Massive 18.4″ Samsung Galaxy View receives unofficial LineageOS 15.1

Although smartphones have gotten larger and larger, tablets have mostly been pretty consistent with display sizes ranging from 7-inches to 10-inches measured diagonally. The bezel-less trend hasn't caught on with tablets (as it doesn't really make much sense for them), though more devices have shifted to 4:3 displays to match the iPad. In late 2015, the Samsung Galaxy View was released with a massive 18.4″ 1080p display to buck the trend. It was an experiment that the company (nor anyone else) hasn't attempted since. Official software releases have long since ceased for the device, but now work has started on bringing Android 8.1 Oreo-based LineageOS 15.1 to the device.

Top: Samsung Galaxy View. Bottom left to right: Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4, iPad Pro 12.2, Samsung Galaxy S3, Jelly Pro

The device was launched with Android 5.1 Lollipop and has not even received a single major software upgrade. The last official release is dated March 7th, 2017 with a build date of October 11th, 2016. Fans of the massive media consumption tablet have yearned for a software update for some time. The only custom ROM available for the device for the longest time was Android Marshmallow-based CyanogenMod 13 created by XDA Recognized Contributor deadman96385. deadman96385 has announced that he recently started working on bringing LineageOS 15.1 to the Samsung Galaxy View, and he has published his first unofficial build for the device.

Since this is just a preliminary release for testing, there are a few major bugs. First of all, the light sensor doesn't work so there's no adaptive brightness. You can use an app like Underburn if you really want automatic brightness control, though. Next, since the build doesn't pass SafetyNet you'll have to sideload Netflix as it won't show up in the Play Store. Finally, the camera doesn't work so you can't use the device to do video calls just yet. There are also a few minor bugs, but we recommend you give the linked thread a thorough read to learn more (also because you should read any development thread regardless before you flash any custom software onto your device.)

Download unofficial LineageOS 15.1 for the Samsung Galaxy View

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Magisk v16.4 Released with Improved MagiskHide & Android P Support, and More

When it comes to rooting solutions on Android, there's not a lot that can beat Magisk. Capable of bypassing SafetyNet detection while being lightweight and open source, it's the root solution of choice for most users on our forums. It even has frequent updates which bring better support and more features—despite the fact that XDA Recognised Developer/Recognized Contributor topjohnwu is currently serving mandatory military service in Taiwan. Magisk v16.4 has launched, and with it brings a number of improvements such as greater Android P support and MagiskHide improvements.

In recent times it seemed that application developers had learned to circumvent MagiskHide simply by running their root detection under another service. With Magisk v16.4, MagiskHide now correctly handles these cases and will also hide the current root status of the device to these services. Applications such As Pokemon Go employed this technique with the Pokemon Go+, the physical companion for the game. Users found that their Go+ would disconnect from their phone as the Go+ Bluetooth service would close when it detected root. It ran under the Pokemon Go package name, but was its own service that also detected root.

Another major addition is the inclusion of a more complete Android P support. Previously, you could use Magisk on Android P, but there were still a number of issues that needed to be ironed out. The main fix here is in the Magisk Manager installation on Android P, along with generic fixes in MagiskPolicy for AOSP which will prevent some system conflicts. In terms of updates to Magisk Manager, really there's just a few crash fixes and Android 7.1+ app shortcuts.

If you want to read the full changelog, simply go to the link down below. You can also download the update from the same thread, or if you have Magisk already installed you can update it through the Magisk Manager application.

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Read Magisk v16.4 Announcement

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Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S Android P OTA leaks early

With the first Android P Developer Preview announced in March, it brought a number of changes which you can test out now on the Google Pixel/XL and Google Pixel 2/2 XL. Surprisingly, Xiaomi has just announced that the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2s will also be receiving the Android P Developer Preview in the coming days, complete with all the features of Android P included. A tentative date of May 8th has been put forward as a release date, assuming all internal testing goes well.

This would be the first official public release of Android P for a non-Google device, though it's unclear whether this will be closer to AOSP Android and not MIUI. It's also unknown if the factory images will come directly from Google or from Xiaomi. The announcement post only states that the release will bring Android P's features to the device, which you can read about here and here.

The post, however, has been taken down from the MIUI forums. Initially, we hesitated to publish this post because we thought it might have been based on false information. However, our friends over at XiaomiGeeks.com found that there was indeed Android 9.0 firmware in the works for the Mi Mix 2S. You can download it at the link below.

Download Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S Android P OTA

I am not sure how one can go about installing the leaked Android P Developer Preview OTA on your Xiaomi Mi Mix 2s. It might be possible to sideload it, but I doubt it since this will likely need to be approved for your device before it can be updated via the updater app. It may be possible to install by extracting the images and flashing over the partitions manually, but I would advise against that if you're using the device as a daily driver.

Regardless, it's surprising to see Xiaomi offer a preview release of the next version of Android; this is the kind of thing we would expect from Sony. Hopefully, other devices from Xiaomi will receive the P release and not just their flagship line.

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Google Inbox spoofing vulnerability lets attackers fake email recipients

Be careful what you click on. Eli Grey is a security researcher who has found a vulnerability in Google Inbox allowing for an attacker to create a mailto link that spoofs the recipient of an email. He found this vulnerability on May 4th, 2017, almost a year ago, and reported it to Google privately. After following up on March 16th of this year and the bug still being unresolved, he decided to publicly disclose this vulnerability.

What happens is that generally, mailto links are used to automatically populate the content of an email to save users some time. We use a mailto link on our tip page to make it easier for users to send us a tip. Email clients such as Gmail or Google Inbox are supposed to parse these links and pre-compose the email draft with whatever information is present in the mailto link. For example, you could click a link to send PayPal customer support an email and it would show support@paypal.com in the outgoing recipient box.

What Eli Grey discovered is that you can construct a mailto link to spoof the email recipient in Google Inbox. This means that even though the draft email might say you are sending an email to support@paypal.com, it could be sending it to an entirely different address. The only way you would know is if you inspected the mailto link or expanded the "to" field before sending the email.

As an example, this mailto link will place support@paypal.com in the "to" box but if you actually send an email here it will instead go to scammer@phishing.fakewebsite (obviously not a real email address.) Fortunately, this vulnerability doesn't seem to affect Gmail or Outlook, so if you use those services you don't have to worry.

Regardless, this is a prime example of why you should always inspect the links to anything you are about to click. Last year, a very clever Google Docs phishing scheme rocked the world because of how convincing it was to even most observant technologically savvy users. Avoiding a repeat of these schemes requires being vigilant, and never becoming too comfortable when it comes to your own personal security.

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500 Firepaper will stop working on June 15th as 500px closes down API

Those of you who love having a random, but always great wallpaper, have surely heard about 500 Firepaper. It's an application that was created by XDA Senior Recognized Developer Chainfire and it has been changing the look of many Android home screens since late 2013. Unfortunately, according to the developer, 500 Firepaper will stop working this June as the 500px is shutting down its API.

500px is a place where professional photographers share their work. Artists create their portfolios and upload their work to gain recognition for themselves. The site offers a few plans, including a free one that allows uploading seven photos a week. Photos are sorted by categories so that everyone can find some quality shots. The Canadian startup has been offering public API access since 2011 which is how 500 Firepaper has been able to operate. While the 500px API closure has yet to be confirmed on the company's official blog, Chainfire announced that the API closes down on June 15th and henceforth his app will no longer work.

PSA: 500 Firepaper will stop working on June 15, as 500px is shutting down their API on that date.

— Chainfire (@ChainfireXDA) April 28, 2018

Unfortunately, this means that you can no longer use the 500 Firepaper app will to retrieve any photos from 500px. Without a proper source of getting images, the application will likely be deprecated. So far the app has been installed over 500 thousand times, so we can assume that it generated significant traffic on the site. The news that 500px's API will be shut down is a big blow to all photography lovers.

Those of you who would like to enjoy the application for the last few weeks of its existence can head over to its forum thread or go to the Play Store to get the latest version.

500 Firepaper (Free⁺, Google Play) →

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Developer gets Android P booting on the Motorola Moto Z

We're just 10 days away from Google I/O 2018 where Google is expected to unveil a lot of details about Android P such as the rumored navigation gestures and Material Design revamp. The first Android P Developer Preview is available for the Google Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, and Pixel 2 XL and there's a lot we've already seen in the first release, but there's still a lot to look forward to before the final release of the new version of Android. For those of you without Google Pixel phones, you'll probably be waiting a long time before P is made available for your device. However, developers on our forums aren't going to wait for OEMs to officially update their devices (if at all), so they're taking matters into their own hands. One such developer has managed to get the first Android P Developer Preview booting on his Motorola Moto Z.

The Motorola Moto Z was released in June 2016 with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 system-on-chip and Android Marshmallow. It has since received an official update to Android Nougat and Android Oreo, and it isn't expected to receive Android P. XDA Recognized Developer erfanoabdi has managed to port Android P to his device thanks to unofficial Project Treble compatibility. This is now the second non-Google device we've seen able to boot Android P, although the last one was the Huawei Mate 10 Pro running on a heavily skinned version of it in the form of EMUI.

erfanoabdi was able to accomplish this by modifying the existing system image from the Google Pixel XL (marlin.) Using his custom script called "Capire Le Treble" which allows him to flash a device-specific system image on devices without a /vendor partition, he was able to flash the modified P system image from the Pixel XL onto his Moto Z that was previously running the official LineageOS 15.1 release (which, by the way, will be released Monday.)

For those of you who have followed our reports on Project Treble before, you may be wondering how this script works. In essence, it extracts the HALs in /system/vendor and places them in the Generic System Image (GSI) to be flashed; that way, flashing the system image won't overwrite the HALs. After a few initial crashes and some heavy debugging, he was able to get Android P up and running. Here are some additional pictures showing off various P user interface elements and features.

According to erfanoabdi, it's not without its fair share of bugs. Things like the camera, Wifi, and radio currently don't work. Surprisingly, Moto Mods seem to work although that's also a bit buggy. Considering how much of a giant hack all of this is (Moto Z doesn't support Project Treble and the system image is a modified marlin image rather than one built from source), it's surprising this even works at all. Don't expect to run this as a daily driver anytime soon; you'll probably have much more functional Android P ROMs when the source code is released alongside the full release of P.

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Google Pixelbook may support booting Microsoft Windows

A recent commit indicates that the Google Pixelbook could receive support for booting and installing Windows from USB, a functionality previously unavailable due to poor firmware support on Kaby Lake and Skylake devices.

It's pretty clear what functionality this code merge brings.

This update is related to previous reports of Alt OS functionality,  the addition of an Alt OS [Alternative OS] picker screen that we previously suspected could be related to booting Windows or Fuchsia, but it looks like the evidence is in favour of the former being true.

Unfortunately, these updates were merged to a unique firmware branch of the Pixelbook called "eve-campfire," which is different from the normal branch "eve." The campfire branch isn't public (yet) and is being developed and tested internally by Google, so it's difficult to say whether we'll see Alt OS functionality in the wild.

The Google Pixelbook was released in October 2017 along with the Google Pixel 2/2 XL Android smartphones. It's a high-end laptop running an operating system that, for now, doesn't offer the kinds of tools to take advantage of its hardware. That may change soon with the introduction of Crostini to Chrome OS, which allows for running Linux apps on Chromebooks. Bringing Linux apps to Chrome OS is a great way to bring more professionals into the ecosystem, but there will still be plenty of holdouts who are reliant on Microsoft Windows.

If this functionality does arrive on the public build of the Pixelbook, though, it's one matter to boot Microsoft Windows and another to get drivers coded to suit the hardware. Pixelbook owners, don't get your hopes up just yet.

Sources: Chromium code-review, Mr Chromebox [reddit] [website] for his firmware knowledge

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