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It’s not exactly big news when a new smartphone gets rooted these days (unless it’s your smartphone, and you’ve been waiting desperately). But when that phone is Motorola’s new $179 Moto G which aims to redefine the budget smartphone space, it’s kind of worth noting that the phone appears to be pretty hacker friendly.
Shortly after the phone hit the streets, MoDaCo’s Paul O’Brien has posted instructions for rooting the device (after following Motorola’s instructions for unlocking the bootloader).
Here’s a roundup of tech news from around the web.
- Unsurprisingly, it hasn’t taken long for folks to root the Moto G smartphone
The phone has a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core CPU, 1GB of RAM, up to 16GB of storage, a 4.5 inch, 1280 x 720 pixel display, and Android software. And now it has root. [MoDaCo] - Cassini saves space on your Android device by compressing image files in some system, user apps
Developers could probably do a better job of using compression on images in their apps to save you space… or you could do it manually. There’s no guarantee this won’t break future app updates though, so proceed with caution. [xda-developers] - Offline playback, uninterrupted music, ad-free listening (with Music Pass) coming to YouTube for Android?
There are clues in the latest YouTube app for Android, suggesting that offline playback, ad-free music, and other features could be on the way. [Android Police] - Instructions for installing Ubuntu/other Linux distros on an ARM mini PC by preparing an SD card
The easiest way to install Ubuntu on a device with a Rockchip processor is probably to use a pre-built system such as PicUntu. But if you’d rather do it yourself (with the help of Linaro), this guide will help you. [hwswbits] - Dell Latitude E7440 ultrabook reviewed
It’s a rather pricey workhorse meant for business. Unfortunately it gets less than stellar battery life. [Ultrabook News] - Jolla’s Sailfish OS smartphone goes on sale today (in Finland)
Sailfish is an open source, Linux-based operating system that picks up where MeeGo left off when Nokia dropped it in favor of Windows Phone. Sailfish can also run Android apps though, so you won’t necessarily need to wait for developers to port their apps to Jolla’s platform. [Jolla]
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The Dell Latitude E7440 review link isn’t working. I get a “Page not found (404)” error page.
it looks like a good phone but I don’t get why they couldn’t have a modular battery on it…
I agree. A replaceable battery is something I look for in a smartphone.
Yup, and an (micro)SD slot. And allow booting from it. That would make it hacktastic.