message to Proceed with caution.
Among the options is the ability to
reconfigure the Quick Settings
pull-down menu, toggle what icons
are displayed on the Status bar and
activate an embedded battery
percentage value in the Status –
this can prove very useful!
Want to disable System UI Tuner?
Tap the menu button and choose
Remove from Settings.Takeadozefor
more battery life
Running in the background of Android
Marshmallow is Doze mode, a
system that ensures your phone or
tablet has a good rest while not in
use. You don’t need to do anything to
activate Doze, other than upgrade to
Android 6.0 on your device.
Basically, all you have to do is leave
your phone alone. Doze won’t work in
your pocket thanks to the motion
sensors detecting movement. If
items are moving across the phone’s
front camera or light sensor,
movement will be detected causing
Dozenottoactivate.
Instead,yourphoneneedstobe
kept still. Just put it down on a desk
or shelf with the display off. Only
phone calls, SMS messages and
anything else classed as high priority
will be received and Android will
consume minimal battery. This is
probably the least technical tweakever, but without following these
steps, Doze won’t work.Expand RAM with
an SD card
While the main use for an SD card is
to expand your device’s storage, it is
possible to use a portion of it as
additional RAM to improve Android’s
system performance.
Available from the Play store for
£6.99/$9.99, Roehsoft RAM
Expander (SWAP) works on rooted
phones and has a checker app,
called MemoryInfo & Swapfile Check,
that should be installed first to
confirm that the main app will be
able to run on your Android phone.Tips&Tricks
q hacks
The latest version of AirDroid has
been out since January 2015 and
offers a feature called AirMirroring.
Windows and Mac users can take
advantage of this if their PC and
rooted Android device are
connected to the same network.To get more
from mirroring
useAirDroid3
Head toairdroid.com/en/and
download the AirDroid desktop client.
Install while ensuring your fi rewall
gives the necessary permissions. If
you don’t have AirDroid on your device
then download from Google Play.(^1) Open Settings and scroll to
Notification Mirror service. Check that
AirDroid Notifi cation Mirror is enabled
where you will see any notifi cations
on your desktop whether you’re using
the mirroring feature or not.
(^2) Once signed into AirDroid,
activate AirMirror via the AirDroid
3 app – click the binoculars icon
on the left. It will check for root
permissions fi rst then you can
view your device remotely!
3
HTC One (M9)
Rooted?:Yes
Active Development
QQQMedium
HTC has long provided
phones that are good
for hacking and
developing, and the
latest is no exception.
Install AirDroid to PC Enable notifications Start AirMirror
TweakMwith
System UI Tuner
Using Android 6.0 Marshmallow
preview or fortunate enough to
receive the full upgrade? Activating
theSystemUITunerisagoodidea
as it adds some Google-approved
tweaks to the user experience.
Enable by pulling down the
notification area and long tapping
Settings for around five seconds.
Upon release, you should see a
messageconfirmingthatSystemUI
Tuner has been added.
Open Settings to review the
tweaks on offer, noting the
Hacker Zøne
status update
To add System UI Tuner, long tap Settings
Doze can signifi cantly increase battery life
Sony Sma
Watch 3
Rooted?: Yes
Active Developm
QQQHigh
Perhaps the best
about rooting this
smartwatch is th
bootloader doesn
need unlocking fi
Nexus 6
Rooted?: Yes
Active Development
QQQHigh
If you want a good phone
to start your hacking
career with then the
Nexus 6 is rooted and
has a great selection of
custom ROMs available.
Which devices are best for
the hacking scene?
LG Watch
Urbane
Rooted?: Yes
Active Development:
QQQMedium
For wearables, active
hacker development on
the Urbane is high, but
also limited to a TWRP
recovery image and an
unoffi cial kernel.