Android Advices: December 2014

Sunday, 7 December 2014

{DOWNLOAD} SOLID EXPLORER – A BETTER ALTERNATIVE TO ES FILE EXPLORER & ROOT EXPLORER

VISIT ANDROID DEVELOPERS OFFICIAL FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Tired of using ES File Explorer or for say any other explorer apps which have the same boring interface? If you are on Android 5.0 Lollipop OS and wish to use the new file explorer then “Solid Explorer” comes to your rescue. All thanks to the latest version of Solid Explorer 1.6.3 which comes with the SD card support and also comes with improved capability for the devices which are rooted. You can check out the latest screen captures of this app which will help you decide on whether you like it or not.

The best part of this is that it also comes with the wide support for cloud storages including Dropbox, Box, Google Drive and One Drive. This file manager can connect to your Windows PC and many remote servers working with FTP, SFTP and WebDAV. And also this app supports the drag and drop inside the panels which makes this app one of the most advanced and sort of the same. This latest update which was pushed to the users of Solid Explorer also makes sure that it handles the changes to SELinux well. Root Explorer and ES File explorer are the two most used apps for non-rooted and rooted devices and this app aims to merge both by offering the advanced features via Solid Explorer.

So if you are on the Android 5.0 Lollipop OS then you can install this app from the download link below. Do let us know in the comments section just in case if you have any comments for this app.

Note: The Download Firmware link might comes with an affiliate link. You need to complete one or two offers after that you will be automatically directed to download page. If you face any inconvenience do let us know in comment section.

Download Solid Explorer File Manager

{APK DOWNLOAD} YOUTUBE 6.0 WITH MATERIAL DESIGN WHICH USES NEW LOLLIPOP’S PALETTE API – DETAILS

VISIT ANDROID DEVELOPERS OFFICIAL FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Google has released Android 5.0, but YouTube is all here with its latest 6.0 version which comes with the material design and also comes with the much needed fresh interface. Featuring a tall and tabbed toolbar, this new design comes with the vibrant red color as a brand color of YouTube and also comes with the full-height material nav drawer, and a clean white background. This whole new app is all set to become the new example for the video apps as it wraps itself with the Material design.

All the YouTube channels makes use of the new Lollipop’s Palette API which pulls colors from the channel art to the color of the app’s toolbar. This new YouTube app also comes with the new launcher icon to match along with the Google’s other product icons. With advanced filters and a cool look, this one conveniently offers features like Search and other features which are visually very rich. You can check out the detailed screen shots below. While these are just some of the changes which are being mentioned yet, but there are many other new changes which are a part of this new app. We are also hearing that vimeo and other bunch of video apps are working for the app which comes with the material design which is the new design language by Google.

As this APK of YouTube is the signed one and is officially out from Google channels, this APK can be installed in any of the android devices and the existing version of YouTube will be updated. YouTube will soon be releasing this new app with the material design to all the users across the globe very soon. Do let us know in the comments section just in case if you have any comments w.r.t this app.

Download YouTube APK

{DOWNLOAD} MICROSOFT’S NEXT LOCK SCREEN ANDROIDAPP GETS A MAJOR UPDATE – DETAILS

VISIT ANDROID DEVELOPERS OFFICIAL FOR MORE INFORMATION.

If you didn’t knew till now, then Microsoft had recently announced the launch of Lock screen app which is exclusively available in the Google PLAY Store. This new app has been updated now and comes with the list of new additions. Next Lock screen is a part of Microsoft’s revamped Garage division which allows employees to develop and release projects outside their regular work duties. With the recent launch of Z Launcher from Nokia, Aviate from Yahoo, Lock screen / launcher has become the new trend and talk of the town as Microsoft too joins the list of lock screen app dubbed as “Next Lock Screen”.

This app also comes with bunch of settings wherein you can adjust the weather settings along with the other options. You can check out the below screen captures which provides a detailed view on how this app looks like;

This new version of Next Lock Screen comes with the;

· Weather information of the location,

· Select your home wallpaper as the lock wallpaper

· Ability to hide the system status bar

· Better integration with the default device lock on Samsung devices running Kitkat

· Performance improvement and bug fixes

This application is FREE and can be installed in android smartphone and tablets. Do let us know in the comments section about your thoughts on this app. This app can be downloaded from Google play Store for your Android smartphone.

Download Microsoft’s Next Lock Screen

HOW TO UPDATE LG G3 WITH OFFCIAL ANDROID 5.0 LOLLIPOP OS – GUIDE

VISIT ANDROID DEVELOPERS OFFICIAL FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Having an LG G3 Android smartphone? Here comes a detailed guide which will help you update the device. This new update of Android 5.0 comes with the much needed new UI along with the new APIs as well which apps have started making use of. Just in case if you are already on the custom ROM firmware, then you can easily update with this firmware as you won’t be receiving the OTA update of Android 5.0 on the rooted devices. So let’s check out on how you can apply this firmware update with the detailed guide after checking out the list of quick pre requisites which are mentioned below. Please note that this new update can only be applied on the D855 variant and not on any other devices.

Note: We should not be hold responsible / liable in any manner for the damage caused to the device due to not following procedure mentioned in this article.

Pre Requisites:

· Backup all the data in your LG G3 device manually with the help of below mentioned steps and not with any other automated tools.

SMS – Use “SMS Backup & Restore app”,
Contacts – Sync with the Gmail application,
Call Log - Call Log and Restore
Images, Songs, Videos, Files – Copy to internal / External SD Card,
APN and MMS Settings – Note down from the path “Applications > Settings > Wireless and Network > Mobile Networks > Access Point Names”

· Make sure that your device has 50% battery life and enable USB Debugging Mode which can be enabled from the Settings.

Let’s proceed to the next step where we have detailed the procedure which will help you update the device.

Procedure to update LG G3 with Lollipop 5.0 Android OS:

· Make sure that you have rooted your LG G3. Rooting status can be checked from “Root CHECKER” app and can be downloaded from Google PLAY Store. Make sure that you have installed the Bumped TWRP recovery in your LG G3. We are assuming that your computer is installed with the ADB and fastboot.

· Download LG G3 Lollipop 5.0 Android OS Zip Package from here to your computer. Once downloaded connect your LG G3 Android device to the computer with the help of original USB cable and once done, you need to download the LG_G3_D855_Stock_20C_Bumped_Fixed.zip file in your computer and place the same in your device. Open command prompt in your computer and enter the below mentioned command in the command prompt;

Adb reboot recovery

· In recovery mode, you need to select “Wipe > Advanced Wipe” and then also clear the dalvik cache. Now, tap on “install from sd card” to select the “LG_G3_D855_Stock_20C_Bumped_Fixed.zip” which you have placed in your device.

Note: Just in case if your device gets in the boot loop mode or for gets stuck, all you need to do is to just repeat the above process by rebooting the device which can be done by long pressing the power button.

Do let us know in the comments section just in case if you face any issues in the process of firmware update. Very soon we will be coming out with the article which will help you root the device on this firmware.

HOW TO MANUAL UPDATE SONY XPERIA S WITH LOLLIPOP 5.0.1 ANDROID OS – GUIDE

VISIT ANDROID DEVELOPERS OFFICIAL FOR MORE INFORMATION.

SONY Xperia S Android smartphone was the device which was launched in the year 2012 and now SONY has best left it to the users to use this device without any further updates. While this is almost the same old story for most of the devices, we will help you out on how you can apply the Android 5.0 Lollipop update manually with the help of custom ROM firmwares. The best part is that this one is the latest one and comes with the below mentioned change log as well and is 5.0.1 version.

· Memory management improvement

· kernel: zram patch for ARM compatibility + swap support

· enable swap with 1 zram device set to 100MB by default (zram is a compressed device in memory)

· revert to more conservative oom/ low memory values

· kernel: bug fix

· battery capacity set to 1750

So after checking out on what are the list of quick pre requisites mentioned below, let’s head over to the next step where we have detailed the procedure to update.

Quick Pre Requisites:

· All the data in your Xperia S device should be backed up with the help of manual steps and not with any sorts of PC Suites as it may not help you restore the device data. Below steps can be used to create the backup.

SMS – SMS Backup and Restore App (after taking backup, copy the source file in your computer)

Call Log – Call Log Backup and Restore app (after taking backup, copy the source file in your computer)

Contacts – Backup in your Gmail / make use of app like Contacts Backup and Restore,

Local Files (Images. Downloads, Bluetooth etc.) – Connect your device to computer and copy the files to your computer.

· Make sure that your device has 50% battery life and enable USB Debugging Mode which can be enabled from the Settings.

Let’s proceed to the next step where we have detailed the procedure which will help you update the device.

Procedure to Update SONY Xperia S with Lollipop 5.0.1 android OS:

· Assuming that your Xperia S is rooted which can be checked with the help of “Root Checker” app, you need to now download the TWRP recovery image and flash the same in the recovery mode in your Xperia S.

· Download TWRP recovery image and Android 5.0.1 ROM package from here to your computer an place the same in your device.

· Now, you need to enter the device in the boot loader mode. Turn Off your device and Press the Volume Up button and connect the phone to the computer with original USB cable by holding the Volume Up button.

· In recovery mode, you need to now flash the boot.img file from the nAOSProm and reboot the device in the recovery mode / TWRP mode. Flash the ROM in your device which you have placed in your device earlier.

· It will take around 3-4 minutes for applying the update and once done the phone will be rebooted.

Do let us know in the comments section just in case if you face any issues in the process of firmware update.