Talk Android decompiles ICS FaceLock.apk – Majel are you in there?


So if you haven’t realized from my posts by now, I like to experiment with Android from time to time and today was one of those more special days. While poking around FaceLock.apk, which I decompiled with apktool, I opened this. The screenshot above portrays a file “arrays.xml,” which contains what looks like phrases to be presented on the lock screen when a user’s face is not recognized. As those of you fortunate enough to run ICS know, currently an unrecognized face only returns “Sorry, don’t recognize you” or in some cases “Couldn’t find a face.”  Aside from a different spelling of “recognize,” the list above also offers a substantially more varied output. So what is the meaning of this? I supposed it could be simply leftovers, never scrapped before release, or, letting my optimistic imagination run just a little bit, perhaps this is some preliminary work towards a future update; Majel maybe? It’s a stretch, but the varied and pretty casual responses seem more AI like to me. In any case, an interesting little something indeed.

 

Download: Sprint Nexus S 4G Gets Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich IMM26 ROM


There’s great news for those loyal fans who stuck with their Sprint CDMA Nexus S 4G handsets instead of running over to Big Red and snatching a Galaxy Nexus.  The incredibly talented folks over at XDA managed to get the Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.4 ROM up and running for the second iteration in the Google Nexus family.  The ROM is reported to be in its final stages of testing and offers a few new features and updates.  Among them are a new software modem, bootloader and is now at biuld IMM26.  Most if not all of the features are stable and working, including the WiMax radios.  Further proof of a new build is revealed by its build date, January 30th 2012.  So rest assured it’s not the same build we saw previously.  It will be nice for Nexus S 4G owners to be slightly ahead of the curve, as you all know Google has already released the Android 4.0.3 ICS build for the Nexus S 3G model as well as for a few other devices.  If you’re feeling frisky, hit the downloads below and don’t forget to report back any issues you may find. Feel free to report them in our forum so as to alert other Nexus S 4G owners as well.  As always, be aware that you’re doing this at your own risk and the staff here at TA are in no way responsible if you brick your device.  So, in short, know what the heck you’re doing!  Good luck and enjoy.  For your convenience, we’ve provided all the downloads you need below courtesy of XDA (dev mrxkills).  Big thanks goes to the rest of the developers who gave their blood, sweat and tears on tweaking this update for the Nexus S 4G.

Update: For some unknown reason, the dev has been asked to pull this down from the site.

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Leaked: Motorola To Sell “Developer Edition” RAZR in Europe, Then US, Comes With Unlockable Bootloader


Well it appears that Motorola has heard the development community’s cry for an unlocked bootloader as an article on the Motorola blog suggests that they will be releasing a “Developer Edition” of the powerhouse Droid RAZR sometime soon. The article was posted and quickly redacted suggesting that the news was released a little too soon. If you look at the image below, courtesy of Droid-Life, you can see that the article is dated for the 30th (tomorrow).

Right now the phone is only to be available in Europe but Motorola gives word that it will be seen in the United States. Even though Motorola said they were working on a bootloading solution over a year ago, and again in April of 2011, until now we had yet to see it happen. The only difference between this version of the RAZR and the one out for sale now, is the fact that it has an unlockable bootloader, as the original shipped with a locked bootloader. Otherwise it’s the same ridiculously thin, powerful device.

Right now the blog link in the source is down and you’ll get a “You 404′d it, Gnarly Dude” message. However the folks at Droid-life were able to snag a screenshot of the article before it went down. Hit the break below to check it out. I don’t know about you guys, but this is one heck of a win for the development community and who knows, this may be the start of a beautiful thing. Motorola hardware with unlockable bootloaders… You can’t beat that. Enjoy!
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Root and Push Clockwork Recovery to Your Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet


If you have been wanting to root your Lenovo ThinkPad and haven’t had time, knew where to go, or were a little bit apprehensive about doing such things then today is your lucky day as we have the process all lined up for you. Heck we’ll even give you instructions on pushing ClockWork Recovery to your device as a special bonus. We’ve compiled the process from Vulnfactory and XDA and have it broken down below.

As with all rooting, your device’s warranty will be void and all responsibility if you brick your device falls on you. However if you are more than ready to root this device hit the break below to get the files and instructions needed to root and get a custom recovery onto your ThinkPad. Just FYI this only works on Windows PCs. 
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Sense-ICS Roms Now Surfacing for the HTC Rezound


 

We knew it would be only a short time before we saw ROMs popping up for the HTC Rezound after it was announced that the device’s bootloader was unlocked. While it may be some time before we see an official OTA build for Ice Cream Sandwich that hasn’t stopped developers from getting their hands on leaked images. We discussed an early build for the Sensation that was released back in December and it appears that developers are hopping all over the system.img released for the Rezound a few days ago as well. Both images show an ICS experience that is chalked full of Sense (obviously) but deep down it’s ICS.

So if you’ve unlocked your bootloader, rooted and installed a recovery hit the links below to check out ICS on the Rezound and if you’re in the market for a new Android phone, remember that the device is going for $199.99 which is a great price for a really great phone.  Hit us up in the comment section below to let us know how they run. Enjoy!

CleanROM    |    RezROM ICS

 

 

CyanogenMod 9 Alpha 0 Now Available for HP TouchPad


A few days ago we showed you a preview we saw of the HP TouchPad running CM9. If that video had you chomping at the bit to get your taste of CM9 and Ice Cream Sandwich on the device, now’s your chance as it has been released in alpha. However it is very much an alpha build as all of the following doesn’t work:

  • Hardware Video (OMX). As a result, Netflix does not work, YouTube works only only in non-HD videos.
  • Audio is a mess. The microphone does not work. Work on the current libaudio solution has halted because we will eventually switch to a CAF libaudio.
  • Camera does not work. The only libcamera.so that we have is from froyo and its closed source. There is a wrapper for QCOM gingerbread libcamera libraries that could likely be used as a basis to get our camera working.
  • Market filters prevent some apps from being installed (this can partly solved by switching back to standard DPI settings(120, 160, 240). The current build is using 160 which fixes the market but makes everything look ugly and low resolution.
  • Titanium Backup crashes the kernel. There’s an investigation in progress…There are reports that older versions do work.
  • Most of the hardware problems from CM7 still exist in this CM9 alpha build.

So as you can see this alpha build has a lot more work to be put in but it shows promise. If you can stand the bugs and don’t mind various aspects not working hit the source to get your little piece of ICS. However I recommend using something else as your daily driver. That aside, if you’re interested check it out and let us know what you think!

[via RootzWiki]

Samsung Epic Touch 4G Gets Official MIUI ROM


MIUI is one of the more popular ROMS out there. While at first one would confuse it with that of the iOS it’s so much more than that. Well until now those with a Samsung Epic Touch 4G on Sprint weren’t able to play with this ROM. In order to run this ROM you need to make sure that you are rooted. So hit the source and get your taste of MIUI. Let us know what you think.

 

[via XDA]

Notion Ink Adam Receives Alpha Ice Cream Sandwich Build, Also Teases A New Device (Video)


Well, it’s been a while but it looks like it’s officially official.  The Adam has received it’s very own Alpha build of Ice Cream Sandwich.  Keep in mind with alpha this is extremely in its infancy as many of the features aren’t working yet.  Count on plenty of bugs along with the camera, 3G, USB storage, USB flash drive and light sensors not to work at this time.  In addition, the blog states that there are some video playback issues and HDMI sound bugs along with the device not waking up properly from sleep mode.  Nevertheless, ICS is on board and it’s open to the public for anyone feeling frisky.  In further Notion Ink news, the company’s blog states that they will be making some changes to the site along with an addition of a new device:

Post the mentioned public release, we will be starting another blog. It will focus only on development, and we will again see a new device coming to life. Unlike last time where the hardware was mostly done out-house, this time every resistor, IC, bus lane, etc is designed and selected on the very computer working on this blog. We will try to involve as many professionals as possible so the new blog can become a reference for new developments!

We’re looking forward to seeing what Shravan and the boys cook up so stay tuned to TA as we dig a little deeper.  In the meantime, check out the lengthy 18 min or so video of the ICS demo in action.

YouTube Preview Image

[via Notion Ink]

The DROID X2 Finally Sees CyanogenMod 7


Honestly, when I heard about the Droid X2 I was pretty excited because the original was a great phone, that is until the Gingerbread update that was installed but that’s neither here nor there. Well it seemed that the X2 came and went with little luster from what I remember, even though Verizon is still selling them. I believe that this was in part due to the fact that it was really difficult to customize in the beginning and partly due to the fact that Motorola over did it on new handsets in 2011. So the X2 really didn’t see any exciting news in terms of rooting and developing, even after the one-click method was released. However that is no longer the case as XDA forum member dragonzkiller has been able to successfully get CM7.2 working on the handset. It comes with the following features:
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CM9 Boots on the HP TouchPad, Still a Work in Progress But Shows A Lot of Promise


The HP TouchPad had a short life as a webOS device but has lived on as an Android tablet, thanks in part to CM7 and the CyanogenMod team. Well life is still being breathed into the tablet as the folks over at RootzWiki have a preview of what Ice Cream Sandwich and CM9 looks like on the device. While it’s still a work in progress it shows a lot of promise. Right now according to the video the camera and video playback doesn’t work. However the video does show off the fact that Angry Birds works well on it. Hit the break below to check out the video yourself and let us know what you think. I don’t know about you guys but I am pretty excited about how quick this is coming along.
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