Friday, January 30, 2015

OnePlus Will Reveal Details Of Its ‘Oxygen’ Android ROM On February 12


OnePlus introduced its own version of Android for its One smartphone earlier this month in response to its standoff with Cyanogen, and now the company has revealed that it will unveil its own ROM which can be installed on third-party Android devices on February 12.

Correction: OnePlus told us that, in fact, it won’t launch the ROM on the 12th. This is a tease-of-a-tease, and instead we can expect to see “more information about the ROM” not an actual download. Furthermore, co-founder Carl Pei told TechCrunch that OnePlus is not going to release the ROM for third-party devices, though he suggested some fans will develop unofficial ports.

Named ‘Oxygen’, OnePlus described it as being “open, customizable, and free of bloat and unnecessary features,” but those are the only details you’re getting for now. That vague description chimes with the Android fork for the One, which is initially based on Google’s stock version of Android but will be tweaked with new features over time.

“We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what this ROM means to us and our fans. We realized that, like everything we do, our true goal is to make the product that we ourselves would want to use—to make great technology more accessible for everyone,” OnePlus said in a post.

OnePlus’s entry into the software side of the smartphone business is an interesting one. Xiaomi was the first major company to develop both smartphones and its own operating system, and its success and unique identity has triggered a number of other firms to do similar. Letv just announced its first smartphone and own LeOS, while Cyanogen itself has grown its reputation through deals with Micromax and OnePlus, while — according to reports — there may be a tie-in with Microsoft coming.


Thursday, January 29, 2015

Get Facebook Lite for your Android device


"Made for phones with limited space and connectivity, this may be the lightest version of Facebook for Android yet."

Facebook is testing a stripped down version of its mobile app that requires far less data, which could help increase usage of the social networking service among people with weaker Internet service or older phones.

Facebook “Lite” is available for devices running Android 2.2 and up. The size of the free app is 252 kilobytes, and it’s meant for 2G networks in areas with limited connectivity. Users can perform a bunch of basic functions like post status updates with photos, comment on people’s posts, message friends, have group conversations, and receive notifications. Posts from the news feed are meant to load quickly.

Early reviews on the Google Play store for the app have been positive, with many praising its low data and battery usage.

Facebook launched the app over the weekend in parts of Africa and Asia, said a report in TechCrunch. A Facebook spokeswoman declined to comment further.

The Lite app appears to be related to Facebook’s Internet.org project, which seeks to provide free access to Facebook and other basic Internet services in developing countries. The Internet.org app is already available in a handful of countries such as Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya and Colombia. In addition to Facebook, the app provides access to other services like the weather, Wikipedia, and health and educational information. Carriers can charge users for paid access to other services. In addition to Facebook, other founding partners of Internet.org include Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung.

With the Lite app, Facebook might be testing people’s responsiveness to a set of basic Facebook services without the ancillary ones. It may also help Facebook learn how it could further improve the functions of its Internet.org app.

Facebook tested a different stripped down version of its site in late 2009 and early 2010, although only for the desktop. It was shut down in April 2010.

Facebook has not made this slimmed-down version of its app globally available on the Play Store. If you want to check it out, you'll have to manually install it on your device. To get a copy of the app, visit AndroidPolice's APKMirror website and download it directly onto your device. After the download is finished, tap the notification and install the app. 

Source: CNET & CustomToday

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