First Live Photo of the Galaxy S8 Leaks: Two Models With 5.8″ and 6.2″ Screens to Launch on March 29th

Courtesy of VentureBeat's Evan Blass, also known as @evleaks, we now have our first live photograph of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S8 as well as some new details on the devices. With its release date now pegged at March 29th, nearly a month after MWC 2017, it will be some time before these leaks can be verified. Nevertheless, they are worth examining in detail.

Most importantly, of course, are earlier reports from insiders alleging that the S8 series would feature displays with nearly an 85% screen to body ratio. Rather than the 5.1 and 5.5 inch displays of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge respectively, the Galaxy S8 series may sport displays of 5.8 and 6.2 inches. For those already beginning to gawk at those figures, it is important to note that the unusual aspect ratio of 18.5:9 means that the Galaxy S8 devices will result in effectively the same dimensions as their S7 siblings.

One possible downside of this fact, though, is that due to the slim bezels it appears the home button/fingerprint scanner was moved to an upper corner of the back of the two devices. If this is indeed how it will appear on the final released devices, it may be rather controversial given the potential consequences it may pose for ease of use. However, given earlier reports of an iris scanner being included, this may explain Samsung's willingness to make such a seemingly odd design choice.

In a rather welcome addition, Samsung is also reported to have upgraded the base storage level of each device to 64GBs. Consumers should also anticipate the return of the S7 series' microSD slot, allowing storage to be expanded by up to 256GBs. As we previously reported, the S8 series may also feature some interesting AI additions ranging from image and text recognition in-camera to high-end AI assistance, courtesy of Samsung's acquisition of the AI platform Viv.

The Galaxy S8 devices are expected to be the first devices to launch with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835. As Mr. Blass puts it, they will likely need the efficiency improvements the S835 is expected to bring, given an alleged decision to include 3,000 and 3500 mAh batteries to power the 5.8 and 6.2 inch devices. As the photos also demonstrate, the devices are expected to include a USB Type-C port and a headphone jack.

Interestingly, Samsung is reported to introduce DeX alongside the S8 series. DeX will allow for the S8 devices to be docked with a display to provide a desktop Android experience with keyboard and mouse support. This initiative has been tried many times in the past with little to show for, so it will be intriguing to see how Samsung markets DeX.

---

Source: VentureBeat

from xda-developers http://ift.tt/2kpokL5
via IFTTT

Report: Second Generation Huawei Watch To Feature Cellular Connectivity, May Launch Next Month

Google is expected to launch the Android Wear 2.0 update in early February. While we didn't see any meaningful Android Wear hardware launches last year, the new platform update will hopefully encourage OEMs to come up with a fresh and updated version of their old Android Wear devices in 2017.

A new report from VentureBeat states that Chinese OEM Huawei is also working on a new Android Wear watch. According to the report, Huawei is working on a second generation model of its Huawei Watch – this time with cellular connectivity. The report states the second generation Huawei Watch will be running on Android Wear 2.0 and that it will look "sportier" compared to its predecessor.

Unfortunately, the key hardware specifications of the watch were not detailed, but it's believed that the watch will have a built-in SIM card allowing users to make and receive phone calls as well as use a cellular data connection when outside WiFi network range.

As for when the Huawei Watch 2 will be available for purchase, the source close to the matter told VentureBeat that the company may unveil the watch during Mobile World Congress next month. Huawei originally launched its first Android Wear watch back in 2015, but since then the company hasn't launched a successor to its smartwatch.

Apart from Huawei, LG is also expected to launch two new Android Wear watches, reportedly called the LG Watch Sport and the LG Watch Style. If previous reports are anything to go by, we will likely see two new LG watches being unveiled at Google's platform event on February 9.

---

Source: VentureBeat

from xda-developers http://ift.tt/2koVTNB
via IFTTT

franco.Kernel is Updated with Nougat Support for the OnePlus 3T

Now that OnePlus has released the OxygenOS, Nougat-base kernel source code for the OnePlus 3/3T, XDA Recognized Developer franciscofranco has been able to update his custom kernel with support for OxygenOS 4.0

from xda-developers http://ift.tt/2kxA79B
via IFTTT

Unofficial SailfishOS Port Lands On The Nexus 5X

XDA Senior Member m4r0v3r has released a port of Jola's SailfishOS for the Nexus 5X but the fingerprint sensor, camera, and Bluetooth functionalities are broken in the initial build. If you want to give it a shot, the required files and instructions for installation can be found over in the linked thread.

from xda-developers http://ift.tt/2kxC8mc
via IFTTT

LG Announces Q4 Loss of $224 Million

LG has announced a press release detailing the company's financial performance in the fourth quarter of 2016. In spite of record revenue from Home Appliances, Air Solutions, and Home Entertainment, as well as record Q4 operating profits, underperformance in Mobile Communications and Vehicle Components resulted in a net loss of just under $224 million.

>Major losses of $400  million in the mobile division hampered what would have otherwise been a quarterly net profit of $257 million.

LG lays most of the blame for mobile losses on weak sales of the G5, while the V20 reportedly sold reasonably well and contributed to 15% QoQ revenue increase for the division. LG's strategy for mobile profitability lies mainly in releasing a successful flagship and "Mega hit" budget device, while also improving the performance, quality, and safety of the devices they develop.

With the LG G6 slated for a reveal in late February and launch soon after, the company will not have to wait much longer to see how their flagship fares. A highly competitive budget market, due largely to intense focus on quality improvement in companies like Xiaomi, will have LG also facing major competition in their pursuit of highly successful low-end device.

Heading into a new fiscal year, significant QoQ profit growth is expected in Q1 2017. Time will tell if LG can once again find financial success in the mobile realm, and 2017 will be an important year for the company to demonstrate its ability to learn from past mistakes.

Source: LG News Room

 

from xda-developers http://ift.tt/2k54Hdx
via IFTTT

XDA Labs Still Fastest Way to Browse Forums (2017 Update)

 

About a year ago we launched XDA Labs as our new Android app. After many updates and improvements, it's still the best way to browse the XDA forums. XDA Labs is built entirely in-house and is the best way to access the forums while on mobile. It's fully Material Design, ad-free, and fast. Here are some of the best features you'll find in XDA Labs.

Fastest Browsing Experience

This has been the main focus of improvement for the last year. The app loads pages from the forum at incredible speeds. Swiping through the pages of a thread is nearly instant.

 

Subscribe to Threads and Forums

Subscribe to specific threads or forums and access them all on one page. You can even create shortcuts that will appear on your homescreen that can take you to the forums you are subscribed to.

Notifications

You will receive an alert for every new private message or mention you get. For nougat devices, expand the notification from your lockscreen to see the contents of the PM.

App Store

The app store is a great place to find apks for beta apps or anything that might not be available on the Play store. It's the best way for developers to release alpha and beta version of their apps to the community.

Xposed

XDA Labs also has access to the entire library of xposed modules. For those of you with a rooted device and xposed framework installed, this is the best way to find new mods to try out.

Quick Actions

Quick action support lets to launch right into the my device or forums section.

 

Tablet Support

We also have tablet support. The XDA threads will look just as good on your big screen.

XDA Play Store App

If you're not interested in the extra features like the app store or exposed modules, you can get the stand alone forum app from the Play store.

 

Get Labs

from xda-developers http://ift.tt/2jBj5az
via IFTTT

Latest Android Experiment Turns Your Android Device into a 3D Mouse

We've talked about a number of applications that Google has highlighted with its Android Experiment program. This gives Google a way to showcase open source Android applications to the world that are more of a proof of concept than a full-fledged application.

It has resulted in projects like the Paper Planes, Sprayscape, Eating Time, and Marclay applications being made open source to benefit the Android community.

So while these applications might not be smash hits in the Play Store, the ideas and concepts behind them are open for others to use and integrate into their own applications for the world. The latest addition to Google's Android Experiments project is an application called Android 3D Mouse and its goal is to turn your Android device into a wireless and virtual 3D mouse for your PC. The idea behind this application is to use a number of gestures to control certain programs on a PC in a 3D environment.

So for example, with this Android 3D Mouse application, you can do regular pans with a single touch swipe in the gesture area of the application. You can zoom in and out with a simple three finger gesture, and you can rotate the plane by using a two finger gesture. You can execute a roll by tapping on the gesture area with two fingers, then lifting one up and swiping that remaining finger left, right, up or down. This application will only work with Blender at the moment, but it's possible this could be used in other programs in the future.

Since it's focused on Blender right now, the application developer has setup a number of shortcut commands in the sidebar. So you can instantly create objects (like a cube) with a single tap, but this can be edited for individual use cases. If you're interested in this project, be sure to check out the code on the GitHub page right here, and the video will be embedded below for those of you who want to see it in action.

Source: Android Experiments

from xda-developers http://ift.tt/2knWU8l
via IFTTT