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Most of the software functionality of the Pixel 3 has been hacked and extracted. You can install it on your Android device running Nougat or later if you're rooted with Magisk. If this offline voice recognition is done in software instead of dedicated hardware (like the original Moto X), expect it to be made available for other rooted devices as well.

Android for desktop has existed for some time, and works quite well. As an experiment, I used it for days, and the experience was surprisingly complete.

Now tell me.. why would these new generations suddenly switch from mobile to desktop machine, when they get older?

There's a list here of phones that have been officially (and unofficially) updated to Treble . But this whole discussion is about how you don't have to wait for your vendor. If you want to update your phone, maybe look here.

My Nexus 5X recently died - just rebooted in the middle of using it and it didn't come back up, just got stuck in a boot loop. My dad had the exact same thing happen to his phone (also a 5X) a couple months back; I went through the usual process to try to fix it and discovered that there's a fix that basically involved an unofficial ROM, along with an effort to try to get fix legitimised by Google by signing the relevant files.

It seems that the 5X is just busted by design as many many users had this problem. I haven't been able to get mine to boot far enough to try the fix (seems it's better as a immunisation method).

I was a bit nervous about putting random software I downloaded from the Internet on at such a low level, although it's all open source and seems to be highly recommended by XDA at least.

But when this sort of customisation is the only way to keep your phone alive when it dies hard after only two years - you'd better believe they're still a thing. Here's to the hacker types that keep our devices alive.

Name a SINGLE phone that actually supports using GSI

Google's Pixel phones are the obvious examples, as they're designed for easy user unlocking. But any of the phones listed here or here can also be unlocked, and many of them like the recent-ish OnePlus, Xiaomi, and Huawei phones are easy to flash GSIs to. Other compatible phones may require root first, like with any pre-GSI custom rom. And any unlockable phone shipping with Android 8.0+ can run any of the many GSI roms - regardless of the vendor's (lack of) updates.

Bonus Points if you can name a phone where the OEM took the time to update a pre-8 device to treble...

Better, here's a whole list.

Dude, new phones

ScorpionROM for pixel 3 and 3xl

Seriously. Kids these days...

S beauhd E
E beauhd D
N BeauHD I
I BeauHD T
O beauhd O
R beauhd R

Dude, new phones

ScorpionROM for pixel 3 and 3xl

Seriously. Kids these days...

S beauhd E
E beauhd D
N BeauHD I
I BeauHD T
O beauhd O
R beauhd R

In some ways we're now entering a golden age for Android roms, with the advent of Project Treble.

All phones shipping with Android 8.0+ are required to support Treble's platform abstraction layer, making life dramatically easier for custom rom bakers, going forward. Older phones benefit too; once their idiosyncratic hardware support is adapted to Treble, they can also expect easier and more stable updates. Generic System Images (GSIs) are now the norm, and will more or less run on any compatible platform.

Anyway nowadays it's hard to Root and get SuperUser and I don't understand why.

Seems pretty straightforward:

https://www.xda-developers.com...

It's not trivial and should not be since only those that know what they are doing should root their phone.

You're welcome.

It's not iOS or Windows, it's Android. You can make it behave however you want. This "story" must have been written by a complete tech noob.

Assuming you're ok with using adb, someone with a Galaxy S8 should be able to remove Facebook (or any other bloatware) even if they don't have root. You'll just need to follow these steps from xda. Only issue with this is anything you remove will come back if you do a factory reset.

In about 2012, I switched to Android, mostly cause I run linux everywhere else and like it.
I thought I'd have more privacy, then slowly realized how stupid that was.
Looked into Cyanogenmod and LineageOS over and over, but ran out of time to ever actually do it.

If you were considering Cyanogenmod (phone has unlocked bootloader and is rooted), you didn't look hard enough.

AFWall+ lets you block apps from sending data over the network. Let's you selectively allow/deny access to the LAN, WiFi, and/or cellular networks for each app and service on your phone. (NetGuard claims to do the same without root, but I haven't tried it.)

XPrivacyLua takes a different approach. It allows the apps to send data back, it just turns the data they see into fake data. So your location will be spoofed as being in the South Pacific, they will see a fake contact list instead of your real one, This works better if an app you need needs network access to function or crashes if you simply block its network access.

https://forum.xda-developers.c...

Android's memory management has got way better in the last few releases

Yeah, really. And that's why Android OS occupies close to or even more than 1,5GB of RAM in modern Android releases?

Argh. "power management". I meant power management.

Maybe next time research a little bit more before spewing out BS.

Oh, you're an arsehole! You didn't have to be, you could be civilised, but no. I'm not 100% agreeing with you, so you immediately resort to insults. How disappointing.

Android's memory management has got way better in the last few releases

Yeah, really. And that's why Android OS occupies close to or even more than 1,5GB of RAM in modern Android releases?

to emit more light

More light? How so? The screens have become a lot more power efficient recently.

with ridiculous pixel densities

Yeah, exactly, except my five years old Nexus 5 has a FHD 5" screen and modern phones have basically the same resolution for 6-6.5" screens, so if anything the pixel density has increased.

doze and app standby are specifically there to reduce wakeups

Except Pie is worse for your battery than Oreo before it. Maybe next time research a little bit more before spewing out BS.

Android has become a complete resource hog recently and Google even released a special version of it (Android Go) which could fit in 1GB RAM smartphones. I vividly remember previous Android releases had no troubles fitting in such low-memory devices and being able to even run apps. Wow. Nowadays people with 4GB of RAM complain that Android kills apps when there are no (visible) background apps running.

But it is not necessarily locked away...
https://www.xda-developers.com...

Even then, what's stopping a school from buying a shitload of chromebooks, and then ripping Google's OS out of them and going with whatever the fuck they want, using something like MrChromebox?

https://mrchromebox.tech/#devi...

(Notice, just about all of them support *FULL* UEFI bios replacement!!)

Here's how I like 'em...and I suggest ya have 'em the same way! (sorry about the jumbled wall of text, Slashdot would not accept it when it was neatly formatted)

OS: LineageOS (XDA Forums), Activity tracker: Loop Habit Tracker, Ad blocker: AdAway, Appstore: F-Droid & Yalp Store, Audiobook player: Voice, Calculator: LineageOS stock or Simple Calculator, Calendar: Simple Calendar (Offline, local calendar), Camera: LineageOS stock or Simple Camera, Clock: Simple Clock or LineageOS stock, Contacts: Simple Contacts or LineageOS stock, Document scanner: Open Note Scanner, Document viewer: Document Viewer, Drawing: Simple Draw, Email: K-9 Mail, Feed reader: Flym, File Manager: Simple File Manager and DiskUsage, Game: Shortyz & SolitaireCG, Gallery: Simple Gallery or LineageOS stock, Launcher: LineageOS stock, Loyalty card: Loyalty Card Keychain, Maps: OsmAnd+, Messenger: Delta Chat and Meshenger, Music player: Simple Music Player or Vanilla Music or LineageOS stock, Netcast client: SoundWaves or AntennaPod, Notes: Simple Notes, Password manager: KeePassDroid, Sensor test: Sensor Readout, SMS: Silence, Spirit level: Bubble, Star chart: Sky Map, Television killer: TV KILL, Terminal emulator: Termux, Unit converter: Unit Converter Ultimate, Web browser: Private Browser or

smooth wombat inquired:

Can't you reimage your phone like you can a real computer? Or do the companies restrict you from doing even that?

Yes, you can - if you drive an Android device (although many users don't know how to access the bootloader to do what's called a "factory reset"). You can even replace your phone's OS with a third-party substitute that doesn't load it down with crapware to begin with.

Assuming your phone's carrier permits you to do that, of course. Many of them will not allow you to unlock the bootloader of a brand-new phone. (In the U.S., they can legally require you to be current on your payments for at least 3 months before they're obligated to reveal the unlock code to you.) If you didn't purchase it as part of a contract, however, you're free to do so.

Unless it's an iPhone. Then, not only can't you install a third-party OS, but, whenever they upgrade iOS to a new version, there'll be an unknowably-long period before a "jailbreak" is available for it. (Some older devices - the iPad 2 I inherited when my mom died, for instance - can't be jailbroken at all, if they've been upgraded to the latest version of iOS that's available for 32-bit CPUs. It's not so much a technical hurdle, as it is a lack of interest in working on hacks for what they regard as obsolete devices on the part of jailbreaking developers. Since none of those folks get paid for that, it's hard to criticize them for focusing on newer devices with a bigger user base - and I only use mine as an ereader, anyway.)

However:

Might be a way to start fresh so even the trackers wouldn't be around.

If your carrier sold you that phone (as per the rogue's gallery listed as "not responding" in TFS), there's a 100% chance that those trackers are baked into the "factory reset" firmware - in which case, they'll be seeing you again, RSN ...

Magisk has made SuperSU irrelevant because SuperSU needs to modify the system partition and Android since version 7 doesn't quite like it to the point that many functions stop working completely.

libreoffice needs rewriting to work on Android, plan, simple, and not because google doesn't want it

GNURoot Debian provides a Debian Linux environment that runs within the confines of the Android application sandbox

So you are wrong, LibreOffice can run without modification on Android. Work would need to be done to make it look and act like an Android app, but personally I don't give a shit about that, I just want to use a proper Office suite with a proper mouse/keyboard interface on my Android devices, which are perfectly capable of it. Google doesn't want this because it would compete with Google Docs, as I said.

If you don't like how they've implemented it, you can just not use the feature as it's entirely optional.

You obviously don't trust Google with unencrypted data, yet you're willing to copy your private keys to the system clipboard on your Android device.
That's going to give all apps on your phone access to your private keys. Clipboard monitoring is a permission all apps are given.
I have a download manager on my phone, it monitors the clipboard for URLs. There is nothing in the list of permissions to disable its clipboard access.

While you can disable clipboard access for any app, it's not easy. android.permission.READ_CLIPBOARD is auto-granted to any app that requests it and only a few custom roms allow you to control it.

That'd be as easy as hanging a cheap pre-paid Android phone on the wall...if Android supported NTP.
(Sadly, it does not.)

Are you sure about that?

I reread today.

From "How to Sideload an Android App From an APK on a Chromebook" by Chris Hoffman:

Step One: Put Your Chromebook Into Developer Mode

If you’re used to Android, you know that you need to enable the “Unknown Sources” option to install apps that aren’t available in Google Play. However, this option is hidden and not normally available on Chrome OS.

To access this option, you’ll need to put your Chromebook into developer mode
[...]
If you don’t see the Unknown Sources option here, your Chromebook isn’t in developer mode. This option only appears here when your Chromebook is in developer mode, so try going through Step One again.

I concede that this article was published two years ago. Let's try a more recent article from January 2018, "You'll Soon be Able to Sideload Android Apps on your Chromebook Without Developer Mode" by Arol Wright:

app sideloading's been available since the rollout of Android app support on the platform, but it currently requires enabling Developer mode. However, this might be changing very soon, according to a code commit spotted in Chrome OS.
[...]
easier Chrome OS sideloading won't come to consumer devices right away -- the commit references enterprise Chromebooks such as those in businesses and schools. When the feature is live, Chrome OS administrators will be able to toggle APK sideloading on and off on fleets of devices with a simple switch.

It's not certain yet whether Google will roll sideloading support out to regular, consumer Chromebooks in the near or far future.

Has this gone live on non-enterprise Chrome OS yet? It appears not, as "Load apps on Chromebooks" from the official Android documentation still states as of today:

Enabling unknown sources is available only when your device is in Developer mode.

Let me guess, you saw a notification and blocked it straight away so your phone wouldn't bug you with such pesky things?

nope.

my carrier locks them to my phone by marking them as system applications

Here's something to try: Debloater. It DOES NOT REMOVE the application and free up "ROM space", however it disables and effectively removes it from use. The app won't run, the icon disappears from the menu, all that.

It works on UNrooted phones, although you do have to have a minimum Android version (v4.4 I think) and turn on Debugging while you're using it. Works fine on my phones. You can turn things off and then back on if you want. You can PROBABLY also use it to disable the ADB debugging feature, in which case it's either Really like your Current Configuration, or it's System Reset Time. (Oops, don't do that.)

Personally, I liked just having the icon "go away." There's only one BlockBuster left in the US -- it's a 20-hour drive for me to get there so I doubt I'll be running the vendor-forced-install app very much. Again it's not truly UNINSTALLED, just invisible. Nearly the same thing.

If you're interested, using the XPosed framework with the XPrivacy module used to fix this problem (assuming you've rooted your phone): you could generate fake location data, white noise mic input, white noise camera input, etc., and the apps couldn't tell the difference. I haven't used it in a few years, but XPrivacyLua seems to be the modern successor of the XPrivacy project.

- Eliminated the ability to have 3rd party process managers that can access all the info about processes through /proc (while conveniently system_server still can). The correct answer to a security concern would be to make it a permission, but then you couldn't take away user freedom through false claims of security needs.
https://issuetracker.google.co...

- Same thing with eliminating the ability to get BATTERY_STATS permission without complex adb workarounds. Because how dare a user want to use a custom app to access battery stats.
https://forum.xda-developers.c...

- And most telling is the absolute abomination that is SafetyNet. Pure user restriction in the name of security -- preventing use of important apps unless the user deigns to use a ROM that is in the exact state Google wants it to be. If it were really about protecting the user from unknown malware, you would have a way to do custom signatures so the user could define what they consider "clean". But of course, that's not really the point. The point is to limit user freedom, and also to let apps dictate whether users can do things like spoof locations, take screenshots, etc.

Not too sure, but the Axon 7 was quite a popular phone on XDA forums, so I imagine you can get custom firmware:

https://forum.xda-developers.c...

There's also quite a good following on the ZTE's US community:

https://community.zteusa.com/c...

This page claims it has band 13 too:

https://www.gsmarena.com/zte_a...

It's a bit dated though.

The iFont app in Google Play offers a font named "Armani."

I was able to use iFont to create an APK file of this font, which I pulled onto a Red Hat desktop. After running unzip on the APK, I found an "Armani.ttf" True Type font file.

The font viewer reports this to be Bauhaus ITC regular.

This is my favorite font, and I copied it over the Android default /system/fonts/Roboto-Regular.ttf.

Supposedly, this typeface was obtained legally. I have had trouble with iFont in the past, so I don't install it anymore, but I have kept the exported typeface.

You can check it yourself by looking at the build.prop. There's also this reasonably up-to-date list.

You can check it yourself by looking at the build.prop. There's also this reasonably up-to-date list.

All it brings to mind is this.

It was my understanding that purchasing a "certified device" (like say a Pixel XL) with GApps preinstalled, includes a licence to use GApps on that device. I'd expect that flashing a new ROM would not void that licence. Yet reports show even Google's own devices are described as "uncertified" after being flashed.

Can you clarify? I get that this move is to hamper unlicenced vendors from including GApps themselves, but it's surprising to see Google also requiring whitelisting for legitimate devices that are definitely licenced.

OnePlus 5T

Huawei Mate 10

Xiaomi Mi A1 - costs around $200. Works with most cellular operators of the world.

But I am massively disappointed by the fact that Google have erased the Nexus line and expect me to jump up to a top-tier phone...

In Android land, you get the flexibility to pick a whole selection of devices with personal customization. But it also means you get quite the trade-off. Cheap and you get bloat and no-update or Google-tier and you get expensive hardware and get updates. Compare to iPhone land, iPhone only gives you one option, Apple-tier expensive hardware and get updates. After all, if you want updates you need to pay devs to update your device somehow.

Depend on your preference, picking an iPhone might be your easiest and best choice at providing you long update cycle. But if you really want your current Nexus 5X to last a little longer, you could spend some time to install a custom rom still supported after the end of support from either xda-developers or lineageOS. If you donation or pay the devs there, they will be encouraged to continue to support your device, keeping it up to date.

There's Android One but after reading their website I still can't figure out exactly what the hell it is.

What is Android One - tl;dr devices where manufacturers have committed to give clean android updates to the device. As for how long, it will be at least 1.5 years after device launch.

You can buy them by clicking on the devices at the website. If not, you could just copy the device name and ebay / amazon it to Australia. It's not that hard if you really want one. Not to mention, they are cheaper than Pixel phones.

Pixel phone on the other hand is still directly supported by Google and get 2-3 years at device launch (1-2 years remaining).

I just figured out how to remove those apps without root. Check this out, https://forum.xda-developers.c...

I've been failing at rooting my Verizon S5, I'm using it on AT&T's network and it's got a bunch of Verizon bloatware.
I just figured out that you can remove bloatware, even without root.

So... you can remove it.

Funny how other phone manufacturers don't seem to have the "phone shuts down when it is cold" bug that Apple had and was the excuse to throttle old devices.

Also funny Apple didn't just have a message saying "Your battery is worn out. Please visit an Apple store for a repair. In the meantime you may see lower performance".

Posting as AC to avoid undoing mods.

You are a either a moron, or are willfully ignorant.

Do about 2 seconds worth of Googling, and you will see EXACTLY this issue for EVERY phone OEM, including the supposed "bulletproof" iPhone 4s and 5.

But Samsung, LG, HTC, et al., ALL have multiple reports of "sudden shutdowns" when battery charge is in the 50% or lower range, and/or the phone gets cold.

Here's some random examples:

https://us.community.samsung.c...

https://us.community.samsung.c...

https://forums.androidcentral....

https://thedroidguy.com/2016/1...

https://www.ifixit.com/Answers...

https://www.reddit.com/r/lgv20...

https://forums.androidcentral....

https://forum.xda-developers.c...

https://androidforums.com/thre...

https://android.stackexchange....

https://discussions.apple.com/...

http://iphone-tricks.com/tutor...

https://apple.stackexchange.co...

So, it appears that Apple actually found a REASONBLE software fix for an INDUSTRY-WIDE problem.

Their ONLY "sin" was in not being clear about the fix.

The Snapdragon 808/810 has a habit of frying cores on the Google Nexus 5x and 6p. There are class actions on this problem as well.

There is a fix for the problem - disable the 4 large/fast cores, and run the phones only on the other 4 small/slow(er) cores.

As far as I know, Google has not pushed this fix out as an OTA. If the bootloader is unlocked, then an owner can apply an independent set of fixes (replace both the recovery and the boot.img, at the very least).

Apple at least detects and compensates for a basic hardware problem, but both companies should strive to also clearly report what is happening to the user.

An owner of a failed 5x or 6p likely admires Apple's approach.

Ubuntu Touch/Mobile failed, Microsoft is closing shop on Windows 10 Mobile.

Honestly your best bet would be a phone that you can root, and put a stripped-down custom Android ROM on it. You don't need to connect to any Google Play services to get all the basics. At least that way you get to pick your configuration and keep it minimal.

There is LineageOS, it's a replacement (?) for cyanogenmod https://forum.xda-developers.c...

It has been shown time and again that roughtly $200 is the sweet spot in pricing for establishing a market for tech gear. Usually consumers wait for that price or something close to it.

Apple has already established themselves as the high-end "prestige" brand. They can ask whatever they want. But newcomers must "try harder"

Recently the xda-developers released their pick for best bang for your buck phones. Their pick? The $200 Honor 7X, a hacker friendly octocore, 64gb with "premium body quality" and construction. Besides the great features, the $200 sweet spot was part of the criteria. Runners up included Sony XA1 and Moto G5Splus.

I like Essential but they need two tier pricing, one unit for the hoi polloi to pay Essentials bills, and another tier for their flagship unit to compete at the higher end.

Here is an interesting difference between Apple and Google.

The CPUs in the Nexus 5x and 6p are prone to burning out the fast cores. When this thermal damage takes place, the phones go into boot-loops.

If you were smart enough to unlock the bootloader, you are able to install a version of TWRP that locks down the fast cores, and only uses the slow ones. From there, you can load a custom kernel that does the same, and restore limited functionality.

You would think that any sane company would immediately roll this into their stock ROM. You would be wrong - Google/Qualcomm did not, and there are a LOT of Nexus bricks now. Instead there is a class action, and Google is extending liberal trade-ins on Pixels (that have their own hardware problems).

The right answer to both Apple's battery and Google's Snapdragon fast-core meltdown is to detect, report, and compensate. At least Apple (unlike Google) was able to do two out of three.

Most of them do unfortunately. E.g. SwiftKey does. Also SwiftKey used to be an indie dev house but that got bought by Microsoft. It'd be nice to think that Microsoft selflessly love Android users and want to support a good keyboard application for Android and iOS even though they are competitors to Windows Phone. However it's more likely that they bought it because it had a bunch of user data they could monetize in various dubious ways.

https://swiftkey-keyboard.file...

Potentially dangerous permissions
GET_ACCOUNTS: Allows access to the list of accounts in the Accounts Service.
READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE: Allows an application to read from external storage.
READ_SMS: Allows an application to read SMS messages.
WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE: Allows an application to write to external storage.
Other permissions
ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE: Allows applications to access information about networks.
ACCESS_WIFI_STATE: Allows applications to access information about Wi-Fi networks.
INTERNET: Allows applications to open network sockets.
RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED: Allows an application to receive the ACTION_BOOT_COMPLETED that is broadcast after the system finishes booting. If you don't request this permission, you will not receive the broadcast at that time. Though holding this permission does not have any security implications, it can have a negative impact on the user experience by increasing the amount of time it takes the system to start and allowing applications to have themselves running without the user being aware of them. As such, you must explicitly declare your use of this facility to make that visible to the user.
VIBRATE: Allows access to the vibrator.
WAKE_LOCK: Allows using PowerManager WakeLocks to keep processor from sleeping or screen from dimming.
com.android.vending.BILLING
com.google.android.c2dm.permission.RECEIVE
com.swiftkey.languageprovider.READLANG
com.swiftkey.swiftkeyconfigurator.READCONFIG
com.touchtype.swiftkey.permission.C2D_MESSAGE

So does Swype

http://forum.swype.com/showthr...

Hi there, I just spotted Swype in the Google Play store and had exactly the same concerns.

Outside of reading the dictionary, I would not have expected Swype should not require any special permissions, and yet it wants a big long list of permissions:
Record audio
Get my approximate and precise location
Read my text messages
Full network access
Pair with Bluetooth devices
Read my contacts
Read terms I've added to the dictionary
Read call log
Read phone status and identity
Modify or delete the contents of my USB storage
Find accounts on my device
View network connections
View wifi connections
Access protected storage

So does Google Keyboard

https://www.xda-developers.com...

Let's take a look at what's going on here. First off, Google Keyboard has access to your own contact card, and accounts on your device. This means it has the ability to know who you are, and all of the Email (and other) accounts you have available on your device. That means it's possible for them to see what Google/Dropbox/ Twitter/Microsoft Exchange/Facebook accounts you have available on your phone. I have absolutely no idea why this is needed, nor why people are willing to give this information over.

Next up, the app can read your contacts. That's fair enough-Google obviously want to add your contact names to the spell-checker and auto-complete databases. This makes sense, and is something justifiable for a keyboard. The ability to modify or delete the contents of USB storage is somewhat strange, but while it does allow access to all your data stored on your "SD card," there's unfortunately no real

I think there's a case for making Android lighter in general, but aiming to support devices with half a gigabyte... who is making phones that poorly spec'd?

You can go into any big box store in the USA and still buy them... sold by PAYG phone operators like Tracfone. Plus, lots of us are still using older phones. If the SoCs in them become the basis of a cheap phone with a newer Android, we will probably get new versions of LineageOS for those devices. For instance, there is a LineageOS 15.0 rom for my Moto G 2nd which is coming along fairly well; the only things which don't work right already are the camera and selinux (which currently has to be permissive.) I am running LineageOS 14.1, which is already more modern than what comes with the phone.

LOL, your idea of "easier and safer" are a lot different than mine...

But let's agree to disagree on that point.

From: https://forum.xda-developers.c...

One of the steps requires firmware update mode. As I stated in my post, the carriers don't NEED to include the ability to flash firmware. Some have already made it difficult to enter download mode, and if they pull it, then you won't be rooting your S8. The carrier branded LG G6 has yet to be rooted, and the LG V20 was only rooted because an engineering aboot leaked.

Notice I keep saying carrier branded. If you buy a developer phone direct from the OEM, then sure, you can root it very easily. The LG V20 US996 (and soon the V30 US998) are both on LG's "approved" to unlock list, and they come with full fastboot.

AT&T branded phones (I don't care who the OEM is) all get their updates encrypted, and OTA.

Rooting is still common for android, because android vendor unlike iPhone won't stop putting system bloatware. To completely remove them, you'll still need to root. One example, Galaxy Note 8 rooted on Oct 8. Another example, Galaxy S8 rooted on Aug 20.

They only major things are there are more custom roms than root thread on xda-developers, and xda devs have their life too where they can't provide that much support on an exponential phone market.

Rooting is still common for android, because android vendor unlike iPhone won't stop putting system bloatware. To completely remove them, you'll still need to root. One example, Galaxy Note 8 rooted on Oct 8. Another example, Galaxy S8 rooted on Aug 20.

They only major things are there are more custom roms than root thread on xda-developers, and xda devs have their life too where they can't provide that much support on an exponential phone market.

Google has removed and returned apps from the play store in the past with no explanation. We would like to think they did this for the safety of their user community, but there could be many other reasons.

https://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/ifontexpert-fonts-harmful-app-removed-t3386443

U.C. Browser was just WebKit, and not technically interesting. Firefox Focus is a far better option.

According to this link it's an (apparently very small) 53MB offline database that AmbientSense (the magic behind Google Now Playing) consults for matching: https://www.xda-developers.com...

Although Google has since denied that they're using AmbientSense to do it.

You're welcome