While Motorola’s Moto X 2014 is still on the waiting list to receive an official update to Android 6.0 Marshmallow, you can update it to CyanogenMod 13 provided by XDA Senior Member leonardoafa. The bug list is quite short, so you can even consider it as your daily driver.
In the spirit of keeping aging tablets alive, XDA Recognized Developer flintman has a working version of Android 6.0 Marshmallow for the HP TouchPad tablet. This comes in the form of the Evervolv rom and it is in alpha stage now. Things like Bluetooth and the camera do not seem to work yet. Thankfully we are seeing updates for the ROM so these might be fixed soon.
XDA Senior Member Swapnil Solanki has had all Android One (first gen) owners jump in glee as there is now an unofficial CM13 build available for the devices. The build is more into beta territory as things are still quite wonky, but for devices that were not expected to do much more than basic smartphone functions, this is indeed a very good accomplishment.
Android 6.0 is still in its early days, but developers managed to get quite a few ports working on various devices. XDA Senior Member Morningstar created a partially functional build of CyanogenMod 13 for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (with Snapdragon processor). Head over to the forum thread to learn more about issues and get the latest build for your device!
SoundSeeder has been available for Android users for a long time, but this rather unique application has just received a significant update. It will now work with Android Marshmallow and even support USB sound cards as external speakers. SoundSeeder is a great way to share your favorite music with your friends or use your older device as parts of your home-made audio system.
ZUK Z1 is one of devices officially supported by Cyanogen Inc. While some of you wait for the CyanogenMod nightlies, you can prepare your phone for the development goodies. XDA Forum Member javirenart created a toolkit that allows you to unlock/lock the bootloader, flash the TWRP, re-stock and more. Currently it works on Windows and Mac, but it’s relatively easy to use it on GNU Linux as well.
New users of the Google Nexus 5X may have noticed a peculiar problem arise when they snap a picture using some third-party camera apps – the image ends up being upside-down!
This issue isn’t exclusive to the Nexus 5X, though, as it has previously occurred on the front-facing camera of the Nexus 6. What causes this problem? Is it a manufacturer issue, or a software issue? Turns out it’s a bit of both.
According to Eino-Ville Talvala, the tech lead for Android’s camera framework, the issue arises because some manufacturers mount their camera sensor for their devices in an uncommon orientation. In order to comply with the Android compatibility requirements, manufacturers must align the long-edge of their camera sensor with the long-edge of the device (meaning by default the back camera sensor should be oriented such that the images are landscape). However, there is no requirement for which particular landscape direction the sensor must face. Typically, most manufacturers use a forward-landscape oriented sensor, but LG/Google chose to orient theirs reverse-landscape. Space comes at a premium on most mobile phones, so manufacturers often have to make-due with the constraints they’re given. The Nexus 5X is no exception – a quick look at a teardown reveals that little room is left in the device for the mainboard thanks to the whopping size of the battery.
Because this reverse-landscape orientation is rarely seen, many third-party application developers do not correct for this orientation when processing an image. Using the old Camera API, developers can fix this camera orientation issue by calling on the setDisplayOrientation() method to check the sensor for the correct UI orientation and properly rotate the image. With the introduction of the Camera2 API, however, this is no longer necessary as the API ensures the preview is correctly oriented. Still, if you notice one of your favorite apps incorrectly orienting your pictures, kindly shoot them an e-mail asking them to update their code to correct for this oddity.
Have you come across this issue yet? Let us know in the comments below (and especially let the developers know!)
