The other day we discussed the fact that Google had finally started charging cards for Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL orders. This generally means that they are preparing devices for shipment. Google started to send out shipment notifications yesterday which means some of those who paid extra for overnight shipping will begin receiving their devices today. My shipment notification came through this morning. I should have mine by Friday! Has everyone else received their shipment notification?

Last year Google decided to show off their Pixel and other Google devices at various Pop Up stores. You could go to those stores and get your hands on the device to help you make your decision as to whether or not you would buy those devices at Google's online store. There was no option to buy in store last year. This year Google has confirmed they will offer the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL for sale at the Pop Up stores. There will be a store at 8552 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood in LA and at 110 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in New York. The stores start October 19th and will be open each day from 10AM to 8PM until December 31. If you are near one of these stores it may be a way you can get your hands on a device that may currently be on backorder online.

via The Verge

Many of you may have flashed roms to your devices back in the day for the specific purpose of being able to apply themes via the CyanogenMod theme engine. At one time this was the only way to get system wide changes to your color scheme. You could theme your notification panel, boot animation, framework, system UI, icons, and more. LineageOS has now taken the place of CyanogenMod and substratum is the replacement of the CMTE. At this time LOS developers are removing all mentions of the CyanogenMod Theme Engine from new releases. You won't miss the theme engine though since Substratum has more features and is better in every way.

via XDA

Yesterday the Huawei Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro were released at a press event in Munich yesterday. The new flagships from Huawei come with an all new design which is set to compete directly with the iPhone X. The Mate 10 features a large 5.9" 2560x1440 LCD display while the Mate 10 Pro features a 6" 2160x1080 OLED display. Both devices feature the popular thin top and bottom bezel design that we have seen on many other devices this year, and the pro features an 18:9 aspect ratio.

Internally both phones pack on the power with the all new Kirin 970 CPU, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, dual cameras with f1.6 aperture lenses and 4,000 mah batteries. The dual camera setup includes a 20mp main shooter and 12mp monochrome secondary lens. If you spring for the Pro there is an additional version with 6GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage.

One interesting feature is a DEX like desktop docking feature which gives you a desktop computer experience. You don't actually need a dock with the Huawei Mate 10. You can just plug your phone into a monitor with a cable and get about 3 hours of desktop use. The experience even includes resizable windows and Office support.

This looks like a very interesting device. Anyone picking up the latest flagship from Huawei?

via...

Security researchers have found a way to decrypt WPA 2 Wi-Fi security protocol. The KRACK hack (Key Re-installation Attacks) are apparently exceptionally devastating against Linux and Android 6.0 or higher, but can affect all Wi-Fi devices. According to researchers it is "trivial" to intercept and manipulate traffic sent by Linux and Android devices. This leaves about 41% of Android devices open to this "exceptionally devastating" version of the attack.

You will want to stay away from Wi-fi until your OEM sends out an update patching KRACK for your device. Manufacturers of routers are already sending out patch updates. Even things like Wi-Fi cameras can be compromised enabling someone to tap into a live feed of cameras in your home. To remain as safe as possible you should avoid using all Wi-Fi devices until they have been patched.

If you must use wifi use encrypted sites and VPNs. Also be sure you are using https instead of http. There are even browser extensions that can add that s to all of your surfing.

via Krackattacks.com

Android Oreo is the latest and greatest version of Android right now. It's been available for the last few months, but only for Pixel and Nexus devices. The OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T will likely be among the first non Google devices to receive the Oreo update. Oneplus has recently released the latest OxygenOS Open Beta update for both devices that does bring them up to Android 8.0. This is not the final build that will roll out to all devices, but if you willing to run a beta build you can have Oreo on your OP3 or OP3T right now!

via OnePlus

The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL will begin shipping out in the next few days, but you can get a taste of these new devices right now. Last week the Pixel 2 launcher was posted and works with just about any Android device. I have already installed it to all my devices. If you want an even more complete experience you can now grab the Pixel 2 wallpapers. There are three collections of wallpapers which include "Underwater", "Keep Looking", and the default "Rainy Day" wallpapers. Head to the google drive link below for the downloads.

via Drive

Pixel 2 devices are nearly on the way! First thing this morning Google charged my card for the Pixel 2! They generally don't do this until the phones are ready to ship. I heard from several other folks today who got also saw the charge hit their cards today as well. It looks like we will begin to see these devices on our doorsteps any day now! To be clear I have not seen a shipment notification yet, and have not seen any reports of such yet. Have you received your shipment notification yet?

The Note 8 has one of the best cameras on a smartphone this year, but did you know it is capable of doing more than what it does out of the box? You can get even more use out of the Note 8 camera with a Mod made available at XDA Developer forums. With the mod you can enable HDR support while shooting 4K, and 60fps while shooting at 2K. You can also remove the 4GB file size recording limitation. This mod also increases the quality of JPG for single and burst shots. The Zero camera Mod enables even more features. You will need to be rooted to take advantage of the mod since it requires you to flash a zip file. Their may be a few bugs included with the Mod so also be sure to keep that in mind. Grab the Zero Camera Mod from the link below.

via XDA

I have been using my LG V30 as my main device for the past week. I am still having a hard time remembering to tap the app drawer button to bring up the app drawer. I have become so accustomed to swiping up to reveal the app drawer. This is the action in the Pixel launcher which I had installed on my previous devices.

The latest Pixel 2 launcher with the bottom search bar is now available for download and should work on Any Android device with Nougat or better. You won't be required to install this on the system partition so you don't need root to make this work. While you are at it you might as well go ahead and grab the PIxel 2 wallpapers app as well.

via XDA