How to install May security update on the Snapdragon Galaxy S9/S9+

The Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ have been out for a little over a month now. Samsung and the carriers have not released an update for their phones since the day one update. Almost every Snapdragon Galaxy S9 and S9+ are still running the February security patch from launch.

The updates in this guide are for the Snapdragon variants of the Galaxy S9 and S9+. The Exynos variants of the phone have already received the March security update, but nothing past that. The update has not been certified in the Play Store and doesn't pass SafteyNet, but while running this update on my own device, Google Pay and all the Google apps are still working. This build includes the May security patch and bug fixes, though we do not know any specific bugs that were fixed. This update also adds Chatbots for AT&T users.

How to Update Galaxy S9 and S9+ to May security patch:

1. Check your phone's model number to see if its G960U or G965U.
2. You will need to download ARC6 Odin for S9 and update for S9 and the ARC6 Odin for S9+ and update for S9+.
3. Copy the OTA file onto the SD Card on your phone. If you don't have an SD Card, you can skip this step but you will still need the OTA file on your computer. Extract the Odin firmware linked earlier. It will be in a zip format.
4. Make sure before you continue to disable all Substratum themes on your device. You will be able to re-enable them once the update is installed.
5. Reboot your device into download mode by powering off your device then holding the Bixby button + Volume down + power
6. Download the Odin tool and plug in your phone to your computer. Odin is an official tool from Samsung that can flash official Samsung firmware onto Samsung Galaxy devices. In Odin on the right side, you will see 5 sections, but only 4 of those will be used.
7. Click the BL button and navigate to your Odin firmware folder where you extracted your files, and then click the file starting with BL. Do the same for AP and CP and HOME_CSC, do not use CSC_OYN as this will wipe all data on your phone..
8. Click start at the bottom of Odin.
9. Wait for your device to flash and then reboot. As soon as it reboots, power off your phone again. Then, boot into recovery once more by holding down the Bixby button + Volume up + power.
10. If you have an SD card, select "apply update from SD card." You can select this by using your volume rockers to navigate and the power button to select. After selecting the option, find the file called "update.zip" and select it with the power button.
11. If you don't have an SD card, select "apply update from ADB." On your computer, open a command prompt by pressing Windows key + R and typing "cmd." Once this command prompt opens up, type "adb sideload" and press enter. If you don't already have ADB set up, you can follow these quick set of instructions to get up to speed.

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/2rj32mH
via IFTTT

Google Maps Platform lets businesses integrate Maps navigation data in their apps

Google launched the first Google Maps APIs for developers back in 2005. Now, the company has announced the Google Maps Platform. It encompasses "streamlined API products" and "new industry solutions to help drive innovation."

Google notes that it announced the first industry solution for game studios to use Google Maps data for creating real-world games in March. Now, the company also offers solutions that are tailored for ride sharing and asset tracking companies. Ride sharing companies can embed the Maps navigation experience directly into their apps to optimize the driver and customer experience.

The asset tracking offering will help businesses improve efficiencies by locating vehicles and assets in real-time, according to Google. Businesses will be able to visualize where assets have traveled, and will be able to route vehicles with complex trips. The company states that it also expects to bring new solutions to market in the future in areas where it's positioned to offer insights and expertise.

According to Google, one of its goals is to evolve its core APIs to "make them simpler, easier to use and scalable […]." Now, the company has simplified its 18 individual APIs into three core products: Maps, Routes, and Places. This simplification has been done to make it easier for developers to add new features to their apps and sites. Additionally, Google states that these new updates will work with developers' existing code — with no changes being required.

The company also announced that it has merged its Standard and Premium Plans to form one pay-as-you-go pricing plan for its core products. Developers buying this plan will receive the first $200 of monthly usage for free, and Google estimates that most developers will have monthly usage that will keep them within this free tier. The new pricing plan will enable them to pay only for the services that they use each month with no annual, up-front commitments, termination fees or usage limits. Google is also rolling out free customer support for all developers, and the company's products are now integrated with Google Cloud Platform Console. The integration will make it make it easier for developers to track usage, manage projects, and discover Cloud products.

Developers will need a valid API key and a Google Cloud Platform billing account to access Google's core products beginning June 11. After they have enabled billing, they will gain access to their $200 of free monthly usage to use for Google's Maps, Routes, and Places products. The plan will scale according to business growth or usage spikes.

Developers currently using the core APIs are advised by Google to take a look at their guide for existing users to understand these changes in more detail and for help in the transition to the new plan.

---

Source: Google

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/2Kv9yzm
via IFTTT

Chrome OS adding hover previews for shelf items like on Windows

Chrome OS was launched back in 2010 as Google's desktop operating system. In the beginning, the operating system was light on features. Most tasks on the operating system required an Internet connection, as offline functionality was rarely included. This was because in the early days, Chrome OS was a desktop operating system based on the Google Chrome web browser. Its selling points were simplicity (dealing with the lack of a learning curve), as well as security.

However, Google's cloud-based operating system has come a long way since then. Chromebooks can now run Android apps on the Play Store, and Google has added touchscreen functionality to the operating system such as a floating keyboard, split screen, and Android-like lockscreen notifications. Users can now finally record videos on Chrome OS, and the operating system will soon support a swipe gesture to close overview windows.

Now, a commit in the Chromium Gerrit describes another another feature which will soon make its way to Chrome OS: hover previews in the shelf. Commit number 1037779 has been merged as d7ef7c5. Its title states: "Add a flag for shelf hover previews."

The commit has now been merged. When the flag goes live, users will be able to enable it to enable hover previews in the Chrome OS shelf. Notably, Windows has supported this feature in the taskbar since the release of Windows 7 back in 2009, so it has taken Google's operating system quite a while to catch up in this area.

Source

The feature is not ground-breaking, but it's a convenient addition for multitasking as hover previews can show a preview of the content of an app without the user having to click on the app icon in the shelf/taskbar. Users will  be able to get a preview, for example, of their tabs in Google Chrome, Play Store home screen, as well as other apps on Chrome OS.

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/2Kxe5S4
via IFTTT

Win a Trip to See the Honor 10 Global Launch in London

We've got some exciting days ahead with global launch of the Honor 10. This event will take place in London on May 15th and you have the opportunity to see it in person! XDA has teamed up with Honor to offer five lucky people tickets to see the event live.

"We will be unveiling the all-new #Honor10 at a global launch on 15th May in London. It's our prettiest phone to date, so make sure to follow us to learn what #BeautyinAI is all about!"

@HonorGlobal

Fill out the form below to be entered to win. The winners will receive a ticket to the event and £60 for travel fees. You must live in the UK to enter.

Entry Form

Honor 10 Event Promo

Honor 10 Event Promo

Honor 10 Forums

We thank Honor for sponsoring this post. Our sponsors help us pay for the many costs associated with running XDA, including server costs, full time developers, news writers, and much more. While you might see sponsored content (which will always be labeled as such) alongside Portal content, the Portal team is in no way responsible for these posts. Sponsored content, advertising and XDA Depot are managed by a separate team entirely. XDA will never compromise its journalistic integrity by accepting money to write favorably about a company, or alter our opinions or views in any way. Our opinion cannot be bought.

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/2rfXVUo
via IFTTT

Verizon’s bloatware goes global: coming soon to the Galaxy S9

Bloatware is a very subjective term within the smartphone industry. Everyone has their own opinion when it comes to what they feel is needed or not. Many will consider applications from Google to be bloatware because they don't use them. Others are happy to have carrier apps on their device because they actually use them to do things such as manage their account and consume content. It has recently been revealed that Verizon Communications Inc's Oath Inc subsidiary has partnered with Samsung to install four of its applications on millions of devices within the United States and eventually around the world.

Verizon Wireless has been going around and acquiring various online entities these last few years. Back in 2015, they moved to own AOL and then in 2016 they purchased the assets to Yahoo. It was reported that the company was planning on merging AOL and Yahoo to form a new company called Oath, but that wasn't entirely true. Instead, Verizon Wireless decided to create Oath and use it to house 20 Verizon-owned media brands, including Yahoo's sites, AOL (including TechCrunch and Engadget), and Huffington Post.

To help get these media brands some extra attention, a new partnership between Verizon Wireless and Samsung will have the South Korean conglomerate installing Oath's Newsroom app, Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Finance, and Go90 mobile video applications on all of their Samsung Galaxy S9 and Samsung Galaxy S9+ devices in a future update. It seems like a major reason behind this deal is the projected increase of content consumption on smartphones, which is expected to increase to 196.4 million users by the year 2020.

With the number of people watching content on televisions expected to continue declining (dropping down to 295.9 million during this same time period), Verizon is hoping they are able to bring in some of these new users onto their platform during this transition.

---

Source: Reuters

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/2JP47uf
via IFTTT

Honor/Huawei’s bootloader unlock page disappears with no explanation

For the past 2 weeks, Honor users have been unable to access the page for generating bootloader unlock codes. Visiting the page shows "404 Not Found." Huawei has been notably silent on the issue until finally today the HonorUSA twitter account addressed it. Unfortunately, they did not give any explanation about why the page is gone, just that they are aware of it.

We're aware of the bootloader unlock page being down & apologize for the inconvenience it has caused. We have setup a form in the interim to request bootloader unlock codes. We thank you for your patience through all this. @xdadevelopers https://t.co/sF3JAtB3JL

— Honor USA (@Honor_USA) May 2, 2018

The bootloader unlock codes are what allow users to, obviously, unlock the bootloader and install TWRP, use custom ROMs, and get root access. What's more, the Honor Open Source Program for the Honor View 10 is useless without unlockable bootloaders. The disappearance of this page has cut users off from a world of modification.

Honor has set up a Google Doc in the interim for users to request bootloader unlock codes directly. They say the turnaround time is about 24 hours from when you submit the request. This is obviously not an ideal solution, but it shows they do care about providing the unlock codes. You can sign up for a bootloader unlock code with the Google Doc found here.

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/2HMXt6Z
via IFTTT

OnePlus 6 pop-up events will appear in Europe, North America, and India

The OnePlus 6 is scheduled to be announced later this month at events in London and Mumbai. We're getting very close to finally being able to slap the "official" tag on this highly-anticipated device. OnePlus is preparing for the launch of the phone with pop-up events in a number of cities across the globe. People will be able to see the device in person and even purchase their own.

The pop-up events will be held on May 21st and 22nd, which is when the OnePlus 6 is expected to go up for sale. 13 cities in total will have the events. In India, those cities include Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Ahmedabad. The other cities include New York, San Francisco, London, Paris, Milan, Berlin, Beijing, and several others.

Enlarge to see all cities

Attendees will be able to purchase the OnePlus 6 at these pop-up events, but the stock will be limited. If you're lucky enough to purchase one of the phones you will also get some extra OnePlus goodies to go with it. Indian customers who can't attend the event will be able to buy the phone exclusively on Amazon on May 21st. If you want to be one of the first people in the world with the latest OnePlus device, check out the full list of cities at the links below.

---

OnePlus 6 India Events OnePlus 6 Global Events

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/2rh6QEP
via IFTTT