XDA Android

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Here’s how to Force Enroll in the Android Oreo Beta for Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+

Perhaps the most popular Android smartphone series this year, the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ brought a lot to the table. The latest Samsung flagships weren't the first phone to sport a nearly bezel-less design, but they certainly made it imperative for other manufacturers to follow suit if they wanted to remain competitive design-wise. The Galaxy S8 pair launched with Android 7.0 Nougat on board, but ever since Android 8.0 Oreo was released users have wondered when their phones would receive the update. There have been rumors such as APK teardowns of the latest Samsung+ app but the only objective proof that the beta program exists was posted today via a Redditor who obtained access to the build.

Install Samsung Galaxy S8 Android Oreo Beta

The users who discovered this trick have been rather secretive with regards to how they got access to the Android Oreo beta for the Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+, but we now know how they did so thanks to XDA Senior Member mweinbach. Here is a tutorial on how to forcefully enroll your Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+ to the Android Oreo beta with Samsung Experience 9.0.

Tutorial – Enroll in the Android Oreo Beta for the Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+

The following tutorial is not that simple, but we will provide two ways to do this in case on method doesn't work. There's also no guarantee you'll get in since there are 10,000 slots and Samsung could patch this method at any time. They could also kick you out of the beta program so you won't receive future beta OTAs. Try this at your own risk.

Requirements:

You will need one of the following:

Snapdragon T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+
Snapdragon Sprint Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+
Carrier unlocked Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+ purchased directly from Samsung

Method 1 – Automated Batch File

On your phone, install the latest Samsung+ app here.
Download the following zip file and unzip the contents.
Click on start.bat.
Figure out the local IP address of your PC (easiest way is to open up the command prompt and type "ipconfig")
Go to the WiFi Settings on your Galaxy S8/S8+ and long press on the currently WiFi network. Tap "manage network settings" then "show advanced options."
Under the Wireless LAN Adapter part, set your PC's IP address as the proxy server. For the port, enter 8888.
Open up the Samsung+ app and you should see a prompt telling you that you are eligible to enroll in the beta!

Method 2 – Fiddler

On your phone, install the latest Samsung+ app here.
On your PC, install Fiddler.
Go to Tools –> Options –> Connections
Make your settings look like the following picture
Next, open the command prompt (type "cmd" in run)
Type "ipconfig"
Go to your WiFi Settings on your S8/S8+ and long press on your currently connected WiFi network. Click "manage network settings."
Tap on "show advanced options."
Change the proxy to "manual."
Under the Wireless Lan Adapter, enter the IPV4 address of your PC under the proxy host name.
Make the proxy port 8888 (this is the port that Fiddler listens on).
Open Samsung+ on your phone and go back to the Fiddler program on your PC.
On the left side there should be a file containing text that looks something like http://ift.tt/2z75oZy
Right click it –> save –> response –> response body and save the file
Locate the file you just saved and open it up in a text editor.
Find the "feature_obeta_program" line and change the value from "false" to "true"
In Fiddler, file the file named http://ift.tt/2z75oZy again and note that it should be clicked. Open the AutoResponder tab and make the tab look like this image
Tap on "Add Rule" and under rule editor at the bottom locate the config.json file you edited.
Click save. Now open up the Samsung+ app and you should have access to the Android Oreo beta!

Try this out and let us know if it works for you. Samsung will likely very quickly patch this, so you really have no time to spare if you want to immediately enroll in the Android Oreo beta for the Samsung Galaxy S8 or S8+!

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Interview with Flar2, Developer of ElementalX Kernel Part 2: Android Bottlenecks and Personal Life

I recently got to interview flar2, the man behind the famous ElementalX kernel, and his even more popular ElementalX Kernel Manager application. He has released a version of his kernel for a vast array of devices, including OnePlus and Nexus devices.

In this part, we ask about flar2's thoughts on Android performance bottlenecks and more about his personal life! You can check out part 1 of this interview here.

What is the largest bottleneck on Android in terms of performance?

Almost any phone you can buy today is smooth and fast enough. Even the cheaper phones like Redmi Note 3 and Moto G series perform very well for most use cases. For quite a few years, storage has been the biggest performance bottleneck in computing. And thermal throttling has been a major limiting factor on phones, especially for gaming. But storage has improved and chips have become a lot more efficient, so I think the bottleneck of the future is network speed and bandwidth and availability. We deal with massively increasing amounts of data and eventually, everything will be in the cloud. Users will want their high-res photos and high-def video and music instantly wherever they are. They'll also want to upload and share things instantly. Right now, depending on where you are, networks speeds are very inconsistent. Some networks are already very fast, some are horribly slow. In Canada (where I live), there are still areas without high-speed Internet and areas where there is no cell signal at all. Then there are data caps and huge overage fees. This makes bandwidth, speed and availability the limiting factors on how many people use their phones.

As you said, phones are becoming smooth and fast enough, and what you said about bandwidth and network speed is very true, but still, there are efforts to improve system performance further – EAS being one of the major efforts. What's your opinion on this and other changes?

When you look at the hardware side, there have been gains in efficiency over the past couple years. Look at the thermal problems of the Snapdragon 810 compared to this year's 835. With the 810, I wasn't sure that it would ever be possible to have 8 cores in such a tiny package without heat problems, but the 835 shows it is possible.

EAS is a worthwhile project, but we're talking about eking out the last couple percent of efficiency. A comparison would be the 2016 Google Pixel, which uses EAS/sched governor, compared to the HTC 10 and OnePlus 3/3T using HMP/interactive, all based on Snapdragon 820/821. I have each of these devices and found them all to have excellent battery life and smoothness, but the Pixel seems to be a bit smoother and has a slight edge in and battery life with the screen off. I still use last year's Pixel XL as my daily driver, even over the OnePlus 5 and HTC U11. But I didn't try to port EAS to any devices. I think to realize the benefits of EAS you need to have very tight integration with userspace and detailed hardware profiling. I don't build ROMs and don't have the time or equipment for proper testing to implement it properly. Google's engineers are much better than me.

There will always be room for incremental improvements on the software side. Part of it is continual improvement of the Android UI (and here Google and HTC stand out for emphasizing a smooth UI experience) and system (e.g. ART, binder) and part is apps taking more advantage of multithreading and optimizing code. I look at my own apps and I've written my share of embarrassing code. Finding time to do things right is always a problem. If you compare EX Kernel Manager 2.xx to the newer 3.xx versions, it is much, much faster and smoother now. This is due to better handling of threading, but it required major refactoring of the code, which had become very bloated as more and more features and settings were piled on top of each other. You can see Google is taking steps to promote better-coded apps, for example, with changes to how background work is handled on the latest API. I think you will eventually see poor-quality apps getting booted from the Play Store.

You mentioned having a doctorate in sociology! What lead you towards that? Has that helped in any way for your development work?

I originally wanted to be a university professor, but by the end, I couldn't stand academia, so I left. I still consider myself a sociologist and I'm active in social research, particularly in the area of homelessness, where I've published some important work. It definitely has helped for my development work. Doing a PhD involves discipline and working independently. From that experience I've learned how to start a big project, stay on track and complete it. I also learned how to design rigorous methodologies to evaluate and measure things. I take this approach for kernel development, carefully measuring and testing, which has allowed me to maintain high quality and consistency.

Are there any other hobbies that you've turned to? You've mentioned being in a band, are you still interested in music in any capacity?

I never sit still, so I always have a few hobbies on the go. I haven't played much music in the past few years because I've been spending all my time on work and Android stuff, but I'm hoping to get back into it someday. When I was very young, I was an audiophile and spent a lot of time designing high-end speakers. That was fun and allowed me to work on my engineering and design skills. I experimented with a lot of unusual designs like transmission lines and Voigt pipes, focusing on phase accuracy for a realistic soundstage and sense of immediacy. Photography is another serious hobby of mine. I love visiting cities and photographing architecture and urban scenes but it's another thing I haven't had time for in the past few years. There's an easter egg in EX Kernel Manager that shows some random bits of my photography. A few people have found it.

Check out Part 1 of this Interview!

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XDA is Hiring a News Copy Editor!

The XDA Portal Team is looking for a new Copy Editor to join our continuously expanding Portal News Team. Working from home, you would report directly to our Editor in Chief and communicate with our staff, to assist with the editing, scheduling and publishing of news articles and ensure that our high standards of accuracy and quality are always met.

If you feel that you are up to the task and would like to start a new career with XDA, then be sure to fill out the form below. Applicants must be fluent in English and have above-average knowledge of the mobile industry, phone hardware, Android Software and our XDA forums. This is an hourly position, though case-specific arrangements can be made. Other requirements include:

Copy editing experience
Basic understanding of SEO and best practices
Knowledge of WordPress
Understanding of topics relevant to Android enthusiasts (rooting, custom ROMs, etc)

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Share this form with http://xda.tv/careers

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Essential Proves How Sensible Pricing and Software Updates Can Redeem a Failing Phone

Essential hasn't been around for too long, but it's been the subject of a disproportionate number of headlines in the Android world this year — and often not for a good reason. Their first (and so far only) device shipped much, much later than promised. Even after shipping significantly later than promised, the Essential PH-1's software and camera stumbled out the gate. And then there was that embarrassing e-mail mishap.

At launch, Essential's camera app and experience was pretty subpar. I experienced frequent crashes, missed focus, extremely slow processing times, and just bad results overall. It exemplified many of Essential's shortcomings — that the "Essential" phone didn't offer a dependable experience as much as a "bare bones" flagship. Users quickly discovered that even the recently ported Google Camera app produced better results, putting Essential's own camera software (which they "worked on until the last possible minute") to shame. The silver lining here was that the camera woes felt more like a software issue than a hardware compromise — the Essential phone uses the Sony IMX258, present in some of the better shooters of the year like the LG G6. Thankfully, the Essential Camera App is updated via the Play Store and has received several updates post-launch, bringing it closer to what it should have been (though not close enough to what people expected given the launch price).

Essential also struggled a bit with the device's software, and that conclusion is unavoidable for those that have been daily driving the device since it first shipped. The phone is incredibly barebones – something enthusiasts have been clamoring for in many ways. It's almost too barebones – on first boot you're greeted with just a handful off applications and one toggle to send diagnostics to Essential, and beyond the custom camera app that's all you'll get from Andy Rubin. However, the phone itself wasn't able to run quite as smoothly we'd expect from a phone running stock Android on the most powerful mobile processor (that's widely available, anyway). Users experienced stuttering when scrolling, missed touches, and odd jank with far too many reports for what some interpreted to be a limited problem At the moment, Essential users are awaiting a promised update that should fix these issues (update has been released as of 10/30/2017). According to Marcus from essential:

"… yes we are aware of the issue related to the display touch and have a patch from Qualcomm we are testing internally. I saw the fix in action literally yesterday and the improvement is night and day. I think you guys will be really happy with it. Our plan is to get this out in one of the next upcoming OTA updates releasing a few weeks. Stay tuned!"

These issues aside, I've absolutely enjoyed my PH-1. Essential absolutely nailed the design, and it permeates throughout the user experience in subtle ways. The PH-1 is just plain enjoyable to hold. It has a substantial heft that makes it feel important, almost worthy of that original price point. All of the material choices are top-notch, well put together, and just plain interesting. The totally unique camera notch almost completely fades away and winds up being a distinct accent that unmistakably conveys this is not a common device. By no means is the Essential phone perfect, but it's also not a complete train wreck either, and it's certainly better-built and better-equipped than most other compromised devices out there. Everything considered, it's a fine phone with a great build, tons of storage, great battery life, but with a "good at best" camera experience.

The Essential Phone's build quality and construction are unmatched at its new price point

All of this brings me to something that I find very confusing around the web. It seems as if there is a lot of delight in any stumble a company like Essential encounters. Companies like these that bring something new to the table, even if it's just a unique design, are surely a good thing that only adds more choice in a crowded but stagnant space. Competition is a good thing and we should be celebrating a world with only Samsungs, Apples, and maybe Huaweis. Instead, comment sections, parts of reddit, twitter, and really anywhere social seem to delight in any pitfall that Essential encounters. Part of that might be attributed to the over-promising that these less-recognized companies tend to partake in to get their name printed on every headline. Such practices can quickly stain the good will of curious customers and make such companies go from inspirational underdogs to infamous smooth-talkers. Essential certainly struggled and failed to deliver on some promises (not to mention that gigantic e-mail blunder), but established OEMs struggle every year as well. LG can't seem to launch a device on time, Samsung's Note7 was catching on fire and was banned by the FAA, the Pixel 2 (and XL) have a list of issues with the bigger Google phone featuring a notoriously compromised display… Hardware is hard, and I think that should be obvious by now. Users should welcome novel new approaches to the space and hope that good ideas prevail. The Essential phone is failing at software more than hardware, and that's actually a better prospect for long-term users and XDA enthusiasts in particular. Many of us are here precisely because we want to maximize our device's capabilities strictly through software improvements.

I bought my PH-1 at $749 with the 360 camera add-on. By no means was this cheap or a bargain, but with devices like the Note 8 costing $940 and the Pixel XL 2 at $849 it isn't' topping the charts either. However, this past week Essential slashed the price by $200. At $499 this phone is an extremely compelling package. Those of us who bought the phone at a regular price will get a $200 promo code good for the essential.com web store. At $499 I have no reservations recommending this phone, especially if they ever come out with the Ocean Depths color. If you can find one of those $200 promo codes, getting this level of hardware exquisiteness for $300 is an absolute no-brainer for anyone interested in a gorgeous and solid phone with great specs and Stock Android. While Essential's software is still playing catch-up despite the high expectations its founder's name alone instilled, at this price point this device really faces little competition beyond OnePlus' also-excellent OnePlus 5. Essential has tripped many times and disappointed many enthusiasts, but this substantial price slash makes this phone extremely competitive. The PH-1 failed to offer a truly "Essential" experience at that $699 starting price, but now it's close to being the value package to beat for those interested in a no-frills premium handset.

Update as of 10/30/17: Today, Essential released build NMJ20D. This update includes: 2017-10 security patches, Improved performance and bug fixes, Improved touch scrolling, and Fingerprint gestures. Initial impressions are incredibly positive. The phone's touch response is actually "night and day" improved, as promised. Additionally, fingerprint gestures are working well. A good phone keeps getting better.

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Samsung Galaxy S8 Android Oreo Beta Gets the Hands-on Treatment

We're starting to see more and more smartphone OEMs follow in the footsteps of Google and start performing their own beta test for the next version update of Android that they're working on. OnePlus just started testing Oreo for some of its phones, and Nokia also re-introduced Beta Labs Program for Oreo. Samsung also did the same last year with the Galaxy S7 and its Android 7.0 Nougat update; and they're doing the same this time around with the Galaxy S8 and its Android 8.0 Oreo update.

It was recently reported that Samsung was going to be deploying their Galaxy S8 Oreo beta program in two different phases. The first phase is said to include the United Kingdom, North America and South Korea while the second phase is said to be for China, Germany, Spain, France, Poland and India. It was rumored that the program would be launched on October 31st, and Samsung appears to have nailed that right on the head as we're seeing hands-on reports of the new update.

Reddit user thesbros was gracious enough to answer a number of questions about the update. In their view, the Galaxy S8 running this beta version of Samsung's Android Oreo performs better than on Nougat. The Galaxy Note 8 performs impressively even though it's still on Nougat, and this user says it is up to that level with Oreo on the S8. We knew Google had been working with some OEMs to get previously released devices supporting Treble, but that has not been implemented on the Galaxy S8 with this beta update right now.

We're told that the Android Oreo Beta does not have a portrait mode, but the pop-up and split screen modes still work. It also comes with colorized media notification and app shortcuts included, and the UI is mostly untouched from Nougat. A different Reddit thread said that Substratum was still working, but the post has since been deleted so that may still be up in the air.

Source: Reddit User — thesbros

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Prizes Announced for September Community Incentive Program with Honor

Better late than never! We apologize for the delay on this announcement.

As part of our work with Honor, we have the ongoing Community Incentive Program where XDA members are rewarded for posting quality content in any of our Honor forums. At any time, participants can see their ranking relative to other members in the Honor Hub, towards the bottom of the page. But let's see who won prizes in September!

Honor 8:

shashank1320

Honor 6X:

hassanjavaid8181

Honor Band Z1:

venugopalu007
RedSkull23
ayush rao

Honor Earphones:

adriansticoid
gopinaidu77
PalakMi

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Samsung’s Mobile Communication Division Declines in Revenue and Earnings Even as Smartphone Shipments Increase in Q3 2017

Samsung Electronics has announced financial results for Q3 2017, which ended on September 30, 2017. The company's revenue for the quarter was KRW 22.05 trillion ($55 billion), which increased by KRW 14.03 trillion ($12 billion) year-on-year. The operating profit for the quarter was a record KRW 14.53 trillion ($13 billion), which increased by KRW 9.33 trillion ($8.3 billion) year-on-year.

This record result for Samsung Electronics was because of several factors. The major ones were high demand for flagship mobile devices and memory chips for servers. In particular, Samsung Electronics posted exceptional financial results for its semiconductor businesses, which includes NAND, DRAM, OLED displays, System LSI business (mobile processors) and Foundry businesses.

However, the IT & Mobile Communications Division posted KRW 27.69 trillion ($24.9 billion) in consolidated revenue and KRW 3.29 trillion ($2.95 billion) in operating profit for the quarter. This meant that overall revenue and earnings for the division decreased quarter-on-quarter. Samsung stated that this was because mid-to-low tier models of Samsung's smartphone portfolio had a higher sales portion this quarter than they did in previous quarters.

It is worth noting that the company's smartphone shipments increased on the back of the global availability of their flagship Galaxy Note 8, which launched globally on September 15, 2017. Shipments also had a helping hand from the solid performance of the new Galaxy J 2017 series.

In the last few quarters, the Mobile Communications division has posted excellent financial results thanks to the great reception of its 2017 flagships, the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+. Thus, the company has recovered well from the Galaxy Note 7 recall, and early estimates for sales of the Galaxy Note 8 are looking promising.

Samsung has estimated that both smartphone and tablet demands are likely to increase during the year-end peak season. The company expects competition to intensify in the premium segment. To keep its competitive advantage, Samsung plans to "focus on maintaining solid sales and profit quarter-on-quarter through increased shipment of flagship models", that is, a greater proportion of flagship smartphones in Samsung's overall smartphone sales.

With respect to the the outlook for 2018, Samsung expects smartphone market to recover in terms of growth, but with the qualifier that the difficult business environment for the company is likely to continue. This is because of intensifying competition and higher materials costs. In the high-end price segment, Samsung now has two worthy competitors: Apple and Huawei. In the mid-range segment, Chinese OEMs like Oppo and Vivo pose heavy competition in China and India. Finally, in the budget segment, the company is in danger of losing its lead in particular markets such as India because of the rise of Xiaomi.

Source: Samsung Electronics Via: GSMArena

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