Galaxy Gear Gets Custom ROM With Third-Party App And Web Browsing Support
XDA Developers working on the Galaxy Gear cooked up a new custom ROM for the device, which unlocks quite a few nifty features. The smartwatch sold only about 50,000 units, a remarkably low number for the effort put into it, but given the recent change in restrictions (and thanks to XDA developers), things might change in the future.
The ROM mentioned is named Null, a completely deodexed and rooted custom ROM, which allows the watch to run a tweaked version of stock Android, with a custom launcher called Nova and live wallpaper support to boot. Thanks to plenty of hard work, the ROM is also able to allow the Gear to perform full web searching, as well as install third-party applications as you would any other device. There is even a feature that lets you check your e-mails right on your wrist.
Here are the features included in this particular custom-made ROM:
- MK7 BASE
- ROOTED
- SUPERUSER
- COMPLETELY DEODEXED
- NOVALAUNCHER INCLUDED
- HOMEBUTTON FIX / POWER BUTTON LOCKS SCREEN WHEN USING CUSTOM LAUNCHERS.
- NO WIPE BASE
- WEATHER WIDGET / REMOVED STATIC “WEATHER” TEXT
- DISABLED SAMSUNG SIGNATURE VERIFICATION
- NATIVE APK INSTALLATION
- INCREASED VIDEO RECORDING LIMIT TO 60 SECONDS
- VPN ENABLED
- CM10.2 BROWSER
- WALLPAPER SUPPORT
- LIVE WALLPAPER SUPPORT
- CM10.2 GALLERY
- THIRD PARTY CONTACT WIDGET & APP CRASH FIX
- SETTINGS / FULL SETTINGS DIALOG
- MTP SUPPORT / ENABLED IN STORAGE SETTINGS
- BLUETOOTH TETHERING
- MULTIPLE BLUETOOTH DEVICE PAIRING
- NATIVE EMAIL CLIENT
- CONTACTS SYNC
- CALENDAR SYNC
- PLAYSTORE ACCESS
- DOWNLOAD MANAGER
It’s definitely an interesting development for the smartwatch, but since it is still only compatible with TouchWiz devices, we are still stuck at square one. The issue is, hardly anyone owns this thing. So until you see this watch on a lot more wrists, you can continue to expect a low number of developers offering any of their time to work on it.
For those of you who indeed own such a device, instructions on how to install the Null ROM and download link can be found here.
Thank you Droid Life for providing us with this information
Images courtesy of XDA Developers
Yeah the uptake on these things are very slow at the moment. I’ve personally never seen one in the flesh and I’m always in the vicinity of the latest consumer tech although usually not terribly interested in most of it. Maybe as more companies release their take on what a smartwatch should be things will pick up. Until then, I couldn’t be bothered.
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