Motorola Starts Rolling Out Android Nougat Update to Moto X Pure Edition in the US

For those still holding onto a Moto X Pure Edition in the US, you will be happy to know that your device won’t be stuck on Android Marshmallow forever. It appears that Motorola is finally rolling out the much-awaited Android 7.0 Nougat update to the Moto X Pure Edition in the US. The company hasn’t made any formal announcement about this software rollout yet, but many Moto X Pure Edition owners in the US are now reporting that they have received this update on their device.

The update is based on Android 7.0, carries build number NPH25.200-22 and also brings along the September’s security patches to the device. We wish Motorola had at least rolled out Android 7.1.1 so that users wouldn’t miss out on features like App Shortcuts and rounded icons. But anyway, it’s still better than running two-year-old Android Marshmallow.

It’s quite surprising to see Motorola rolling out Android Nougat after such a long time. The September 2016 security update was the last update rolled out to the Motorola X Pure Edition; since then there wasn’t a single software update for the device.

The Android Nougat update has been a long time coming for the Moto X Pure Edition. After the Android 6.0 update, it seemed as if Motorola had no intention to provide further software support for the Motorola X Pure. However, to everyone’s surprise, the company rolled out Android Nougat to the Moto X Style in Brazil back in July. And finally, it’s now available in the US, too.

If you’re sporting a Motorola X Pure Edition device in the US, you can look forward to receiving this update in the coming days. However, if you don’t want to wait for the automatic OTA rollout, you can flash the official OTA update zip captured by XDA Senior Member gokart2 from the stock recovery to manually update your device.

Image courtesy: Reddit user u/TwopackShaker

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Download Android Nougat for Moto X Pure Edition from our forum!

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Google Addresses Annoying Google Assistant Screen Scan Bug, Fix Coming With a Future Update

Since Google Assistant’s introduction as a mobile assistant back in October 2016, it has also come with its fair share of bugs and issues that have been ironed out with subsequent updates, together with new features like keyboard input support, screen scan improvements, and a lot more. A recent issue has been plaguing some Google Assistant users, in which whenever “What’s on my screen” is pressed, the Google Assistant page would scroll all the way up to the top of your Assistant’s history, with the user having to manually scroll down to see their intended search results.

Obviously, this is a pretty annoying behavior which breaks the UX of the screen scan mode of the Google Assistant. This issue has been going on for quite some time without a fix from Google to be seen, requiring an annoyed user to manually report the issue over at the Google Issue Tracker on September 25th. The issue was originally reported to happen on a Google Pixel running Android 8.0 Oreo, with the 7.10.35.21.arm64 version of the Google app. It was picked up by a Google employee around an hour after it was initially reported on the Google Issue Tracker, and it was marked as fixed by the same Google employee on September 27th.

It was also confirmed that the fix was rolling out in a future release of the Google app, which given the nature of the bug, should be pretty soon. The video depicted above shows the issue in action on the original user’s Google Pixel device on Android Oreo. There’s currently no details on when will said future release will actually roll out to users, but if you’re affected by that issue, then be on the lookout for a future Google app update, where a fix will be readily available. You can read more on said issue, along with the answers provided by Google, in the official Google Issue Tracker thread.

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Source: Google Issue Tracker

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HMD Global to Look into Possibility of Unlocking Nokia 8 Bootloader

Yesterday, we reported on a tweet from the Chief Product Officer at HMD Global, Juho Sarvikas, where he was talking about the bootloader unlock status of the Nokia 8. At that time the company’s stance was that they wouldn’t allow users to unlock the bootloader due to security reasons. However, a new tweet from the same representative says they’ve talked with the company’s CTO and that they will reconsider this issue at a later date.

Many of us Android enthusiasts relish at the idea of a new smartphone coming with a bootloader unlock method. It’s how we get popular modifications such as TWRP, Magisk SuperSU, Xposed Framework, custom ROMs and custom kernels installed on our devices. The idea is to let the customer actually, fully own the piece of hardware they’re buying from a company so they can install anything they want on it. Sadly though, there’s been a transition to where less and less OEMs are actually allowing this to happen.

Great feedback. Chatted with our CTO @MikkoLJaakkola and agreed to look at this. Please allow us to focus on ramp up first. #heretolearn

— Juho Sarvikas (@sarvikas) September 28, 2017

Granted, there are ways to get some Android modifications installed on devices which have a bootloader that cannot be unlocked. This tends to be rare and it requires way more work than it should when you consider how much money we’re paying for smartphones these days. It’s unclear if this newfound attention is what made HMD Global change their mind, but now Mr. Sarvikas has said the company will look into this issue in further detail later.

We’re told that he sat down and spoke with HMD Global’s CTO, Mikko Jaakkola, and that he has agreed to look into the topic at hand. However, the company feels they’re still new to the scene and need to focus on getting their new phones into the hands of the customers who want them. Once they finish with this “ramp up” then they should have more time to look into the bootloader unlock issue.

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Source: @sarvikas

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Break Into a Career As An Ethical Hacker

Magisk 14.1 Adds Official Support for the Google Pixel & Other A/B Partition Devices

Over the past year, Magisk has exploded in popularity as an alternative to SuperSU for users on our forums. It provides many advantages over other root solutions: it’s open source, plays nice with the SafetyNet tamper check, and has an extensive repository of modules that modify your phone without touching your system partition. However, Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL users who wanted to use Magisk on their device were forced to use unofficial ports—until now.

XDA Recognized Developer / Recognized Contributor topjohnwu has released Magisk v14.1 which brings official support for devices with an A/B partitioning scheme. This means the Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL are now supported as well as the Motorola Moto Z2 Force and the Xiaomi Mi A1. According to the developer, a lot of changes had to be made in order to properly accommodate the Google Pixel devices. The changes made to Magisk also mean that owners of these devices (or the Google Pixels, at least) will be able to take OTA updates seamlessly while preserving Magisk. The instructions for how to apply an OTA update without losing Magisk can be found here.

If you own a Google Pixel or another device with the A/B partition scheme, head on over to the official XDA thread to download Magisk version 14.1. The installation methods remain the same for these devices: either install it through your custom recovery or let Magisk Manager make a custom boot image for you to install.

This is pretty good news for owners of A/B partitioned devices, and as always, we are looking forward to future Magisk releases to see what it brings to the table. Follow the XDA Magisk forums to keep up to date on the latest Magisk Modules as well as any news straight from the main developer, topjohnwu.

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Get Magisk v14.1 now

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Third Generation Amazon Fire TV Announced, Includes 4K UHD and HDR Support at $69.99

The Amazon Fire TV has been one of the best-selling digital media players available in the market, ever since it was introduced back in 2014. The first-generation player included 2 GB of RAM, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor, and support for 1080p video playback, making it a compelling package back in the day. The second-generation device, introduced in 2015, added 4K UHD support and improved processor speeds for roughly the same price. Today, Amazon has announced the third generation of its Amazon Fire TV streaming device, adding some substantial improvements over the previous generation devices while lowering the price tag considerably.

The new Amazon Fire TV, aside from including 4K UHD support like its predecessor, also includes high dynamic range (HDR) support for multimedia playback on HDR-compatible TVs. HDR allows for more vivid, true-to-life colors on videos and images, and puts the Fire TV on par, feature-wise, with other media players like the Chromecast Ultra or the recently launched Apple TV 4K. The new Amazon Fire TV also comes with Alexa support built in, allowing you to search, control and launch content using your voice. It also allows you to pair your Fire TV with any of your Echo devices — including the just-announced Echo Spot, which will launch in December. There’s currently no information on internal specs, but the second generation device was powered by a MediaTek 8173C, so it’s unsure whether they will continue using an MTK chipset this time around.

The 3rd-generation Amazon Fire TV also includes a drastic price reduction, making the device even more affordable than ever. While previous Amazon Fire TVs have retailed for a $99.99 price point, the 3rd-generation Fire TV will be available for $69.99. The device will launch on October 25th, initially available in the US, with no information yet for availability in other countries. The Fire TV has previously launched in the UK, Germany, Japan and India, and we expect these countries to also receive this much-needed refresh eventually during the coming months. To see more about the new Fire TV, you can check out the Amazon press release, when you will see the whole list of new features and improvements.

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Source: Amazon

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Amazon Echo Spot is a Smaller, Less Expensive Version of the Echo Show

Amazon is holding an Alexa-themed hardware launch event at their headquarters today and has announced a number of new products. Likely as a way to compete with the likes of Google and Apple who are both gearing up for the holiday season, Amazon is not holding back either and has just announced a flurry of new products. The latest announcement is a device they’re calling the Amazon Echo Spot wish looks to be a smaller version of the Echo Show and will fit perfectly on your nightstand.

When it comes to Amazon’s Echo products, they seem to be trying to cover as many bases as possible. The company’s first Echo connected speaker was big, expensive and high quality for 2014. They realized that it would be difficult to get people to outfit their entire home with that product, so they released the Echo Dot. This was less expensive than the regular Echo and was also a lot smaller too. So not only did customers save money compared to the bigger version, but they could also fit it in more places.

Amazon took the same approach with their new Echo Show product as well. This was the company’s first Alexa-enabled device that also came with a big tablet sized 7″ touchscreen display on it. It has a lot of features packed into it but also comes with a $230 price tag as well. So to compliment the new Echo Show, they have just announced the Amazon Echo Spot for $130. So we can already see that it’s smaller and less expensive and that will definitely attract a certain type of customer.

Amazon says this new product combines what people love about the Echo Dot with the new Echo Show and we can see how that describes it perfectly. It comes with a built-in 2W 1.4″ speaker, microphone, Bluetooth and audio out thanks to a 3.5mm stereo cable. It also features a 2.5″ screen, offers free calls to the US, Mexico, and Canada and includes support for Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, and more. The device is available for pre-order right now from here, and will be shipping in December.

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Source: Amazon

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