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TCL Announces Alcatel 1 Series, Alcatel 3 Series, and Alcatel 5 Series at CES 2018 It was back in November 2017 when well-known leaker Evan Blass shared press renders of six unannounced TCL-made Alcatel smartphones , and while a few details could be inferred from their rumored names, the hardware specs and prices remained a mystery. Thankfully, TCL filled in a few gaps at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show this week with the unveiling of the Alcatel 1, Alcatel 3, and Alcatel 5 ranges. The China-based company’s differentiating between the Alcatel series with sequential numbering — the Alcatel 1 series are the cheapest phones of the bunch, and the Alcatel 5 series are the priciest. Source: TCL Alcatel 1 Alcatel 1 series phones, which will cost less than $100, will feature compact unibody designs with “premium materials” and grippy back plates. They’ll have 18:9 displays, TCL said, plus features like facial recognition. Alcatel 3 Alcatel 3 range devices, whic...

Essential Phone Gets January 2018 Security Patch with Fixes for Meltdown/Spectre The Essential Phone , also known as the Essential PH-1 , was released in August 2017, and although it has faced its fair share of issues, its user experience has steadily improved with software updates . The Android Oreo beta program is underway , and pain points such as the camera quality have also been mitigated . With price cuts and deals , the phone’s value proposition has improved, even as newer flagship smartphones arrive in the market. Now, it has started receiving the January 2018 security patch update. Google published the January 2018 security patch a few days ago, and included a number of fixes for critical or high-security vulnerabilities. The patch has now started rolling-out to the first and second-generation Google Pixel devices, as well as the Nexus 5X and the Nexus 6P , and the company has also published factory images for the aforementioned devices. The January patch is signifi...

OnePlus Announces the Limited Edition OnePlus 5T Sandstone White Update 1/4/2017: OnePlus’s website misleadingly suggests the Sandstone White OnePlus 5T ‘s price is $499, but a OnePlus spokesperson confirmed that it’s $559 (the MSRP listed in the press release). Sorry for the confusion, folks. OnePlus has an interesting history when it comes to phone colors and finishes. The company launched the OnePlus One with a Sandstone back cover that received acclaim for its uniquely grippy texture. With the OnePlus 2 , the company released a variant in Sandstone even as it moved to a metal frame. OnePlus retired the Sandstone finish with the OnePlus 3 , which came in Graphite (and later Soft Gold) and featured an aluminum unibody with a smooth anodized finish, and it stuck with aluminum for the OnePlus 3T , the OnePlus 5 , and the  Midnight Black OnePlus 5T . But December marked the return of Sandstone in the OnePlus 5T Star Wars Limited Edition . It launched in India, Denm...

LG to Introduce Raspberry Rose LG V30 at CES 2018 LG doesn’t typically announce new flagship products at the Consumer Electronics Show. It has a history of unveiling smartphones (particularly new G series devices) at Mobile World Congress, with the release date usually following a month or two later. So it was a little surprising when LG said it’d introduce a new variant of the LG V30 at CES 2018 next week: A new Raspberry Rose color option for the V30 featuring audio tuning by specialists at B&O PLAY. LG says the new color is designed for “fashion-conscious smartphone users”, with the goal of crafting a design so outstanding it wouldn’t feel out of place in a Valentine’s Day gift basket. Source: LG As with most of LG’s unique smartphone variants, the LG V30 in Raspberry Rose isn’t expected to be available in every market. While LG didn’t announce launch pricing and every launch country, it said it’ll bring the new phone ...

Smartphone Users Consumed 25% More WiFi and Mobile Data in 2017 For many folks, smartphones have replaced laptops and tablets as the go-to media consumption device. That isn’t terribly surprising — it’s easier than ever to watch content on the go — and stats show that people have warmed to the idea of using mobile data for streaming videos, music, and games. According to a report from research firm NPD, smartphone users in the US consumed 25 percent more data on their mobile devices in 2017 than in 2016. The average monthly data usage per person climbed to 31.4GB this year, according to the report, up from 25.2GB last year. Of the total amount of data smartphone users consumed this year, 83 percent was video content. And in the third quarter of 2017 (April to June), 67 percent of smartphone users said they accessed video content via an app on their phones at least once a month, up from 57 percent from the second quarter of 2017 (January to March). NDP attributes...

ElementalX Custom Kernel Now Available for the OnePlus 5T XDA Recognized Developer  flar2  is most notably known for the ElementalX custom kernel. This popular kernel supports a large number of devices and this weekend, OnePlus 5T owners received a Christmas surprise when they learned that the kernel had been released for their device. It’s supported on OxygenOS , HydrogenOS and stock-based custom ROMs on Android 7.1 .1 Nougat and just needs to be flashed via recovery mode. You’ll find a full list of features in ElementalX for the OnePlus 5T below. ElementalX OnePlus 5T Features Features Easy installation and setup with Aroma installer Wake Gestures support (sweep2wake & doubletap2wake) Advanced color control Sweep2sleep Sound control (headphones, earpiece and mic) Backlight dimmer Overclock or underclock CPU LED settings Block wakelocks Adjust or disable vibration FIOPS, CFQ, deadline, noop and SIO i/o schedulers NTFS r/w, CIFS and NFS support Option to disable fsync ...

Interview with eng.stk, Developer of blu_spark Kernel – Part 2: F2FS, EAS and Tips for Aspiring Kernel Developers I recently got the chance to interview XDA Senior Member eng.stk , developer of the blu_spark kernel. It’s available across many devices on our forums, including the Nexus 5 , OnePlus 3 /T and the OnePlus 5T . In this part, we ask eng.stk about EAS, F2FS, development tips and more! What are the biggest changes in kernel development since you’ve begun? Well, in 3.0 and 3.4 things were rawer. Upstream and backports were the most difficult [things to do] and took a lot of work. On the other hand, there was a time where people added and modded more stuff. On 3.10 CAF tags helped a bit when it came to standardization and nice baselines, 64-bit support was also a big jump in device support. Nowadays on 3.18 and 4.4 life is easier. Platforms are more stable, it’s easier to build on top [of them]. The closer we get to mainline Linux, the better. I know Googl...