Root Achieved for the OneTouch Idol 3

The XDA community achieving root on a new device is always cause for a little celebration, and proud owners of the Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 will be able to do just that now that root access has been confirmed. The 5.5″ mid-range handset previously had its bootloader unlocked, but root access was proving tricky due to users having to call a dedicated port to enter fastboot mode. However, yesterday the process was announced and has now got its own thread, after a few month’s combined hard work by dedicated users.

Taking influence from an exploit found with a similar device, XDA forum members frankee207, DallasCZ, and Gynoid successfully altered the steps to create a custom batch file and published the steps for other users to follow. DallasCZ has now combined all of the steps into a more simply explained method in a dedicated thread, perfect for those less confident with the process. The community has taken dumps of the boot and recovery images, and is now working on bringing TWRP to the phone to maximize safety whilst modifying the phone, and at this point care should be taken until that is achieved.

It should be noted that the batch file used was created for Windows PCs to begin with, and requires that the Idol 3’s specific drivers are installed prior to use – to do this easily you can connect the phone via “cdrom” mode, whereupon it will mount and make those drivers available to install. Senior member famewolf has also posted modified commands for those running Linux, with rhcohen refining it and tuning for Macs, due to the similar nature of the shells, so the solution is now platform agnostic.

This exploit works on the latest version of the official software, and with either locked or unlocked users, so at the moment the only caveat is that it’s only officially confirmed to work on the 5.5″ version of the handset. This paves the way for custom ROMs and kernels to be created for the device which is great news for those who’ve been waiting to optimize the phone since it was released in March, so well done to all involved!

If you own a 5.5″ Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 and have experience with rooting, carefully check out the steps in threads linked above and let us know in the comments how you got on!

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Spotify Rolls Out New ‘Discover Weekly’ Playlist

Spotify has announced a new feature to its music streaming service called ‘Discover Weekly’, aimed at helping users quickly and easily find new music. Discover Weekly is a two-hour playlist, which automatically updates every Monday, and is based upon both your listening habits as well as the habits of other users who listen to similar artists, essentially creating a “mixtape” of sorts. Spotify claims that Discover Weekly will automatically adapt as your musical tastes evolve, and the more you use Spotify, the more relevant the curations from the software-based algorithm will become. Discover Weekly will start rolling out to all users on every platform starting today, and you can find it conveniently placed at the top of your saved playlists.

Looking through my own Discover Weekly playlist, I can already see what Spotify is getting at. Admittedly, I haven’t used the Spotify service too much over the last couple of months, so my playlist is curated based around the few tracks I have listened to, and I already see similar artists in the same genre popping up, as well as artists I’ve not yet been exposed to. For example, I do remember using Spotify one night last week to bring up a few alternative rock tracks from the late 1980’s and 1990’s, such as those from the likes of Goo Goo Dolls, Living Colour, Dramarama, Alice in Chains, and the Meat Puppets. In my playlist, I see such artists as Bush, Queens of the Stone Age, Fozzy, and Stone Sour…artists that are not entirely from the same eras, but do represent those that a person with a similar music taste would listen to. I’ve also listened to a few tracks from newer mainstream hard rock acts, such as Killswitch Engage, which has added tracks from such artists as Three Days Grace, Hellyeah, Powerman 5000, and Rev Theory. A lot of these suggestions wouldn’t normally adhere to my personal music taste, but then again, I haven’t used Spotify as a main source of music consumption for quite some time. I have no doubt that the selections on this playlist would be better tailored to me had I been doing so, so Discover Weekly appears to work quite well.

Discover Weekly, along with a host of other new features that Spotify has been rolling out, is indicative of the competition that’s heating up between music streaming services as of late, and this latest addition to the service appears to be a direct answer to Apple Music’s Beats 1 Radio. Here at the XDA portal, we’ll have a comprehensive look at the popular music streaming services later on in the week.

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Google+ Photos Will Be Discontinued on Aug 1st

Google has announced that Google+ Photos will be discontinued on August 1—first on Android, and then on the web and iOS. Existing photos will live on through the new Google Photos, and those shared in Hangouts or Blogger will be accessible via Picasa.

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CyanogenMod 12.1 Released for the HTC One M9

The HTC One M9 has received an unofficial version of CyanogenMod 12.1. You can use the popular community ROM thanks to the hard work of three Recognized Developers – varun.chitre15, Rashed97 and Flinny. Head over to this thread to get the build and dive into the source code.

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What Hidden/Small Things Do You love About Your Device?

At XDA, it is not rare for users to obsess over their beloved devices. Because of this, we search every nook and cranny and try every combination to maximize our user experience. By doing this, sometimes we stumble upon things we would have otherwise missed, from features to settings. There is a lot of amazing potential hidden in each and every device. What are little or hidden things do you love about your device?

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ASUS ZenWatch Price Cut to $129.99

Making room for the upcoming ZenWatch 2, ASUS has dropped the price of its first-gen offering—the original ZenWatch—from $199.99 to $129.99, with free shipping. It’s a great deal so head over to the link to check it out!

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ZTE Axon with Added Biometrics Destined for China

Originally aimed squarely at the US, the newly announced ZTE Axon just hit the Chinese equivalent of the FCC, with one conspicuous additional feature; a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. Otherwise, the 5.5″ smartphone remains unchanged, so check out our coverage last week for full details.

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