International and Sprint HTC One M8 Variants get TWRP Recovery

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For anyone looking to grab a HTC One M8 internationally or on Sprint, you’ll be happy to know that they both have a build of TWRP (Team Win Recovery Project) already. The recovery for both models are now available for download. The Sprint HTC One M8 is available on TWRP’s website, while the International HTC One M8′s is not, but it is available on XDA for those interested in grabbing it for their HTC One M8. Word of caution though, these files are not interchangeable, meaning you cannot flash the Sprint HTC One M8′s TWRP file on a Verizon HTC One M8, it will brick the device, and you’ll have a beautiful Aluminum paper weight afterwards. Not something we want, right?

Of course you’ll need to head over to HTC’s website, htcdev.com, so you can unlock the boot loader. We likely won’t see TWRP available for the HTC One M8 on Verizon or AT&T for quite sometime, since those carriers don’t like to have unlock able boot loaders, which is fine – we kind of understand why. However, T-Mobile’s will likely come locked and you can unlock it through htcdev.com as you could with the original HTC One. But we’ll still have to wait for TWRP or another recovery to be available for the T-Mobile HTC One M8. Which since it doesn’t launch until April 11th, it could be quite a while.

For those interested in flashing Team Win Recovery Project onto your Sprint HTC One M8 or International HTC One M8, hit the appropriate link below for more information. If you decide to flash the recovery to your new HTC One M8, be sure to let us know in the comments down below how the recovery is working out for you.

Sprint HTC One M8 TWRP | International HTC One M8 TWRP

HTC One M8 – Developer Edition- Factory Unlocked 32GB – US Warranty (Gunmetal Grey)

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Samsung Galaxy S5 Gets Torn Down, Reveals that Repair won’t be Easy

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Typically when new phones come out, or at least get into reviewers hands, sites like iFixit will tear it apart to see how easy it is to repair the device if anything breaks. We’ve already seen that the HTC One M8 is pretty difficult to repair, although we didn’t really expect anything else since the HTC One M7 was pretty difficult as well. Now the Samsung Galaxy S5 was torn down as well. However, not by the usual suspects. Russian website Ferra, managed to disassemble the brand new Samsung flagship device – which hasn’t even gone on sale yet.

According to Ferra, it’s pretty difficult to replace the display on the Samsung Galaxy S5. Mostly because Samsung is using a special adhesive to keep the display attached to the rest of the body of the smartphone. Once you get the display off, the rest of the tear down was pretty quick. However, tearing it down will probably take about an hour.

Repairing the Samsung Galaxy S5 is looking like it’ll be just as hard as the HTC One M8 is. But then again the Galaxy S5 is also water-resistant and dust-proof, rated at IP67. So that partially explains why it’s so hard to take it apart and replace parts of the phone. As I always do, if something breaks on your Samsung Galaxy S5, like screen cracks, or something else, I’d suggest taking it to your carrier or to Samsung to get it fixed, instead of doing it yourself. As they are trained on how to fix these devices.

All in all, this shouldn’t change anyone’s mind about buying the Samsung Galaxy S5. It still has amazing specs, and an even more amazing camera. The Samsung Galaxy S5 is going to be launching on April 11th in about 150 countries, while South Korea already has on sale – lucky Koreans! The Samsung Galaxy S5 will be priced at $199 on a new 2-year contract here in the US and $0 down on T-Mobile US.

Samsung Galaxy S5, White 16GB (Sprint)Samsung Galaxy S5, White 16GB (Sprint)

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Roku’s new Media Streaming HDMI Dongle is now Shipping from Amazon and Best Buy

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After the Chromecast’s success here in the US, it was only a matter of time before other manufacturers took that idea and did their own spin on it. Like Roku has done with their new streaming stick. The Ruko 3500R Streaming stick, is similar to the Chromecast in the fact that plugs into your HDMI port on the back of your TV and also doesn’t require a set-top box like the other products from Roku, which are set-top boxes. Roku has over a thousand channels and counting, basically everything you can get on a normal Roku box, you can get with this streaming stick. Which isn’t a bad idea, especially if you want a minimal setup, as most people won’t even see this HDMI stick anyways. Unfortunately it doesn’t work like Chromecast where you can cast from your Smartphone or tablet, but you can control it from your smartphone or tablet.

The Roku 3500R Streaming media stick is on sale now at all your favorite retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, Target and Roku’s website. It’ll cost you $50, which arguably is more expensive than the Chromecast at $35, but considering all the channels and programs you get with the Roku, it might actually be worth it. You’ll definitely need to do your homework first before picking up either one and seeing which is the best fit for you. As both are really great devices, even at $50 the Roku 3500R is still a steal, but maybe not as much of an “impulse buy” as the Chromecast is at $35.

For those interested we have a link below to both the Chromecast and Roku 3500R on Amazon. Both are available with Amazon Prime’s free two-day shipping so you should get it pretty quickly.

Roku 3500R Streaming Stick (HDMI) (2014)

Google Chromecast HDMI Streaming Media Player

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Samsung Galaxy TabPRO 10.1 Benchmarks!

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Boosted! The HTC One M8 Had Improved benchmark Stats Due To High Performance Mode

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So we know by now that many of you hate benchmarks, and we figured we might as well give you some ammo to play with. It appears that HTC has admitted to testing the HTC One M8 in the benchmarks while it was in a high performance mode, which caused the results of those benchmark tests to be beefed up. Does that mean that the benchmarks were fake? Not really no, but they weren’t necessarily fair as some would see it, as not every device has this type of mode switching. As we have stated before in just about every post regarding benchmarks, we know that they don’t matter as much to most because the actual results seen by people using the device, can be very different in real world situations compared to those given to us by the benchmark tests. They do serve their purpose, if not for complete bragging rights about whose device has the better and highest score(because benchmark tests are like call of duty, and a higher score means you ultimately have a better KDA), than at least for giving you some idea of how your device will perform when you use it.

So how did this come to light? AnTuTu, a popular benchmarking website for devices, they also have an app on the Play Store, had added a new type of benchmarking test called AnTuTu X, which is aimed at uncovering boosted benchmark scores or Cheating, as some will call it, and when this years top phones were all ran through to contrast against the score that came up when ran through AnTuTu 4, their normal benchmark test, HTC’s results were very different from before. Are you ready for this? Lets start from the top. The first score, as you may have seen in our earlier report about the first benchmark, was 38,815. This score put the M8 well ahead of the rest of the pack. After AnTuTu X, it came out with a score of 27,171, which put it at the very bottom of the list. Other phones ran through AnTuTu X during the same time were of course the Galaxy S5 which had a score of 35,357, the Xperia Z2, which had a score of 32,508, and the G Pro 2 which had a score of 29,787.

To the same group of people that could care less about benchmarks and scores, this will mean nothing, but to those of you who hold your benchmarks as sacred territory, you can perhaps feel a little relieved that HTC has been brought out into the open. The good thing for HTC is that they openly admitted this in an emailed response to the scores, instead of trying to hide it. They made the HTC One M8 to have a high performance mode that the user could toggle on or off, so the phone could take advantage of situations where it might need higher performance. Some will say these sorts of optimizations are blasphemy, others will just discount them and see how the phone runs for themselves. Whatever the reasons, we could simply care less either. If the phone is going to perform,(high performance mode or not) let it perform, and that’s all that matters.

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Get The Refocus Effect From The HTC One M8 With An App Called After Focus

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One things that was pretty cool to see with the new HTC One M8 camera is the shallow depth of field effect that can be given to photos, due to the duo camera that HTC has built into the device. While not everyone will care about this feature too much, it can make some photos look amazing if focal points are directed at the right spots. The downside to seeing all these cool pictures taken with the new One M8 camera is that those of us using other devices who like the effect can feel somewhat left out. Thanks to an app called After Focus though, you no longer have to. After Focus is not a new app, to be clear, but seeing as how the new HTC flagship device has a lot of attention falling on the re-focus effect that you can apply to every single picture you take, the After Focus app is getting some more attention as well.

The reason is because you can be on just about any android device and take advantage of this awesome app. The only requirement that I could see was that the device have android 2.0+. There is most likely no one left on the planet using anything below that, so virtually everyone on android can probably find this app compatible. The app is pretty simple to use and if used correctly you can end up getting some awesome results. You can apply the blur effects in one of two ways, either smart mode, or manual mode. Manual mode you can guess puts all the work on you, so you have more control to apply the blur where you want it. Smart mode basically applies the effects for you with minimal effort on your part.

You can choose to take photos within After Focus before you apply the blur effects, or you can apply the effects to photos from your gallery that have already been shot. This can be especially useful if you have a device with a really nice camera with some of their own cool effects. The app is free, but there is a pro version available with more filters and effects like using edge feathering to smooth the transition from the focused are to the background, making things look more natural. The free version is ad supported, and is available through this link if you want to give it a try.

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Play Store Developer Program Policies Get Updated With Revised App Promotion Tactics

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Google has updated the developer program policies for Google Play today, and in turn have introduced some much needed revisions to many different guidelines. Google is committed to updating the policies to match the evolving ecosystem, so as to provide a better experience for developers as well as the users themselves when inside the Play Store. Among the many highlights and changes that they have made to program policies, Google is taking a more aggressive stance against sexually explicit materials, or rather made some updates to clarify where they stand on sexually explicit apps within the play Store. This is in hopes to provide a better user experience for minors, as well as everyone else. It doesn’t take much browsing through the play store before you start to notice an overwhelming number of apps that have sexually explicit content contained within them, and Google seems to want to lay down some form of ground rules for that.

They have also made it so that apps that contain ads, have to clearly state that ads come along with the app, which means it has to be explained in the apps description. With so many different apps on the play store, there are undoubtedly a large number that may not have explained that the app was ad supported. New to the developer program policy, is Google’s introduction of an app promotion policy, which explains to developers which types of tactics to promote your app on the play store are allowed. The policy also contains a new provision that requires a developers to notify users of when certain features that are advertised in an apps description need payment through an in app purchase. This is most likely due to the negativity that Google has received recently about kids spending large amounts of money within apps, although Google didn’t specifically state any sort of reasoning as such.

In addition to revisions they made to the policy regarding adds and IAP, they have also updated the spyware section of the policy so that they could address any surveillance or tracking apps. The entire policy can be found at the Google link below, so if you’re a developer you can see all the changes that have been made. Google states that all developers need to make sure that their apps are in accordance with the changes, and if anything is out of place, they give a 15 day window to update app before it gets removed from the play store. If new apps come along after this statement, they’re bound to the guidelines of the policy immediately.

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