Intel Claims its Next 10nm Chips Will Be a “Generation Ahead” of Samsung

While the spotlight today is on the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus, Intel is trying to one-up Samsung in an area where they fiercely compete. Intel’s fabrication process has been strong, but 10nm chips have seemingly taken the company longer than expected.

However, Intel claims that its long-delayed 10nm Cannon Lake chips will be a “full generation ahead” of rivals Samsung and TSMC. This jump comes due to the “hyper scaling” in their design, which makes for denser chips able to accommodate for twice as many transistors, yielding CPUs with 25 more percent performance and 45 percent lower power use than what’s found on current Kaby Lake designs. While chip traces are the same as their competitor’s, the better feature density ultimately produces higher transistor counts and smaller die sizes than Samsung’s chips. Intel even claims that this design will help them continue Moore’s Law for better increments in performance in future releases.

Samsung and Qualcomm had partnered to bring the 10nm Snapdragon 835 to fruition, a strong alliance that allows them to showcase their design and manufacturing experience. Samsung thus leaped ahead of Intel through its 10nm FinFet process, and at the same time, the company is facing strong competition in the desktop CPU space due to AMD releasing Ryzen, a very competitive package at an affordable price.

Intel is supposedly planning to ride its 10nm chips for three years while keeping up with Moore’s Law, until they scale down to 7nm technology. The additional pressure put forth by the partnerships and releases its competition enjoyed in 2017 are certainly applying pressure here, which means Intel is likely to double down on its efforts to produce efficient chip designs, and perhaps even make its products more affordable as well. Either way, all of this competition is certainly benefiting us consumers in both the mobile and desktop/laptop space, so it’ll be interesting to see where these companies take our devices’ chips in 2017 and beyond.

Via: Engadget

from xda-developers http://ift.tt/2ohzDa8
via IFTTT

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ Finally Launched — Specifications, Pricing and Availability

At long last we are seeing the leak season for the Galaxy comes to an end as Samsung officially launched the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+, as their names would imply, are essentially the same phone but in different sizes. Both the devices come in a beautifully-premium body made of glass fronts and backs and a metallic side frame. This is the first Samsung device in a very, very long while that does not come with a hardware home button, too. The removal of the Home button and the other buttons allowed Samsung to go crazy with the phone’s screen by minimizing the bezel.

The front of the Galaxy S8 and S8+ is dominated by the large Infinity Display, further accentuated by the minimal bezels on the top and bottom, and the edge curve on the sides which effectively nullifies the frames on the side of the display. Samsung has chosen to go with a pure black front this time for its darker variant, reminiscent of the stealth black Note 7, which helps hide the wide array of sensors on the front and blends in much better with the Super AMOLED display when displaying black colors. The Galaxy S8 has a 5.8″ QHD+ (2960×1440) display and the Galaxy S8+ has a 6.2″ QHD+ display, a jump up in size from the 5.1″ display on the S7 and 5.5″ display on the S7 Edge — the key difference being they come in a 18:9 aspect ratio, which actually means they are similar to their predecessors in terms of display width. The S8 measures 148.9 x 68.1 x 8.0 mm and weighs 155g, while the S8+ measures 159.5 x 73.4 x 8.1 mm and weighs 173g. Both the devices bear IP68 water and dust resistance.

The lack of Home button on the front led Samsung to move the fingerprint sensor onto the back of the device. But Samsung has oddly positioned the sensor on the right side of the camera module, which does look more awkward than a symmetrical and circular sensor like the ones we see on the Pixels; we’ll have to wait to find out how awkward this implementation really is. The left side of the device has the volume rocker and power button, while the right side bears the dedicated button for the Bixby Virtual Assistant. The new phones come with a USB Type-C port, and thankfully, also come with a 3.5mm headphone jack port (it’s a sad state of affairs when one has to specifically list this specification).

The insides of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ are the same  (except for battery size, of course), but there are variations overall depending where you buy your device. The International variant of the S8’s will be powered by Samsung’s own Exynos 8895 SoC based on 10nm FinFET technology, while the American variant of the S8’s will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC based on the same Samsung-fabbed 10nm FinFET technology.

Both variants will also come with 4GB of DDR4 RAM [as we’ve seen in previous years, the Chinese variant will get it bumped up to 6GB (+128GB storage) as per its TENAA listing, although Samsung did not mention of this during the launch event]. Its UFS 2.1 storage comes in at 64GB internally and microSD expansion for additional storage. Depending on the market, the Galaxy S8’s will also sport Dual SIM capabilities.

The camera setup on the Galaxy S8 and S8+ is comprised of a 12MP Dual Pixel sensor with f/1.7. As expected from Samsung’s flagship, you also get PDAF and OIS. Video capabilities on the devices include simultaneous 4K video and 9MP image capture, as well as 4K video recording at 60FPS and FHD slow-mo at 120fps. The front setup consists of an 8MP autofocus sensor with f/1.7.

The main difference between the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ resides in their battery capacity. The S8 comes with a 3,000 mAh battery, while the S8+ comes with a larger 3,500 mAh battery. For their display sizes, the batteries do seem about right, but we can understand why Samsung would want to play it safe. Both of these devices come with fast wireless charging as well as regular fast charging capabilities.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ come with Android 7.0 Nougat below Samsung’s own skin. You can read more about its software features in our dedicated coverage.

Pricing and Availability

Pre-orders for the devices will begin at 12:01 EDT on March 30,2017. AT&T, Cricket Wireless, Sprint, Straight Talk Wireless, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, and Verizon Wireless will carry the devices in stores from April 21st. Customers who pre-order will receive a free Gear VR headset with Controller as well as Oculus content.

Variations will persist across other regions for both pricing and availability. We’ll add pricing as soon as Samsung reveals them.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ will come in Midnight Black, Orchid Gray and Arctic Silver colors initially.

What are your thoughts on the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Samsung Galaxy S8+? Do you look forward to purchasing the device? Let us know in the comments below!

from xda-developers http://ift.tt/2nM6UN0
via IFTTT

Reference Guide Helps Add Substratum Support to LineageOS

It’s generally easy to add Substratum support to a custom ROM, but LineageOS has made some underlying changes that make this difficult. To remedy this, XDA Forum Moderator The Flash has come up with a series of reference repos to help with forks & local builds.

from xda-developers http://ift.tt/2ngUY1V
via IFTTT

Unofficial Port of EFIDroid is Available for the Nexus 5

XDA Senior Member lukss12 just released their port of XDA Recognized Developer and Contributor m11kkaa‘s EFIDroid tool. Most configurations should work, but lukss12 has only done testing with the last LineageOS Build (21/03/2017) and TWRP 3.1.0-0.

from xda-developers http://ift.tt/2nLNd85
via IFTTT

Send us a Tip to get a Month of XDA Ad-Free

Everyone has their own story of how they found their way onto the XDA-Developers Forums.

Most of you probably found the XDA Forums when looking up how to unlock your bootloader, root your phone, and/or flash a custom ROM or kernel. We have forums for a huge variety of devices from many different manufacturers (and we’re always expanding, too!) While newer versions of Android have reduced the draw towards tinkering with custom software on your phone, development is still going strong on our forums with a wide variety of guides, mods, kernels, ROMs, apps, and more being published by users like you.

But it costs money to run a forum, provide free hosting for files, and add new features for developers and users alike. That’s why use a variety of ad formats to monetize the site, but we know many of you don’t like ads, so we introduced XDA Ad-Free so you can skip the ads while still showing your support for XDA. Using adblock is always your right as an internet citizen, but it doesn’t help us in any way.

Now, we have another way for you to support XDA: by sending us a tip. And if your tip leads to us publishing an article on the XDA-Developers News Portal, you’ll get a month of …

---

Send us a Tip and Get 1 Month XDA Ad-Free

While we would love to be omnipotent and know everything that’s going on in the world of Android, it’s simply impossible for the XDA Portal Team to know every little detail. We have our own sources and tools we refer to so we can stay on top of things, but there are some things that we need the eyes and ears of users like you to uncover.

Things like OTA updates for some phones, Google application server-side updates bringing new features, or something else you’ve noticed that you think deserves immediate attention are difficult for us to independently discover because we simply don’t have every single device in every single region nor do we have enough devices to ensure that we’ll always be part of a software update roll out.

We now have a proper tip submission form so that you can help us be aware of such changes, features, or findings.

Send us a tip!

If you click the above link, you’ll be taken to our new tip page where you can access the contact form to send us correspondence, whether with a username attached or anonymously, with information you think is newsworthy. If your contribution catches our attention and we publish an article (which are typically >300 words in length, and not the short links to our forum that you occasionally see), then we’ll gift a month of Ad-Free to your XDA account.

Please note that what we consider newsworthy is ultimately up to the XDA Portal Editorial Team, so it’s possible your tip may not result in a published article. In general, if you are sending one of the following category of tips, you are more likely to see an article get published and thus receive a month of Ad-Free for your contribution:

• New software update such as Android Nougat rolling out for your device. In addition, we welcome tips about new features that you find in these software updates.
• Screenshots/Information about a new feature in a Google application (one that only just popped up in a recent update, or one that is rolling out in a server-side update).
• Sending us newly discovered security vulnerabilities or hidden features in existing software are also welcome.
• Leaks of new hardware, software, or other content you would like to exclusively provide XDA. In such cases, XDA will protect the anonymity of the tipster.

We appreciate any help we can get to expand the coverage on the XDA Portal (but please don’t bog down the tip line by sending us technical support questions or requests for a ROM/kernel!) Sending us a news tip is just one way you can contribute to XDA, and for your contribution we are offering a month of XDA Ad-Free as a reward.

Just make sure you spell your XDA Forum username correctly in the form (if you choose not to submit anonymously), or we can’t properly credit you for your tip!

from xda-developers http://ift.tt/2o9eRIM
via IFTTT

[MAGISK] How to Enable PS4 Remote Play on Your Android Device and Play with DualShock 4 + Tips & Opinion

If you are lucky enough to own both a PlayStation 4 console and a Sony Xperia smartphone or tablet, then you might be aware of a service available to you: Remote Play, an app that enables you to play PS4 games on your smartphone by streaming it through your console.

Now, Remote Play on smartphones is kind of a situational feature — it’s extremely bounded by your internet connection speeds on both your console and your smartphone, and setting it up right can be quite a hassle without a gameclip to hold your phone and controller together. Given it “necessitates” WiFi (it can be spoofed, though), it’s also likely you’ll be playing it from home anyway. But it’s still useful as it enables you to continue your videogame even if someone is hoarding the TV, or if you want to game in a different room or while on the toilet. What’s more, you can still reply to texts and such by using Nougat’s multi-window, for example, without interrupting your game. Or, you can display floating videos on top of your game to multi-task while gaming — the opportunities are endless.

While the service is available on Mac and Windows, the Android application is sadly only available to Sony devices when searching for it on the Play Store. What’s more, it will also not run on your non-Sony smartphone even if you manage to get your hands on the APK. Finally, while the DualShock 4 can be natively recognized by Android (bluetooth), driver and compatibility issues might render it obsolete if you even get Remote Play to run on your device anyway! There are some practical workarounds to this problem, though, put forth by forum users at XDA. Specifically, I’ll refer to a short guide by XDA Senior Member leolawliet (thanks a lot!) to which I’ll add some more detail, plus some tips and a short review of the experience. If you have Magisk (root) or are willing to flash Magisk, check out this guide to get your PS4 game on your smartphone!

---

1. First things first, you want to make sure you enable Magisk by flashing it through your Custom Recovery (TWRP). You can find the necessary files plus installation instructions on this thread. Magisk is good to have regardless of whether you want or need this mod, as it’s one of the better systemeless root solutions out there.
2. Once you have Magisk set up, go to the “Downloads” tab on the sidemenu, and search for the “Sony Framework” module (v1) by Seyaru. This will install the necessary foundation to use Remote Play as if you had a Sony Android device. After it is done downloading, it will ask to install and enable the module, which needs a reboot. You can either reboot now, or further down this guide as a reboot will be necessary later on as well.
3. Now that you have the Sony Framework, you need to check your build.prop in order to make your device compatible with Remote Play version 2.0.0. Sony has made previous versions (which were widely available on our forums, pre-modified) obsolete by prompting the user to update the application before a connection can be established. Luckily, and as found by XDA Senior Member leolawliet, you can remedy this through a build.prop edit: simply add (or replace if you have a similar line with a different value) this line ro.build.tags=release-keys. Alternatively, you can install the Magisk module provided by leolawliet in order to add it to your build.prop Also, a recent Magisk update has reportedly made it so that no changes are necessary. Either way, and as listed here, there are a couple of ways in which you can approach this should it not work for you from the get go. Regardless of which path you take, be sure to enable both modules and reboot your device.
4. Search the Play Store for “Remote Play” — you should see the application, though you might not be able to install it (results varied for me). If that’s the case, you need to download the APK either through an APK downloader website or browser extension (check MD5 sum to verify the APK’s integrity). Once you have installed Remote Play, go to Magisk again, and under “Settings” enable “Magisk Hide”. After that, a new menu becomes available in the side panel. Go to that menu and then search for your PlayStation apps, then “hide them”. This way, you won’t get a root access prompt when launching Remote Play.
5. Now here is where it gets tricky. Depending on your ROM, you might either not be able to send any input through the DualShock 4 at all, or be able to use it as a gamepad but not as a Remote Play controller (as was the case for me on LineageOS). Luckily, there is an (admittedly awkward) universal workaround:
   1. Make a second PSN account — it doesn’t need to have a subscription, it just needs to be on your PS4
   2. Make sure Remote Play is configured on your PS4 and on that account (it shouldn’t need extra fidgeting)
   3. Connect to this new dummy account through Remote Play, while your main PS4 Account is in the foreground

   This will make it so that your DualShock 4 will remain connected to the PlayStation 4 and be able to operate it while your screen is casting to your device. The only limitation is, of course, that you’ll be constrained to bluetooth range. I found that the range wasn’t much of a problem, though walls can get in the way and when being two or three rooms and walls apart from the console, microphone input and output would start to stutter and cut out (input lag wouldn’t noticeably vary with changes in distance, though). Hopefully you won’t need this workaround at all.

6. Enjoy!

---

Tips and Tricks + My Opinion

Once everything is setup, connecting to your PS4 for streaming is as easy as launching the app and pressing the PlayStation button on your controller to ensure that it connects as well. You are able to steam at a standard or high-framerate (30 or 60), with options for resolution including 480p, 540p, 720p, and 1080p. I personally found 720p to work excellently for my usecases, and 1080p also works really well for certain games or scenarios. User reports online also state that playing 30FPS games in high-framerate mode can reduce input lag. If you are playing a simple, indie game like “Risk of Rain”, you can expect smooth and solid gameplay with no input lag and framelosses. I’ve also been able to play titles like Dark Souls III and even Battlefield 1 with no issues (except sub-standard framerate on the latter, as I was playing at 30FPS). I do have a 100mbps download and 20mbps upload connection, though while monitoring my internet I never found the PS4 nor the phone taking up much traffic, not even when prioritizing either device (you should prioritize the PlayStation 4, in this case).

I also use a gameclip to attach my controller on top of my DualShock 4 — the setup is a tad clunky as it is much heavier than your standard joystick setup, though at the right angle the additional weight is very manageable (this, of course, depends on your device). Even at 1080p, graphics fidelity is not quite as sharp as on your regular PS4, but the viewing distance helps hide some of those imperfections. If you have an AMOLED display, you’ll be able to experience dark areas in games like you’ve never been able to before (assuming you don’t have an outstanding OLED TV), something I really appreciate in titles like Bloodborne. Ultimately, though, you want to find the right balance between graphics quality and input lag — with a solid internet connection, you should be able to have unnoticeable delay at 720p, but I’d personally adjust the resolution to make gameplay as responsive as possible. Even 540p on a 5.5-inch display doesn’t look too bad, but at 720p you would be getting more pixels-per-inch than the Nintendo Switch if it wasn’t for the slight compression and artifacts introduced by streaming the game.

Some of my favorite use cases involve playing games while lounging in the kitchen with my girlfriend, when taking a quick break at my office, or while on the toilet (because why not?). I also resort to this when my girlfriend is watching shows our main television. I also really appreciate that I can simply hold the multi-tasking menu and instantly initiate splitscreen to use another app while monitoring the game. This is especially useful during loading screens, or while waiting for a lobby to ready up — if you leave the application without multi-window active, you will have to re-initiate Remote Play, but the game will keep doing it’s thing in the background (your PS4). You can, for example, browse reddit while waiting for your co-operator to join your session, or reply to a quick text on an IM app. Finally, while watching videos on multi-window while playing is impractical, video overlays offered by apps like Twitch will not interrupt Remote Play in any way, allowing you to keep playing videogames while, for instance, watching other people play videogames.

---

We hope you find this guide useful — once again, huge props to the Sony Framework module and XDA Senior Member leolawliet for his workaround and short guide. See you in The Ringed City!

 

from xda-developers http://ift.tt/2ovPsth
via IFTTT

Google Home and Google WiFi Arrive in the UK on April 6th

In the war of home assistants, Google and Amazon have been duking it out in an effort to own your living room. Both companies have launched their own products that launch their respective virtual assistants, Google Assistant and Alexa, at the convenience of a voice command.

Google wants to expand the areas in which it competes against Amazon’s Alexa. Amazon’s offerings have been available for purchase in the U.K., which meant that Amazon had a regional edge with a chance to capture the market (however big the market for home assistants in the U.K. may be).

By bringing Google Home to the U.K., Google is finally expanding its presence to a territory outside of the U.S.A. The company says that it will partner with more of the U.K.’s favorite applications and services to give its customers the best possible experience. Google has also hidden a few British treats for its U.K. customers to discover, encouraging its customers to ask Google Home its favorite hobbies and foods. We can only guess what the answers to those will be.

Google is also bringing Google Wifi to the U.K. Google Wifi is a home WiFi router that works with your modem to bring security and simplicity to your home WiFi network. Google Wifi utilizes the mesh WiFi technology to provide the best coverage when utilizing multiple Google Wifi devices. You also get features such as WiFi pausing which can help you control the connected devices and their network consumption.

Google Home and Google WiFi will be available in offline stores and the Google Store in the U.K. starting April 6th. Google Home will cost £129 for one device, while additional colored bases will be available for £18 for the fabric and £36 for the metal variants. Google Wifi will be available for £129 in a 1-pack and for £229 in a 2-pack.

Do you look forward to purchasing Google Home and Google Wifi? Let us know in the comments below!

---

Source: Google

from xda-developers http://ift.tt/2ovehFN
via IFTTT