Samsung’s most popular smartphone this year, the Samsung Galaxy S 4, will soon be arriving on shelves in the U.S.  AT&T will offer the device in 4 days, which is early in the game compared to Verizon, who will be offering the device in about a month.  A simple root method has already been discovered, which is just in time for the future Galaxy S 4 users.

Root was achieved for the 8-core Samsung Exynos version last month, The original hacker of the Motorola’s bootloader is also the main person to be involved in with this project.  Let’s hope he lives up to his previous work!

The one-click “Motochopper” root method should work efficiently for this device.  Here are the instructions:

Download the MotoChopper zip (click here)

• Extract the entire contents of the zip file.
• If you are using Windows, ensure you have installed the latest Samsung USB drivers available for your phone.
• Ensure USB Debugging mode is enabled on your device.
• Connect your device to your PC via USB.
• If you are using Windows, navigate to the extracted directory and execute “run.bat”. If you are using Linux or OS X, navigate to the extracted directory in a terminal and execute “./run.sh”.
• Approve the ADB connection from your PC on your device.

These tasks should be pretty easy for a user to follow, assuming they’re familiar with these types of things.  Waiting for a new rooting version of GS4 might also be beneficial, if you’re not too familiar with rooting in the past.

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The following infograph made by my friends at CobaltSign inspired by Google Play Developer Console (Google Play team).

Happy April 1st everyone! :)

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GALAXY Note II is one of the few devices that offer multitasking, multiview features and if you got one such handheld, Samsung wants you to know how to benefit from them. The following video shows exactly how multitasking works on the GNote II in your daily activities.

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Nowadays almost any new Android device that’s coming to the market receives a rooting method way ahead of its official global release and all this thanks to a great Android community that binds together users and developers from all over the world. The Case here LG Optimus G which not long ago was officially unveiled in South Korea.

An XDA forum member by his username galeri, found a way to easily root the Optimus G model F180 (method available for Optimus G connected on any of the following carriers: SK Telecom, KT Telecom, LG U+).

To root your LG Optimus G you need to follow a few steps exactly:

• On your phone,be sure that you have enabled “USB debugging mode”(Seting>System>Developer options), and Unknown source(Seting>System>Security)
• Download and install LG USB DRIVER
• Download this file and unrar it,you’ll have “RootOptimusG” folder Link: http://www.fshare.vn/file/T588QTG8TT/
• Run “RootOptimusG.bat”, chose “y” then hit “Enter”
• Look up to your phone screen,select “Restore my data”
• Have a coffee until it completed, check SuperSU icon on the phone screen!

If you do encounter any problems get back to us or follow onto the original thread on XDA Forums where the developer of this tool can give further instructions. This method might work in the future on any Optimus G smartphone.

Credit: choimobile.vn team

via XDA

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Just days after it was launched, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 got a firmware upgrade (build N7100XXALJ1) this morning which added Multi apps per screen. What this does is allow you to have two apps open simultaneously and switch from one to the other freely.

To activate the feature, tap and hold the back button. A small blue tab will appear from the left hand side of the screen:

If you swipe the tab, a drawer will float out with several apps in it (mainly standard apps like chrome, mail, messages, maps etc).

Tap and hold on the app you want to use and drag it to the portion of the screen you want. The highlighted section will turn blue. Drop the app and it will open up in that half of the screen.

Now you can easily copy details from one screen to the other. The bar in the middle is adjustable and allows you to alter the ratio of screen share of both apps. The arrow in the middle of the bar tells you which app is being focus on. Two buttons will appear which allow you to swap the sides or make the focused window enlarged.

This downloaded on my Note this morning and shows Samsung haven’t switched on every feature at launch. For example, I was going to do a screencast of this, but Note 2 screen recording feature doesn’t appear to have been activated yet. With luck, that will come in a future firmware upgrade.
I will shortly be releasing my review of the Galaxy Note 2, so stay tuned.

The post Samsung Galaxy Note II gets firmware upgrade RO03C (N7100XXALJ1) adds Multi screen feature appeared first on .

There are countless tutorials on the forums regarding Android for just about anything: rooting, unlocking boot loaders, flashing ROMs and kernels, radios, and even creating your own apps.

Now there’s a new tutorial rolling in the XDA-Developers Forum, and this one is about how to create Android games. It’s posted by XDA Senior Member tjdwowh, who is an employee of Kilobolt Studios. The tutorial is very well-explained and it consists several lessons, which are very informative.

The author updates the lessons daily, so it’s more like as reading a programming book than a tutorial, but still, it’s professional. You’ll be doing everything in Eclipse, so make sure you have that. And as always, some programming knowledge is needed. And don’t forget the good motivation – if you’re not motivated, you won’t succeed. Hit the source link down below to go the tutorial on XDA-Developers and start programming!

Source

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ClockworkMod Recovery is arguably one of the best custom recovery for Android devices. The thing is: it’s not officially available for every phone out there, nor everyone knows how to build it for his/her device. Luckily, ClockworkMod developer Koushik Dutta (Koush) released an online builder which allows every user to build ClockworkMod Recovery for his respective device, in a few clicks. All you need to have is an existing recovery image for your phone. Even the official one will do the job. So, without further ado, here’s how you can make it:

1. Go to the ClockworkMod Builder website
2. Click the first button and choose your existing recovery image
3. Optional: upload the recovery.fstab file for your phone
4. Optional: upload the graphichs.c file for your phone
5. Check whether you want your build to be touch-enabled or not
6. Click the ‘Build’ button
7. Wait until the builder finishes your query
8. Profit

So, there you have it. It was easy, wasn’t it? If you plan to share your build on forums or other sites, be sure to give proper credits to the original developer of ClockworkMod Recovery – Koushik Dutta (Koush).

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Hello friends starting today I will be presenting the Android ABC to help guide the newbies into the secrets of Google Android operating system. This tutorial is for installing the 3rd party apps on the Android phones for our readers users who basically download apps from the various sites or share APK’s via bluetooth, so here you go.

1. go to settings.
2. choose security.
3. check unknown sources.
4. click allow.
5. now your phone is enabled to install 3rd party apps.
6. now to install the apps,  browse over to the stored apk via a  file explorer.
7. click on the apk
8. click install & you are done.

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I guess by now everyone who updated to the latest version of Facebook for Android application is mostly annoyed by the number of apps/icons the new update installs and the worse part is that you can not remove them without removing Facebook app itself.

There is a workaround to this problem, although it doesn’t remove the Camera app nor the Messenger app from your devices, you can easily hide it from your app drawer with a small application developed by senior XDA forum member machx0r. He’s application requires root.

“I’ve had reports that when disabling/enabling the icons the main Facebook icon may disappear from your home screen (but not your application drawer) but you can simply add it back. Let me know if you have any issues using this application.”

I am on Gingerbread right now using Go Launcher EX home screen replacement which has the option to hide icons inside the Appdrawer so I don’t need it. Other launchers may have this option as well if you have a launcher with such an option then you don’t need this installed either.

NOTE: You shouldn’t need this application if you are running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich as it already provides a mechanism to hide applications in the app drawer. (Found out this isn’t really the case for most ICS devices, see next post). This is a temporary workaround until Facebook decides to remove them in the next or future updates.

Download Facebook Icon Remover

httpvh://youtu.be/FepaGESvPCs

via XDA

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Sony issues a list of recommendations for all developers planning to develop games for Xperia series and Xperia Play especially. To maximize the quality of the Android games you develop for Xperia devices such as Xperia PLAY, Sony issued a “Game developer recommendations list,” to help you understand better and ensure a consistent level of quality in the game you develop.

Note that these recommendations are not requirements that have to be met to pass a certification process. 

Download Xperia game developer recommendations file in PDF format here, also be sure to check the list of tutorials released by Sony Developer portal.

source Sony Mobile Developer

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Sony released today a follow-up to the previously released ICS alpha ROM, a beta version of their Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich ROM available for unlocked 2011 XPERIA phones.

This is pure gold for all custom ROM developers out there, so if you want to test it or download it to hammer your own custom ROM the source is available for download. Check the change log below and follow each step on how to install it on an unlocked XPERIA device.

Change log:

• Updated UI – We hope you will be happy to see that we have added a number of UI elements from ICS, as well as some new UI features already introduced in the Xperia™ S we announced in January.
• Lockscreen and Face Unlock – We have added a shortcut to the camera directly from the lockscreen. Also, when you’re listening to music you can control the music player without unlocking the phone by using the music control icons on the lockscreen. In the coming final ICS upgrade, we will also include the face unlock app from Google for all phones that has a front-facing camera. The Face Unlock feature uses the front-facing camera in combination with advanced object recognition algorithms to provide a new way to unlock the phone. However, since Face Unlock is a Google Mobile Services (GMS) app, it is not included in this ICS beta ROM.
• Connectivity turned on – Since we published the ICS alpha ROM, the GSM modem and FM radio have passed the certification and type approval, and they are therefore turned on in this ICS beta release.
• Updated email client – The UI has been updated, and simplified email management has been added.
• Quick dial – We have added a quick and easy way for you to make phone calls. See how it works in the ISC beta ROM demo video.

Download and install
Follow the instructions below to download and install the alpha ROM. Please note that it only works with Xperia™ arc S, Xperia™ neo V and Xperia™ ray.

1. Make sure your phone is running the latest software release, which is build number 4.0.2.A.0.42.  If you can’t upgrade to this build number, it is not possible to try the Ice Cream Sandwich beta ROM for Xperia™ phones.
2. Go to unlockbootloader.sonymobile.com and unlock the boot loader of your phone. To do this, you must read through and agree to all the legal and warranty conditions that apply.
3. Download the Ice Cream Sandwich beta ROM for Xperia™ arc S, the Ice Cream Sandwich beta ROM for Xperia™ neo V or the Ice Cream Sandwich beta ROM for Xperia™ ray depending on your phone model.
4. Extract the downloaded zip file to your Android Fastboot directory. For example: ..\android-sdk\fastboot\Xperia_arcS_ICS_beta.
5. Open a command prompt and go to your Fastboot directory: ..\android-sdk\fastboot\
6. Flash the three beta ROM files one at a time using Fastboot. Use these three commands (replace the folder name if you are using Xperia™ neo V or Xperia™ ray):
   •  fastboot flash boot ..\Fastboot\Xperia_arcS_ICS_beta\boot.img
   •  fastboot flash userdata ..\Fastboot\Xperia_arcS_ICS_beta\userdata.img
   •  fastboot flash system ..\Fastboot\Xperia_arcS_ICS_beta\system.img
7. Once done, please reboot your phone.

Here’s an official sneak peek at the Ice Cream Sandwich Xperia Beta ROM.

httpvh://youtu.be/qJbDl8aikUk

source Sony via XperiaBlog

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If you’re still having doubts about Android devices and their portability here’s another proof on how versatile this handsets are.

Youtuber  by his username qantrell shows us how we can turn (transform) a Google Galaxy Nexus phone into a desktop computer with the use of a few cables that costs a little over $20, a bluetooth keyboard and a LCD screen (works on any device with a HDMI port).

httpvh://youtu.be/_–zcmqIyRI

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What are your top three settings or things that you always setup (can’t leave without) on your smartphone or tablet no matter which Android version the device is running?

Lets hear some tips on how-to tweak your Android device for a better performance, experience, security, etc.

My top 3 things/settings are as follows:

1. Battery juice settings
2. Monitor everything on my device
3. Use a Firewall or constantly keep an eye for security alerts and/or patches

•  SetCPU and set a profile for “When Screen is off” I set my CPU speed to 50% of its full capacity to save battery ( you don’t need full CPU capacity while in slipmode).
• always manually turn on/off  any kind of connectivity whether it’s the Bluetooth, WiFi, HSPA even my brightness settings (dont let it always turned on) for more battery juice (QuickSettings, WiFi Manager).
• always have an app installed to monitor anything running on your Android device (Power Manager, Elixir etc)

Which are your top 3 settings??

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Downloading applications outside the Android market is a potential risk and one of the top 5 forms of getting infected apps installed on your device (tablet, smartphone etc). All security-based experts will tell you not to choose this path, to install apps on your phone, but if you do (and we know you do,although we urge everyone to ONLY get apps from the official market) here is a quick tip how to cautiously do it.

Always check the size of the app you downloaded from your unknown source with the size of the original app from the Android market, and if you do have an exact match, then its pretty much safe to install it. However for extra security measures you can check the APK with any antivirus tool which lets you inspect content of the app archive.

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