By default, any app that requests a certain permission can run automatically as soon as you start your device. Since Android doesn't offer a granular permission control system like iOS, this gets lumped in with all of the other permissions that you have to accept when you're installing an app from the Google Play Store, and you effectively have no choice in the matter.
For some strange reason, when the Nexus 5 got its Lollipop update, the new stock system sounds were left out. These include updated versions of all of the ringtones and notifications, which Google revamped with a more mature sound that matches Android 5.0's elegant Material Design.
Android "Lollipop" introduced a ton of cool new functionality. Unfortunately, the Nexus 5 didn't get all of these features, as some were exclusive to other devices. For example, the Ambient Display function on the Nexus 6 that shows new notifications as they come in with a black-and-white lock screen. Sure, the new Nexus phablet has an AMOLED display that doesn't waste any battery to power black pixels, but it would be nice to have this feature as an option on the Nexus 5, wouldn't it?
At $349 off contract, the Nexus 5 has always been one of the best bang-for-your-buck smartphones on the market. In order to keep the price that low, however, Google had to pass up on some of the minor features that other flagship phones offer.
There were over 1.2 million changes made to Android when the OS got updated from KitKat to Lollipop, but a minor front-facing modification has many users in an uproar.
As Nexus owners, we love our device's operating system, and it's probably the reason we went for a pure Google experience in the first place. But that doesn't mean there's not room for improvement in Android, especially when the OS has so many freely available softMods to tinker with.
If you turned on your HTC One for the first time and wondered what that weird icon that looks like an N is, it indicates that NFC is on. It seems strange to me that HTC wanted to waste Status bar space on an NFC indicator, but sometimes we just have to deal with it. However, if you're a softModder, you don't have to just deal with it. The icon can't be removed permanently, but there is a very easy way to hide it forever.
Rooting your Samsung Galaxy S4 has many advantages; theming, free wireless hotspots, deleting system apps, and generally being ahead of the curve when it comes to updates. It's also great for simple things like centering your clock or freezing apps.
I don't know of a pain greater than of the one felt after cracking the screen of your phone. After I managed to crack my screen, rendered unusable, I immediately began to panic as to how I was going to recover all of the photos, videos, and documents stored on my device. After a few hours of searching, I came upon a thread by Mohamad Sabra that showed exactly how to alleviate my problem.
Just the fact that you own an Android device means you're privy to an entire world of third-party development. Many of the mods you'll see here on Gadget Hacks can be performed fresh out of the box, but with root and Xposed, the list grows longer. But to truly be able to take advantage of all that Android's massive development community has to offer, you'll need to have a custom recovery installed.
In this how-to video, you will learn how to downgrade an iPhone or iPod Touch to 3.1.2. First, download the correct firmware model. Hold the home button and power button. Release the power button when the screen turns off. Make sure the device is plugged in while doing this. This will put the device in recovery mode. In iTunes, hold shift and click restore in the device screen. Next, navigate to the firmware you downloaded and click okay. This will downgrade the device to the firmware you dow...
If your phone won't boot or you need to dig deeper into the Android operating system on your Motorola Droid Bionic, this tutorial on booting the Bionic into recovery mode should help you out. Just be careful, because a factory reset on the Verizon Wireless smartphone will cause you to lose all of your data.
You can't call yourself an Android pro without knowing about Recovery or Download Mode. These menus are critical to do more advanced tasks on your phone, include sideloading software updates and un-bricking a device. But this year, Samsung changed the button combinations that will get you there.
As the largest wireless service providers in the United States, AT&T and Verizon Wireless carry some serious clout. Sadly, they use some of this power to heavily modify the Android phones that they offer.
As we near the one-year anniversary of its release (and the inevitable unveiling of its successor), the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 remains a device that packs quite a punch when it comes to hardware. It boasts a 2.3Ghz CPU and was the first mobile phone ever to house 3GBs of RAM. Suffice it to say, it can handle any software you throw at it with no discernible lag. Even Samsung's notoriously bloated TouchWiz ROM seems lightning fast.
As with most OEMs, HTC would like you to think that you can do virtually anything with your new HTC One M8, but as a softModder, you know that isn't true. To actually unleash the full potential of that device, you need access to the whole system, not just the parts that HTC deems okay for you to mess with.
The video explains how to unbrick a fully bricked PSP using a hard modded pandora battery and magic memory stick. This method does NOT need a 2nd custom PSP. Your PSP is fully bricked if it is not powering on/no recovery. You won't need anything else other then a PC (OS must be XP for the MMS creator to work, VISTA doesn't work) a bricked PSP and a 1gb memory stick. In order to create the Magic Memory Stick, you'll want to go here and follow the instructions.
In this tutorial, we learn how to reboot your iPod Touch fast. First, hold the power and the home button at the same time for ten seconds, then release the power button and continue to hold the home button for eight more seconds. Next, open up iTunes and look at your iPod to make sure it's in DFU mode. Make sure your iPod is connected via USB to your computer, then it will pop up an alert that your iPod is in recovery mode. Exit this pop up and then exit iTunes. From here, download 1click Boo...
If you want to reset your iPod, you have to loose your stuff. It is very simple to save your stuff and reset your iPod. This process takes just a few seconds to complete. After that, you can see that all applications and themes are saved. Your iPod will be reset without deleting any of your stuff.
Swim guru Doug Stern shows you how to do arm recovery swimming drills. These drills help improve high elbow recovery. Drills covered are the finger drag drill, zipper (thumbsies) drill, and the sharkfin drill.
When it comes to customizing Android, there's nothing quite like Magisk. You can potentially combine dozens of modules to create a one of a kind user experience tailored to you, but not all modules will work well together. You might run into a bootloop by accident once in a while, which could cause some issues on its own.
A custom recovery is a very powerful tool. You can flash ZIPs that modify your Android device in ways that not even root can accomplish, and of course you can use it to install custom ROMs. But when you're applying all of these cool mods, there's always a chance that something could go wrong, and you might even end up bricking your device.
As the developer behind the most popular root methods for hundreds of Android devices, Chainfire knows the ins and outs of Android root procedures. But this doesn't mean he's infallible—occasionally, some of his root utilities can cause minor bugs.
Android 5.0 brought a lot of changes to the world's most popular mobile OS, but few were more central to the user experience than tweaks made to the "Overview" menu (more commonly known as the "Recent Apps" menu). Aside from a visual overhaul, Chrome tabs now exist as separate entries in this list, as do Google searches and a few other activities.
The switch from Dalvik runtime to ART in Android Lollipop has rendered the Xposed Framework useless until a new version is released, but Xposed isn't the only way to mod a phone.
The front-facing stereo speakers on the Nexus 6 certainly pump out some awesome sound—but it could always be better, right?
As carriers finalize their variations of the Android 4.4.4 update, we're left with only brief glimpses of what the new "Eye Experience" holds in store for us while we wait. However, thanks to a system dump of an updated European HTC One M8 and some clever hackery by donmarkoni, we can now install the new camera app on any variant of the HTC One M8.
Increased battery life is easily one of the most sought after improvements to a device and often drives intrepid users to root their phones, flash new ROMs, and try out experimental kernels.
The Galaxy S5 is definitely not lacking when it comes to computing power. With a Snapdragon 801 processor, an Adreno 330 GPU, and 2 gigabytes of RAM, it can take almost anything you throw at it.
The bootloaders on the AT&T and Verizon Wireless variants of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 still cannot be unlocked, despite the $1,400+ bounty that arose late last year. Nine months later and still nothing. But just because we can't "unlock" the bootloader doesn't mean we can't get around it.
Android has come a long way in a very short period of time. One of its largest leaps, at least in terms of aesthetic value, was a design pattern called Holo UI. Originally debuting in Android 4.0, many of these design elements are still in place today.
When it comes to smartphones, we can sometimes get a little carried away with the "smart" aspect of it all. Things like apps, games, and softMods take center stage, and we can almost forget that the device also functions as a phone.
The new Android 4.3 Jelly Bean has been out for a while already, and most of you already have it installed on your Nexus 7 tablets. Many of you softModders have also probably rooted your tablet so you can take advantage of some of the more popular root-only softMods, like speeding up performance, installing WhatsApp, increasing internet speeds, getting Beats Audio, etc.
So, you've flashed a bad ROM or ZIP file, and now your Nexus 7 won't boot up. Maybe it just went haywire for no reason. Whatever happened, the bad news only keeps coming—you didn't make a backup of your system, contacts, or apps.
We go to such great lengths to secure our smartphones. We put passwords on our lock screens, encrypt our data, and install anti-theft programs, but it's never enough—someone, somewhere, will find a way around any protective measure you use, no matter how sophisticated.
In the realm of Android mods, none is more powerful than a custom recovery. This is installed in place of the stock offering, and it lets you back up your entire system, flash mods, and install custom ROMs.
If you have a custom recovery installed on your Nexus 5, you're able to flash custom ROMs and lots of other cool Gadget Hacks. But when it comes time to receive and Over-the-Air (OTA) update directly from Google, having a custom recovery installed can be a fairly big hindrance—and for the upcoming Android L release, you're going to want to alleviate that.
In a previous softModder guide, we converted our HTC One smartphone into a legitimate Google Play Edition HTC One, but that conversion cause our bootloader to be locked once again. So, if we ever want to convert it back to a regular Sense-style HTC One, we'll need to unlock the bootloader.
Don't always believe the marketing hype. "PlayStation Certified" does not mean anything to a softModder. All this indicates is that a smartphone or tablet labeled as "PlayStation Certified" has met the guidelines and hardware requirements issued by Sony to display PlayStation Mobile (PSM) content from the PlayStation Mobile Store correctly. No Nexus 7 here.
Take a look at this instructional video and learn how to install the recovery LE to your Playstation portable. With the recovery LE, you can access your firmware's recovery menu options from the PSP's main menu (XMB).
