Google is Investigating an Audio Issue with some Pixel and Pixel XLs

While most reviewers feel the Google Pixel and Pixel XL devices are among the best Android smartphones you can buy right now, some users have been experiencing a fair bit of issues with their new smartphone.

We were first made aware of a lens flare/halo issue that people are having with the camera. Google acknowledged this issue and is currently working to fix it. It's unclear if they will be able to eliminate the issue entirely, but a recent update did appear to soften the halo effect.

But then another strange bug appeared that caused the screen to go pink within the camera viewfinder. The bug would freeze the device and force the person to reboot their phone if they wanted to temporarily fix it. Although this one appeared to be far less widespread, it was happening to enough people that Google acknowledged it on their product forums and is investigating it as well. We haven't had an update on this issue since December 5th, but we are told they are continuing to look into the issue.

This time, a few users are reporting that their Google Pixel device is starting to have audio popping and cracking. A thread was started in the Google Product Forums about this bug toward the end of October, and Google officially responded to it about a week into November. There were enough people having this issue that it warranted some attention, and at the time Google started to request bug reports from those who were having the issue.

This audio issue picked up some steam this week when a thread about the bug hit the front page of /r/Android. A day later, the same Pixel Community Manager who responded in November gave us an update on the issue. They thanked everyone for their bug reports and examples, and then re-iterated that the team is aware of the issue. Furthermore, Google is currently investigating the issue and the company will keep consumers up to date when new information is available.

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Source: Google Product Forums

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Sprint, Virgin Mobile, and Boost Mobile to Launch the Galaxy J3 Emerge Next Month

The 2016 Samsung Galaxy J3 was a budget smartphone the South Korean conglomerate launched way back in January of this year.

This smartphone launched with a 5″ 720p display, Exynos 3475 SoC (while some had the Spreadtrum SC9830), and 1.5GB of RAM. Samsung has reportedly updated a few of the internal components of this device and will re-brand it as the Galaxy J3 Emerge early next year.

This leak comes to us from Evan Blass, who states he viewed a copy of the device's user manual. Rumors have been calling this device the 2017 Galaxy J3, but it's unclear if other markets will receive the device at all, let alone with that name. So for now all we are seeing is a small redesign of the device itself with a two-tone gray color, but the bigger changes here are the internal hardware specs.

Instead of the Spreadtrum/Exynox SoC, the Galaxy J3 Emerge will launch with the Snapdragon 430, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. The original J3 launched with Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, but the new J3 Emerge is said to have Android 6.0 Marshmallow installed out of the box. The camera setup remains the same as the U.S. variant of the original J3, with a 5MP rear-facing camera and a 2MP front-facing camera (both fixed-focus).

We're told to expect 720p video capture with this device, just like we saw with the U.S. variant as well. Another specification that is unchanged is the battery capacity. The new Galaxy J3 Emerge will launch with a 2,600mAh battery. While that might not sound like much, it should be plenty to give respectable battery life on a device with a 5″ 720p Super AMOLED panel.

Sadly, we're not told how much this device will cost at this time. As far as release details go, we should see the Galaxy J3 Emerge launched on Sprint, Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile on January 6th of 2017.

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Source: VentureBeat

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Imagination Technologies to Focus More on IoT and Virtual Reality

Imagination Tech is known for their MIPS CPU architecture as well as their PowerVR GPUs. We generally do not see their CPUs in mobile hardware, but Apple does use their PowerVR GPUs in the iPhone. However, it hasn't been that great of a year for the technology company, and it looks like they will pivot their focus soon. In 2017, Imagination Technologies will shift their focus from to the markets that are growing, such as the internet of things and virtual reality.

There's a big push right now in the automotive industry to create better infotainment centers. Google launched Android Auto as a solution for the software side of things, and companies like Qualcomm are working on the hardware. Imagination Technologies feels their PowerVR GPUs would fit in well here, while they're hoping the interest in MIPS CPUs for cars remains high. the company also wants to partner with others so they can have their designs used in autonomous cars as well.

They're also wanting virtual reality headset manufacturers to use their GPUs as well. In 2017, Imagination Technologies will launch the Series8XT GPU, and they are trying to sign some deals so that it will be used in high-end VR headsets. While this design is focused on the high-end, they aren't forgetting the low-end either. Earlier this year they launched the Series8XE GPU, and will be using it to expand into the low-end and mid-range smartphone market.

As much as Imagination Technologies would love their chip designs to be used in more mobile products, they just haven't had much success in this market. They tried to target enterprise servers as well, but hasn't had much success there either. Along with other IoT products, Imagination Technologies feel their CPU and GPU chips would be great for products like drones and robots too, so we'll just have to wait and see if this shift in focus works for the company in 2017.
Source: PCWorld

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In this video, Miles is going to show us some of the apps he uses everyday on his OnePlus 3T. Miles is currently running the Resurrection Remix 7.1.1 ROM as his daily driver. It's one of the community favorites as of right now. Here is a list of all of the apps that are shown in this video.

Dives – Icon Pack
Nova Launcher
LIFX
Poweramp Music Player
Solid Explorer File Manager
AfterShip Package Tracker
Fenix for Twitter
Resurrection Remix
XDA Labs

Buy the OnePlus 3T

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Become A Git Pro With Git 101

One of the key aspects of smart and mature development is version control. One of the most popular methods is Git. It was developed by Linus Torvalds himself back in 2005 and even Google uses it to maintain Android. Well, the major part of it. While many developers use Git on daily basis, for some it's still a riddle.

There are lots of Git guides floating around, including my own, that I wrote a few years ago. XDA Forum Moderator and Recognized Developer Vatsal has decided to refresh this knowledge a bit. He uses GitLab as his example application. Probably it's a nice moment to mention a few things about GitLab. It's an open source platform that is reliable and offers easy project importing from other sites like GitHub. With Vatsal's guide, you can easily set up your own repository, push the changes and learn how to cherry-pick in a smart way.

As XDA we fully support open-source and encourage developers and companies to make their code public. While some projects are not GNU GPL licensed, the kernel source must always be up-to-date and accessible. We encourage developers to make GitLab or any other site home for their projects. Open sourcing brings more far pros than cons, as users can eventually become contributors. Almost every Android team we know uses Git as a tool. It's an easy, yet efficient way of making things greater.

Git 101 is available as a forum thread here. It's a nice place to start your Git journey. And finally, you can share your knowledge as a Git expert!

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SultanXDA Explains Unified ROM Method and Approach on the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T

Back when we covered that XDA Recognized Developer Sultanxda released his custom CyanogenMod 13 ROM and Kernel for the OnePlus 3T, a lot of people were surprised to see the "same" ROM build that was released for the OnePlus 3T make its way to the OnePlus 3 (or vice versa!).

Sultanxda adopted the unified approach to distributing ROMs for the OnePlus 3 and the OnePlus 3T owing to their largely similar hardware and low level software. This meant that the ROM offered cross-compatibility among both devices, where the same ROM zip could be distributed to the duo. Cross-compatible zips allowed users (and the developer too) to not worry about flashing the wrong zip accidentally and getting a bricked device. This is not to say that the OnePlus 3/3T are easy-to-brick — it just entails lesser headaches overall for all the parties involved.

We reached out to XDA Recognized Developer Sultanxda to shed some more light on the entire procedure, in order to encourage adoption of his method. Here are the main takeaways from the conversation with added emphasis:

What is different on the OnePlus 3/3T that allows for unified ROMs?

The reason why a unified ROM is possible is because OnePlus unified the BSP (the proprietary libraries) [Board Support Package]. Although unifying a kernel is easy, unifying a ROM is normally impossible for [ROM] developers due to inconsistencies in the BSP that only the OEM can address. On my end, all I had to do was unify the kernel and separate some GPU firmware images. The GPU's firmware images are different between the Snapdragon 820 and 821, so they are not cross compatible. I modified the kernel to make it load the correct GPU firmware for each device to fix this. I then added the corresponding firmware images to the ROM in this commit. The rest of the device-specific firmware images (such as the modem images) are located in a firmware partition on each device, so the GPU problem was the only firmware-related issue I faced.

How do the ROM and Kernel figure out which device it is?

The kernel knows which device it is running on thanks to the bootloader. The bootloader selects the Device Tree configuration (packed into the kernel image) that matches its board ID and passes this configuration onto the kernel This gives the kernel flexibility to load the appropriate configurations for both the OnePlus 3 and the OnePlus 3T. You can find the board ID for the OnePlus 3 and the OnePlus 3T by following the hyperlinks.

Do you only need a modified kernel to support unified builds?

No, the ROM must be unified as well. OnePlus unified the BSP starting from the Open Betas for the OP3, and kept it unified in the official OP3T OxygenOS release. This means that ROMs must be using proprietary libraries from either the OP3's Open Beta builds or the OP3T's official OxygenOS release in order to be unified. There is also the GPU firmware image requirement that I described above, and the OP3T's touchscreen firmware needs to be included in the ROM as well (this was added in the GPU firmware commit I linked to above).

Also, there is a caveat to the unified kernel: developers must either use my kernel (which is already unified), or they must add OP3 support to the OP3T's OxygenOS kernel. Support for the OP3T cannot simply be added to the OP3's kernel due to incomplete Snapdragon 821 support, so unification may require a lot of work from willing OP3 developers. My kernel already had complete Snapdragon 821 support when I received the OP3T (since my kernel is based off the Snapdragon 821 branch from CAF), so the unification process was rather painless for me.

I'm sure a lot of developers would rather use the OP3T's OxygenOS kernel rather than my kernel, which would require adding support for the OP3 to it. I didn't look into making a unified kernel for OxygenOS ROMs, so additional work may be required to make that happen.

Can other developers take a look at the code and see how this is done?

Yes. Sultanxda mentions that all of his work is publicly available on his GitHub account, so anyone with the requisite know-how can see how the ROM unification was undertaken. Granted, the procedure is a bit involved and requires a level of expertise, but it is a very much set-and-forget process with benefits originating in the form of lesser maintenance, less duplication of work, and a enhanced sense of assurance that people will not confuse files of the two devices as only one zip work for both. Once a ROM or kernel are unified and confirmed to be fully functional on both the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T, very little additional work is required.

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We hope we brought to light new information which should help more developers opt for unified builds for the devices. Development on the OnePlus 3T is growing, and unified builds are the future for both devices going forward.

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LG Officially Announces the G Pad III 10.1 Tablet

While most sales figures seem to indicate the tablet market is dying, some OEMs like Samsung and LG are still producing new ones year after year. Images of this new LG tablet were actually leaked by Evan Blass yesterday, but since then he has deleted the tweet. We weren't given any additional details about the device though, so all we had to go on was an image of both the front and the back of the tablet.

Early this morning the South Korean technology manufacturer officially announced the LG G Pad III 10.1 tablet. Many people were hoping the flap on the back of the device was a way to swap out the battery, but it turns out this is a kickstand for the tablet (that allows an adjustment of up to 70 degrees). The device itself is a tablet with a 10.1″ 1080p display with a 16:10 aspect ratio. Inside we have an unnamed octa-core SoC with the CPUs clocked at 1.5GHz.

It will have 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage with a microSD card slot built in. There is a 5MP camera on the front and back of the device. The tablet's dimensions are said to be 256.2 x 167.9 x 6.7 to 7.9mm, and the device will weigh in at 510 grams. We're told it has a 6,000mAh capacity battery and will have Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow installed on it right out of the box.

LG has launched the device in South Korea as of today, but we'll likely see it released in other markets in the future. It comes with a price tag of KRW 429,000 (which is about $360 right now). If you're liking the specs of this tablet, but wish it came with a stylus, then you'll want to wait. LG says they'll be releasing another variant of this tablet that comes with a stylus in early 2017.

Source: GSM Arena

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