paired watches by setting the standalone=true flag in your watch app manifest. This setting will tell the Play Store that the user doesn't have to have the Android phone application in order to use yours.

Source: Android Developers Blog

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LineageOS On the Nexus 6P

In this video, TK compares a device running CM 14.1 with a device running LineageOS. You'll be familiar with most of the features in LineageOS if you have ever used a Cyanogenmod ROM. Since this is a really early look at LineageOS, there's only a few differences that you'll find. Let's take a look at what you can expect.

Boot Animation

This video gives us a good look at the new boot animation for LineageOS.

Contributors

In the contributors section, the logo to Lineage is shown where the CM logo used to be.

Updates

This is what you will find in the updates page for Lineage.

Besides this, you'll find that everything else is about the same between the two ROMs. Stay updated with LineageOS development in the XDA forums here.

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Hexa ROM on the Pixel XL

In this video, Miles walks us through the Hexa ROM for the Pixel XL. This is one of the first LineageOS-based ROMs for the Pixel XL. This ROM has many of the same customizations as the Pure Nexus ROM that was reviewed a while back. You will find the LineageOS installer as will as a preloaded Cyanogenmod recovery. Check out the full video to see some of the best features in this ROM.

Download this ROM for your Pixel XL from the XDA thread here:

Hexa-Project Thread

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Photos of HTC and Under Armour’s Smartwatch Leak For the Second Time

In line with a nearly identical leak from October of last year, another Weibo user has leaked more detailed photos of an HTC-Under Armour developed smartwatch shown to be running Android Wear. HTC has been expected to release an Android Wear device for more than two years, with initial rumors being picked up as early as mid-2014.

With Android Wear 2.0 potentially launching as soon as early February, leaks demoing Android Wear running on HTC hardware could suggest that 2017 may at last be the year that HTC decides to release its first smartwatch.

Then again, it is entirely possible that the present trend of delays for their smartwatch will continue, a plausible eventuality given the fact that the device pictured is shown to be running Android Wear 1.x less than a month away from the potential release of Android 2.0.

HTC has been struggling for nearly three years to succeed in the mobile market, while simultaneously making some rather absurd and avoidable mistakes in its recent past, namely expensive and ineffective ad campaigns and several underwhelming, overpriced, and overhyped flagship releases. Given the history of HTC's Project Halfbeak smartwatch, nearly three consecutive years of development to (maybe) release a single Android Wear device is likely not the winning strategy the company needs.

While Motorola has stated that it will not be introducing a new smartwatch for the release of Android Wear 2.0, ZTE, Huawei, LG, and Google all sport official or leaked evidence of plans to unveil one or two Android Wear devices each in 2017. If HTC does indeed plan on releasing their Halfbeak device this year, they will do so in the face of heavy competition.

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Source: Weibo Via: AndroidPolice

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Will Smartphone Modularity Make a Return in 2017?

Last year, we saw two OEMs try their hands at smartphone modularity with pseudo-modular cases and phone add-ons. But, we also witnessed the death of the actual modular device, the project that some say had the potential to revolutionize the smartphone industry.

With Google Ara out of the picture and LG also giving up, "modularity" in smartphones only exists (in a limited capacity) on the Motorola Moto Z family.
So the discussion topic for today is:

Will smartphone modularity make a return in 2017? Will any other OEM, or even Google for its matter, venture into smartphone modularity this year? Will other OEMs also look towards adopting, and perhaps standardizing, Motorola's pseudo-modular approach on their own devices?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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