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Hi all,
Am a newbie to Android tablets/devices both in terms of hardware and software. So if my post is posted in the wrong thread or reposted pls pardon me. I just want to understand a few basics.
As you all may know, now the market is being flooded by those Chinese made Android tablets. And many of them looks good (at least on paper) and at a very good price. But the problem is most of the time when come to chinese goods, they don't usually do what they claims (if you know what i mean). and the best part most of the salesperson don't know anything about the products they are selling especially when comes to tech gadgets like the Android tablets.
So here i am seeking help from you gurus and hoping i can start my Android journey on the right step. Below are a few questions. Hope I can get answers (links to somewhere where i can read up or anything).
1. What are the conditions (CPU make, firmware, etc) to fulfill if i wan to upgrade/root/hack the original Android OS? Cos most of the chinese made tablets are running on Android 1.5. Hoping to be able to upgrade the OS whenever a newer one comes out. Like the latest 2.1 And be able to download new apps from the apps market.
2. Which CPU chip is better and what are the common CPU chips in the market now? I know there are the Rockchips, VIA, Telechips.
3. Can we tell what are the hardware (CPU make etc) and software (OS/firmware version, etc) that are being used in the device from the system setting or something?
4. I read somewhere that not all CPU chips can be upgraded to the latest OS. i.e. that any upgrade is determined by the CPU chip. Is it true?
5. As for custom ROM, is it also device dependable? Like is there a generic ROM for all devices?
For now these are the questions which are bugging me. Hope the gurus here can enlighten this Android newbie.
Sorry for the long winded post and thanks for any help.
Hmmm. Just check that it is upgradable to froyo and it has more than 500mhz cpu
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
if you are looking for a tablet just get an ipad. the android tablets i see floating around are just 1.5 or 1.6. even if you get a tablet that can do 2.2 (froyo)... i dont see how that can be any better than an ipad.
i just feel that 2.2 isnt meant to be in tablet form. if you can wait... wait for 3.0 before you decide. the main deterrent here is the maximum resolution for android (854 x 480 or something), and that the apps were made with phones in mind.
im very happy with my nexus one... i just cant imagine having a tablet running android as of the moment unless its very very cheap ($200 or so).
i for one will get an ipad next month. my nexus one with wifi tether + the basic wifi ipad will be gadget heaven. looking to get an ipad primarily for reading magazines (zinio) and comic books. android does not have zinio yet. the android comic viewer (ACV) i use on my nexus is ok... but not great. then theres the games. games on android are still so so with less variety and choices.
as a phone the android is great! better than the iphone (yes im an apple user through and through) even. but as a tablet... not quite yet.
Hp is going to release a tablet so is samsung with 2.2
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
Hopefully start seeing some of these 2.2 tablets in the 3rd Quarter...
I have done some searching but couldn't really find any good answers to my question.
I would like to know if it would be possible to have android honeycomb as the main boot os for my laptop which I would want to then link directly to my TV for the picture output.
Has anyone ever tried anything like this?
How do i go about it if it is possible, I have read about the android live CD boot for PC's but these look old, will they work for Honeycomb, and wouldn't it be better to have it directly running from the harddrive.
Another concern of mine is would honeycomb os on a PC use the mouse and keyboard inputs with no touchscreen being possible / available, and would the USB / cdrom, TV outputs, wireless and network cards etc all be recognised and useable by Honeycomb?
That's a very good idea, I'd like to know more about this
Sent from my HTC Tattoo using XDA App
For such purpose (Android as TV set top box) I would rather use some Hardware like i.e. BeagleBoard. There's also an Android port available (http://code.google.com/p/rowboat/) which is currently running FroYo. I'm sure there will also be Gingerbread, Honeycomb, etc. in the future.
I would rather not purchase new hardware if I don't need to. I have this laptop doing nothing and want to put it to use this way if possible.
Sent from my HTC Magic using XDA App
I would like to know the answer for this question too
i'm a fan of bigscreen
i plan to purchase acer iconia 6120 dual screen laptop if somehow i can manage to get honeycomb installed on standard laptop
or maybe later with windows 8
hmmm, yummy
I think Honeycomb still needs to use the touchscreen now and then, even with a keyboard and mouse. You might want to try Chrome OS, since that's designed for laptops.
err, acer iconia 6120 is a dual touchscreen laptop
you got laptop hardware but both touchscreen with virtual keyboard
thats why i brought up honeycomb, since its touch based
and windows 8 prolly in the future
Since a view weeks there is an Acer Aspire One with Win 7 Starter and Android as dualboot.
Maybe it is now possible to get Android on standard Notebooks?!
cu, Gurry
iam realy interessted in this, so umpup:
is it possible to run a honeycomb as main boot on a laptop? because why booting win and co if u just wanna check some emails, vistit some websites and i dont know ( yeah i know u can do this all with your smartphone, but wouldnt it be exiting to have it on your laptop too ? )
I have an old laptop and would love to have Android running on it, also my TV is running a customized version of Linux, i wonder if it would be possible to incorporate Android OS into it too. It's a Philips TV and some of their newer models are Android based.
Last weekend I got some Toshiba netbook (Nvidia Tegra chipset) on my hands running Froyo. A normal screen (no touch) and a keyboard just like normal netbooks. It was a pain in the a** to work with. I don't think Honeycomb will change that, since it's optimized for tablets. However, a combination of a touchscreen and a hardware keyboard would be nice, though.
Anyway, it should be possible to run Android on x86 devices, too, but I don't see any point for doing so. Why not just install Ubuntu?
Hello,
I'm getting a free Blackberry Playbook, I know it runs on QNX OS, but is their away to put Honeycomb on it, seeing as it has no physical buttons.
I want a 7 inch tablet, and the Galaxy Tab and Flyer(wi-fi) is not doing it for me, seeing how the Playbook is 1.0Ghz dual core, it will keep up with every one else.
Plus the fact Android on BB would be pure swagger.
Iv spent 3 hours researching it and all i get is the fact that their porting apps.
Thanks
50 views no comment?
Since Google didn't release the Honeycomb source code, this task may be impossible.
but they will release for 4.0 ice cream sandwich... will then be someone who will be brave enough to unlock the device and port android to BB?
bsdnix said:
but they will release for 4.0 ice cream sandwich... will then be someone who will be brave enough to unlock the device and port android to BB?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, maybe.
Amazon has just released their kindle fire source code. I hope it helps porting playbook to android
http://kindle-src.s3.amazonaws.com/Kindle_src_6.2_11185402.tar.gz
Instead of posting in a new thread I will post here. Where can I find anything that would help me port android as an app to the playbook since the playbook as of now has a very secure boot mechanism. I have not tried to exploit it but from what I have seen QNX is insanely restrictive, you cant even read system logs. Is it even possible to port android as an app?
Afaik RIM added Android app support to the playbook?!
The classes are identical (j2me/java) so as a developer it shouldn't be to tricky to port it.
I'm asking about running android (the entire os) as an app. The android player wont do android native sdk among some other things so not all apps will run. I'm asking if its possible to for example take android and run it through a translation layer that will take calls to the gpu and just use opengl on the playbook to render things. So kind of like vm but specific to the device and version of android so its actually fast and not an emulator.
HC source code is released comparative with ICS one. You need a good experienced dev for that type of action.
Didn't think it was supposed to go on sale until Black Friday, but just left Best Buy. It's going for $199. Android and I'd buy quickly.
if you were lucky you could've picked up a 64gb playbook for $229 before tax at best buy.
chaose said:
if you were lucky you could've picked up a 64gb playbook for $229 before tax at best buy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how so? price mistake? please do tell.
edit:
Scratch that. I found it over here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=19519966
Looks like the price was either a mistake or they're out. Either way... we need some devs hacking this thing.
Does anyone know if qnx uses a bootloader/recovery layout like Android? I would be interested to know how much reworking of the firmware would be needed and even so, would it be possible?
Deleted. Wrong thread.
Got one also.
Great video quality, fast, QNX not so bad;
but
App Store a real disappointment.
RIM wants paid for Apps that are free on Android; big big fail!
There is a loader (PowerUp & Volume + and volume minus; hold for 20 seconds)
Hopefully some xda weeney will jump all over this thing.
Great hardware.
Actually faster than my Gtablet w/FB10 (which is great too)!
Picked up one when it went on sale, and has been playing around with it. hardware is nice, QNX is very smooth. The machine is a multi-tasking beast.
Some android apps work,but you have to convert it to a .bar file first. The process can be frustrating.
Apparently people have gotten android app market to work on the playbook through the app player; not exactly sure how it's done but this gives me some hope.
App World, on the other hand, subpar apps that offers a quarter the functionality of free apps on the android market have a price of >$2.99. I can't find a single decent e reader on the app world.
I'm also interested in for getting android to Playbook, even webos if it is possible...
Vote here for playbook forum,
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1416406
ICS is now out and so is the source so who wants to start hacking it?
It can be found on their site. I wanted to put a link in here but I am to much of a newbie.
I checked out the specs of the newly-announced $249 chromebook, and I realized what an awesome android device it would make, if only android was successfully ported to it....
I know at the same price point we can get a n7 32gig, but the larger 11.6" LED HD tempts me, though the res at 1366 x 768 is not that great. also, all the hands-on reviews have heaped a lot of praise on the high-quality keyboard-touchpad on the device, which is even more tempting and would make up for the lack of touch input on the device...
Its config is pretty identical to a flagship android phone/tablet with two cortex-A15 cores on the Exynos 5250, 2gig RAM and 16GB onboard storage with an expandable mem slot, 2 full usb ports and a full HDMI out, with the usual WiFi a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0.
I'm a noob when it comes to creating ports and ROMS, but I guess it would not be such a difficult task for the awesome dev community out here to manage that feat. Maybe we need to wait for an actual android device with the exynos chip inside to release, whose android ROM we could use as a base to port to the chromebook...
windows 8 RT would be more awesome, but seeing that its a licensed OS, porting it might amount to piracy/illegal hacking, so its not something that I would discuss/encourage here....
Chromebooks boot with UEFI (Basically a modern BIOS), so the Android source code would have to be heavilly modified to be bootstraped from UEFI. Not to mention drivers and custom kernels (which isnt much of a pain if the hardware has documentation, all eyes on you Samsung.)
And I dont think we will ever see Windows on a chromebook unless someone creates an emulator for ChromeOS... Which I dont think is possible, but dont quote me on that.
i know it would take a ton of modding to find a workaround for it, but enabling the developer mode on the chromebook allows booting of an unsigned linux installation off the external memory (eg. gentoo ubuntu) on the x86 chromebooks currently available (Cr-48 etc..)
trying something similar for booting android off an image on the mem card might be a possible way...
UPDATE : https://plus.google.com/109993695638569781190/posts/b2fazijJppZ a google employee has already begun work on porting ubuntu..!!
drivers would be difficult, esp for the SoC as there is no device currently on the market with it. but maybe after Samsung releases a couple of phones/phablets running the A15's, porting of the drivers could be attempted...
I was wondering the same thing and figured I would come here to see if anything was planned. I just ordered the new one and was curious if there would be much interest in modding this thing. Guess in due time!
rumors say the upcoming google nexus 10 tablet is running identical hardware (exynos 5 dual omap15 / 2gig ram) which is gonna run android 4.2
once its out, MAYBE porting the ROM to the chromebook may become a teeny bit easier...
the_crazy_devil said:
rumors say the upcoming google nexus 10 tablet is running identical hardware (exynos 5 dual omap15 / 2gig ram) which is gonna run android 4.2
once its out, MAYBE porting the ROM to the chromebook may become a teeny bit easier...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I'm not wrong Nexus 10 will have exactly the same processor than the new Samsung Chromebook. If someon manage port android to this new latop I won't hesitate to buy it.
there is a developer board with same hardware and as far as I know it has android source codes, you can check the website http://www.arndaleboard.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
Wasnt this done a while back with the CR-48 thanks to Hexxeh?
http://hexxeh.net/?p=328117655
Just got to find a way to port it over to the new Chromebook, then port Android.
Since Android was ported to the HP Touchpad I'm pretty confident that it can be ported to this device... I mean the touchpad was the last thing I thought Android would run on and it runs like it was made for it... COME ON DEVS!
Following this thread with anticipation.
Well seeing as this device uses the same SoC as the nexus 10 i would be hopeful someone will manage to port android. I for one would be keen to have this option!
Touch Chromebook?
If this article on Android Community turns out to be accurate and Google release a touch chromebook any time soon, I would throw some money at a kickstarter to get android on it. Would be cheaper than an N10 - and probably quicker than waiting for a keyboard dock...!
Can't link because I'm new... androidcommunity.com/google-reportedly-plotting-12-85-inch-touch-chromebook-20121126/
Very hopeful!
^ here's a +1 form me
started..
OK...I was able to get into the uboot portion of chromeos and managed to load uvboot ( unverified boot )which will allow the booting of non chrome os kernel's. however it seems its looking for something else. I already got Ubuntu loaded on it so maybe I'll try to get it booting off the SD first so I don't brick my cb.....keep you guys posted.
rawtek said:
OK...I was able to get into the uboot portion of chromeos and managed to load uvboot ( unverified boot )which will allow the booting of non chrome os kernel's. however it seems its looking for something else. I already got Ubuntu loaded on it so maybe I'll try to get it booting off the SD first so I don't brick my cb.....keep you guys posted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
great work! i'm still waiting for my chromebook the stock's very erratic, and i cant find anyone willing to ship it to my country...will try to help as soon as i lay my hands on one!!
Ok ... DD'd the system.img from the stock N10 factory image and created a new BOOT partition. Booting the Chrome OS kernel worked ( which should be fine due to the fact that the CB and N10 have the EXACT same ARM SOC ) it seems the boot partition need to be re-written to work with the UEFI. im going to keep digging until I find something ( or someone lends some expertise dealing with UEFI and BOOT ).Happy New years !!
Kernel boots..just has a hard time mounting the ROOTFS...any want to shed some light on this.
Thanks
Super stoked for this!! Have been thinking this would be good to have Android on from the minute I got it!! Looking forward to this!!
Hey,
Was wondering what everyone thinks of the new Asus Qube?
Engadget hands on
Newegg Hands on
I saw a video that showed it was running Android 3.2.
I can only assume that this there will still be a huge limitation on the apps that are compatible with this device.
I wonder why Google hasn't update Google TV to Android 4.x.x?
This isn't up to the device makers is it?
The video of this device looks promising. I could possibly try and pick one up myself.