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New software for old phones: Pixel 2 gets Ubuntu Touch and unofficial Android 12 ports

The Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones were released in 2017 and they were pretty great phones with good performance and excellent cameras. But Google rolled out the last official update for the phones at the end of 2020, which means there’s no official Android 12 build for the Pixel 2 series and […]

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Android 12 custom ROMs are here

Google released the source code for Android 12 this week, but the company doesn’t plan to begin rolling it out for its own Pixel phones for at least a few more weeks, which means that if you want to run Android 12 on Pixel or third-party devices right now you have two choices: use an […]

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Run Android 11 on Walmart’s cheap Android TV devices with LineageOS

Hackers recently figured out how to unlock the bootloader on Google’s $50 Chromecast with Google TV device, opening the door to replacing the default software with custom ROMs. But the Chromecast isn’t the only low-cost, 4K-ready media streamer around. Last year Dynalink launched an Android TV media streamer that sells for $50. And earlier this […]

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Android 11-based LineageOS 18.1 released with support for dozens of devices

LineageOS, the Android-based operating system that’s probably the most well-known custom ROM these days, is now based on Android 11. The developers have announced the release of LineageOS 18.1, which includes new features, behavior changes, and security patches. There are also updates to some LineageOS-specific apps and features. For example: All LineageOS apps now support […]

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Lilbits: LG’s big, light laptops leaked, and the HTC HD2 gets new life (again)

There are plenty of thin and light laptops on the market these days. But for years it’s been hard to beat the LG Gram lineup if you want really lightweight notebooks with big displays. The current lineup includes a 17 inch notebook that weighs less than 3 pounds, a 2.5 pound model with a 15.6 […]

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Lilbits: High-res, high-refresh laptop displays, GIMP turns 25, and a 3D printed smartphone keyboard

Laptops with 4K displays have been around for a few years at this point, and notebooks with screen refresh rates up to 300 Hz are a thing now too. But you know what we haven’t seen much of yet? Laptops with high-res displays and high-refresh rates. Enter a new line of laptops from Eluktronics, which […]

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Lilbits: Pixel 5 custom ROMs, GPD Win 3 gameplay, and Plasma Mobile updates

Less than a month after the Google Pixel 5 began shipping to customers, developers have created the first custom ROM for the phone. GPD’s next handheld gaming computer probably won’t ship until Q2, 2020, but the company is starting to show off gameplay on a prototype of its new Tiger Lake-powered handheld. And a group […]

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Lilbits: A new mobile, open hardware device

The hardware hacker who brought us the Novena open laptop, the NeTV2 open video development board, and the Chumby, is preparing to launch a crowdfunding campaign for a new open hardware device called Precursor. The goal is to provide a handheld development platform that’s fully hackable and configurable. According developer bunnie Huang, the device has […]

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Run Android 10 on the 2018 Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet (unofficially with LineageOS 17.1)

Most new Android phones and tablets shipping this year are running Android 10 software, and Google is getting ready to release Android 11 this fall. Meanwhile, Amazon’s latest tablets are running a fork of Android called Fire OS and some recent tablets are still stuck on Fire OS 6, which is based on Android 7.1 […]