XDA Developers

Thursday, June 1, 2017

Latest Oculus App Update Brings Chromecast Support to the Gear VR

While companies like Google have had to rely on the community to create VR content for Google Cardboard and Daydream, Samsung was able to launch the Gear VR with a lot of content on board from day one thanks to a partnership with Oculus. Not only was Samsung able to offer their customers a plethora of VR content right at launch, but they also had some help with the hardware as well.

Although this could change in the future, right now Samsung and the Gear VR offers more high quality mobile VR content than anyone else in the space. However, one of the downsides to VR content right now is that it isn't very social. Depending on the type of person you are, this might not be a big deal. But a lot of our society is moving towards a more social experience but it can be difficult to share your VR experience with someone else online – or even someone who is in the same room as you.

Thankfully, companies are aware of this issue and they're working to resolve this pain point. On that front, Oculus has just announced they're bringing Chromecast support to the Gear VR in the latest update of their mobile Oculus application. Once the Oculus application has been updated to the newly announced version on your Samsung Galaxy phone, you should then see a Chromecast button in the top right corner of the screen.

Simply tap on that button to choose where you want to cast your VR content and you're ready to go. You'll then be able to share your VR experiences with anyone else who can see the screen. While not ideal for everyone, it does sound like a great way to introduce and share VR content with a friend or loved one.

Source: Oculus

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OxygenOS Open Beta 17/8 for the OnePlus 3/3T Brings Ambient Display 2.0 and Improvements to App Launching Speeds

OnePlus is ushering in the new month with a new Open Beta release of OxygenOS for its current flagship devices. The builds are labelled Open Beta 17 for the OnePlus 3 and Open Beta 8 for the OnePlus 3T. As usual, the builds come with the same changelog for both the devices.

The highlights of this update include changes to Ambient Display functionality in the form of Ambient Display 2.0. Users now need to double tap the display to exit out of Ambient Display and activate the screen. This will help cut down on accidental wake ups in instances like pulling the phone out of a pocket.

This release also brings with it a bump up in the security patch level as Open Beta 17/8 comes with a security patch level of 1st May 2017. You can read more about this security patch in our previous coverage. There are also claimed improvements in launching speeds of third-party apps, and optimizations to background and foreground process management.

The complete changelog for the update is as below:

New additions:
- Ambient display 2.0
- Lift up display
- Sharing functionality for Shot on OnePlus
- All new OnePlus Font (Available in English, Chinese, and Japanese only)
UI Improvements:
- Gallery v1.7
- Recorder v1.6
- Weather v1.7
- File Manager v1.7
- Other UI refinements
Optimizations:
- Enhanced launching speed of 3rd-party apps
- Optimized management of foreground and background processes
Other changes:
- Setup wizard adjusted to suit the style of Android 7.1
- Refined contact import process from SIM card, now supports dual numbers and an email address
- Automatically add corresponding country codes when making calls during roaming
- Updated Android Security Patch level to 1st May 2017

To try out the latest Open Beta, download Open Beta 17 for OnePlus 3 and Open Beta 8 for OnePlus 3T. Users who are already on the Open Beta branch will receive this update as an OTA. Do note that moving back to the Stable branch from Open Beta will involve a full clean flash.

What are your thoughts on the new Open Beta? Which feature are you looking forward to? Do you like the new UI changes? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Source: OnePlus Forums

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Report: Samsung Galaxy S8’s Bixby Voice Won’t be Available Until Late June

Samsung's Galaxy S8 and S8+ are undoubtedly two of the hottest smartphones of 2017 with their gorgeous edge-to-edge display and top-of-the-line hardware without significantly widening the phone.

One of the most talked about features of the Galaxy S8 during Samsung's Unpacked event was its new virtual assistant called Bixby. Bixby is Samsung's take on the virtual assistant, offering functionalities similar to already popular virtual assistants like Google Assistant and Siri.

The full version of Bixby assistant was supposed to roll-out soon after both devices went on sale, but due to some technical issues, Samsung had to postpone the launch of Bixby Voice. At the time, Samsung said only Bixby Vision, Home, and Reminders would be available out of the box, with the promise to launch Bixby Voice in the U.S. in Spring. But according to a new report, it looks like we're still weeks away before Samsung finally rolls out the voice functionality of the Bixby assistant in the U.S.

According to sources familiar with the matter who spoke with The Wall Street Journal, the English version of Bixby Voice won't be available "until at least late June." According to the report, the reason for this delay is due to Bixby Voice struggling to understand English syntax and grammar, indicating the service is not quite yet ready for the official launch. So far Bixby Voice is only available in the South Korean language, with support for Chinese reportedly coming later this month.

Responding to the matter, a Samsung spokesperson told the WSJ :

"Bixby Voice benefits from time to further enhance natural language understanding and we are currently growing our user testing in the U.S. to prepare for launch."

Currently, pressing the Bixby button brings 'Hello Bixby' which shows you context-based information from apps installed on your device in Google Now-style cards. Fortunately, you can remap the dedicated Bixby button on your Galaxy S8 to Google Assistant if you don't care for Bixby.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

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Q&A with Android Execs Focuses on Project Treble, the Linux Kernel and More

Android's presence at Google I/O this year turned a lot of people's heads, but there really wasn't that much time dedicated to the largest mobile platform in the world. When a few members of the Android team sat down with All About Android, they said this was because a lot of the new changes are very technical. So the team didn't feel a lot of the changes really fit in a broader keynote speech. Still, there's a lot of work going on in Android O and a new Q&A with Ron Amadeo from Ars Technica touched on a few things.

When David Burke spoke about the changes in the Android O developer preview, he said they wanted to lay the foundation of how to improve Android over the next 5 to 10 years. This ended up having most of the upcoming changes fall into two categories: Project Treble and Vitals. Mr. Burke said setting things up for Project Treble took a lot of time and doing so required that the team to change a lot of the underlying code of the Android OS.

He said that the goal was to minimize the amount of work silicon vendors needed to put into getting a new update running on an existing phone, but admits that you'll still need some level of support from them due to bugs. Another topic of interest here was about the Linux kernel and how Android is still using a kernel (3.18) from 2014. Mr. Burke says they have version 4.4 working internally but that doesn't exactly mean they will ship it with the new update.

They are, however, working with the Linux community to extend LTS to be longer. Their goal is to make sure the LTS outlasts the multiple years of security updates that Google requires and right now things don't exactly line up. While these are some highlights, the rest of the Q&A talks about the new Vitals changes, Android Extensions, high-quality Bluetooth, and is definitely worth a read for a more technical discussion of changes coming in Android O.

Source: Ars Technica

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Unlock the Bootloader of the European LG G6 (H870)

LG Electronics has officially announced that the LG G6 can now be officially unlocked through LG's developer unlock program. The program works on the European version with model name H870.

The ability to unlock a bootloader is a big thing for all XDA enthusiasts. This move opens many new ways to customize the device, and XDA Recognized Developer and Contributor autoprime posted a detailed guide in which all the steps are explained. Please note that this method works only on the European version of the model. Follow the guide and enjoy your unlocked LG G6!

Unlock your LG G6 H870

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LineageOS Changelog#10: Sensitive Numbers, Small Fixes And CVE Tracker

Every two weeks, the LineageOS team releases a short summary of the included changes. The biweekly review highlights the most important fixes and plans for one of the most popular custom ROMs around.

The LineageOS team has announced that some sensitive numbers will no longer be written in the call logs. This move should help the victims of various abuses and violence, for example. It also follows the EU decision to allow hotlines dealing with domestic violence or similar situations to be called with confidence. The list of sensitive numbers is available on GitHub, and everyone who wants to help by adding new numbers can submit the changes through Gerrit.

Two weeks ago the team announced that Jelly will replace Gello as a default browser. The app has been enhanced with the new desktop mode, similar to the one from Google Chrome. Rendering and incognito mode problems have also been resolved. Moreover, the Setup Wizard, AudioFX and lockscreen received small stability updates. Finally, a potential memory leak is also patched up.

Every month Google releases a set of security patches which fix a number of CVEs (security vulnerabilities). These changes often target the low-level of Android, specifically the kernel. To keep the device secure, maintainers need to add those patches to kernels. LineageOS has its own CVE tracker that shows the status of the updates, and developers are advised to patch their kernels against security vulnerabilities. The tracker does not scan the repository and developers need to mark particular CVEs patches manually.

Finally, there are some build roster changes. Google Nexus 4 is now re-added to supported devices. Additionally, these devices will receive the nightlies.

If you own one of the supported devices, you should consider giving LineageOS a try. Visit an official website or your device home forum for more information.

Source: LineageOS CVE Tracker

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Substratum Theme for the Nexus 6P Lets You Move the Status Bar Clock

Some custom ROMs let the user customize where the clock in the status bar is, but not everyone wants to install a custom ROM for features like this. So XDA Recognized Contributor AL_IRAQI came up with a Substratum theme that does this for you on the Nexus 6P. Once installed (just like a regular Substratum theme is), you can choose to move the clock to the middle or the left of the status bar. Check it out by following the link below!

Check out this Substratum theme in our Nexus 6P forum

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