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[Q] Android device cluster, networking or screen sharing

In short: Is it possible to cluster, network or push device output from one device to another, share storage devices and network/gps interfaces?
The long version: I have been wanting to build an in-car device that would store media and act as a gps and what not, but haven't found a way that I want to implement it yet. I was thinking if I found a x86 port of android, got most of the voice stuff working, I could have a headless device that I could store music on and use as navigation. I know the phones are capable of that, but if I want to keep say 500 gb of music on me, how does one do that?
My thoughts were if it were possible to either cluster or network an installed android powered unit to an android powered phone, I could always have network access from the unit in the car and share the gps from the phone, or have the phone access the storage from the device (not through dlna, but the music app seeing it as physical storage) and allow me to push the output from the in car device to the phone and let me interact with the system how ever I need to I could accomplish a form of in-car entertainment.
I figured that there could be apps written that would let the in-car device act as a headless unit, with its only interface being audio, it could store navigation directions/maps and what not, so if I didn't have the phone that day, I could still navigate to where I needed to. The phone and the device could constantly be in communication with each other if the car was parked by a wifi hotspot or something, so if I chose to navigate somewhere when I was at home, the car would already have the directions. I could also have it pull any media changes through wifi, and always have an updated media library.
I know the phones are fully capable of doing this, but for most of it, you have to have a window holster for the car to use the gps, and wires running for audio and charging and what not, but if there were a way that the in-car device could be hardwired to the audio system and left alone, the phone could stay in my pocked, be linked via bluetooth and I could have a small button-pad or something that would allow me to initiate google voice search, control the media player and interact with navigation. The whole thing with linking the phone and device together would be so the mobile network could be shared between android devices and the incar device could pull the information it needed. The thought of the display sharing was in case I needed to interact with the incar device.
I know what I am going on about is specific to me, but my thoughts behind it were if it were possible to do at least the network sharing (with out tethering or mobile hot spot blah blah blah) that android phone and tablet owners could do the same thing. They could share their mobile network through their tablet and have a tablet that would be always connected, would share mailboxes with the phone and basically act the way the Blackberry playbook is proposed or how the Palm Foleo was supposed to work. If the devices had a network ability of some level, the tablet could pull text messages, email messages, contacts or any other sync-able item.. That way, this wouldn't just be done for my benefit, but it would take tablet and phone owners to another league. Two devices that share the same information from one source and don't have to sync with the same servers twice. It would take a lot of redundancy out.
I hope you guys can see usefulness in my idea, and can shed some light for me.

Sorry from bringing this back from the dead, but since I never got any responses I'll add a bit more..
Does android have anything that would work like blackberry bridge between two android devices?

Droid Vnc server and androidvnc works fine for screen sharing. What I really like is the hpc aspects to CPU cycle sharing over wifi/nfc. Really interesting possibilities.

What I am looking for is to have the ability to use two separate android devices, but have them communicate via wifi/bluetooth or what ever and act as the same device in the sense that when the device with the data plan gets a text message or phone call, the notification goes through the other device that would be physically docked to audio equipment or what ever...
I have a Droid X, Droid Incredible, Droid Pro and a first gen Droid laying around.. Currently the Droid Pro is my in use phone.. The rest are just laying here. I want to be able to dock one of the others in my car, turn the GPS on, link it to my droid pro and have the other phone use the droid pro's active data connection for guidance/searches etc, and it would be docked to car audio, so it would need to access the pro's sd card, and have access to the pro's phone audio, or the ability to route calls from the pro to the other device via bluetooth or whatever, not by call forwarding.. This way it would be a sort of infotainment/telematics system..
Think of the possibilities this would open up for android tablets etc. If You could reply to text messages from your tablet because the tablet is linked/bridged to the phone in your pocket... That would make these tablet/laptop combos more appealing because it would the perfect convergence between tablet and phone.

Oh, and I guess, the other thing is that I have multiple cars, so one device would go in each car, and then when I got in the car, the one in that car would link with my phone, and everything would be the same, car to car, or device to device...

I guess another way to bump this:
Would it be possible for an app to do ADB to ADB via bluetooth or something, because then an app could be written like pdanet that would allow the network to be shared at least?

I dont remember the name of the app I think the name of it is Dashboard? and it will store/push all texts/emails etc. to every device u have dashboard installed on...Best buy has an app kinda like that too...Like the Idea of the screen sharing is that kinda like remote desktop/control?

I just search how to neywork cluster android came across your post ..... if you use the Google apps like Google play music/maps as well Google hangouts since with Google voice you can easily do what you want with out the need for both devices being together you can upload 50000 songs 9n play music for free and any device with ur hangouts and voice will receive ur calls and email notifications .....just need to make sure have Internet

[Q] Radio on my phone?

I've got a Sony Xperia z, and I want to start playing around with what I can do with it. One idea that occurred to me was expanding its radio capabilities. I basically want to turn it into a mobile ham station. I want to be able to scan HF, VHF, and UHF frequencies and transmit on them... I have a basic idea of how to make the hardware for this project to work, but I have no idea what to do on the software side. I know the Z comes with the built in ability to listen to FM radio and it uses your headphones as an antenna, so I'm making two assumptions with that in mind: the input source comes in through the headphone jack, and this source can be expanded to other frequencies depending on what I plug into it. The wall I run into is I suck at java development. It's been years since I've used any programming language, and I know even less about hard ware/software integration on a mobile platform. Can anyone point me in the right direction to pursue this project?

Ok, how about this: I'm willing to pay someone to dev the app for me. I started looking into what it would take for me to program this and it's way beyond the scope of my skills. I was looking at buying a laptop just to work on this project, but I would rather spend the money on a quality product. Here's exactly what I want it to do:
A. Receive
1) Receive radio signals in the medium wave (mw) band all the way up to the VHF band.
2) scan a range of frequencies, with step options (I.e. Start a scan at a user in putted freq and then stop at another inputted freq and have the option to step up in increments as low as 0.001hz as the user desires)
3) store frequencies into a scannable Database or store freqs into a database of freqs to skip over
I'm assuming this would all be done by pulling in a signal from either the headphone jack or micro USB port.
B. Push a signal back out through the same port. So basically a receive or transmit mode. I get that phones don't have a built in transceiver. I can do the hardware as long as I have a signal going in one direction or the other and an app to interpret it.
So with pushing a signal back out I would like the option to either broadcast a stored file or directly from the microphone.
Now as for pay I was looking at spending 300 on a laptop so I could push that cost to a developer instead. Any mods after the initial app is finished would come with additional pay. Add on mods that is, not debugging issues. Any takers?

BranSidhe said:
Here's exactly what I want it to do:
A. Receive
1) Receive radio signals in the medium wave (mw) band all the way up to the VHF band.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you seen detailed specs on the radio? All I can find is that they identify if as "FM radio", so it is most probably just the VHF commercial broadcast band (88-108MHz). It is very unlikely that they would include a more expensive multi-band radio. A single-band VHF-FM broadcast band receiver would be much smaller than a multi-band receiver.
2) scan a range of frequencies, with step options (I.e. Start a scan at a user in putted freq and then stop at another inputted freq and have the option to step up in increments as low as 0.001hz as the user desires)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think this part would be native code -- C language.
3) store frequencies into a scannable Database or store freqs into a database of freqs to skip over
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And this would probably be handled by an Android application in Java.
I'm assuming this would all be done by pulling in a signal from either the headphone jack or micro USB port.
B. Push a signal back out through the same port. So basically a receive or transmit mode. I get that phones don't have a built in transceiver. I can do the hardware as long as I have a signal going in one direction or the other and an app to interpret it.
So with pushing a signal back out I would like the option to either broadcast a stored file or directly from the microphone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think I understand you completely but it is very unlikely that this radio has a transmitter. It is very likely only the VHF-FM single-band receiver, 88-108MHz in the US. With a rooted device you could probably create software which will scan and otherwise select frequencies but it would be useless to make the steps any smaller than 200kHz, unless you wanted to listen for very low power interstitial transmissions. It almost certainly will not transmit.
Again, do you have detailed specs on the radio? This job isn't for me though -- I don't have the device and I no longer have a suitable working environment for this kind of work.
Frank
ADDED:
Also, FM is essentially useless below 6-meters, although there is some rare Ham usage in HF.
Frank

Oh the phone def doesn't have a transmitter native to it. My thought process is to hook the phone up to a transmitter through either the USB port of the headphone jack and have it transmit that way.
I want the phone to be the interface of the system. I was thinking something like this: techlib.com/electronics/allband (it's .htm, I can't post full links yet) inline with the antenna and the phone (I.e. Antenna -> receiver/transceiver -> phone). The biggest problem I run into is I don't know how to make the phone work with whatever I plug into it.
And yeah, I accidentally left the g off of .002ghz so 2000 kHz is completely accurate.

BranSidhe said:
Oh the phone def doesn't have a transmitter native to it. My thought process is to hook the phone up to a transmitter through either the USB port of the headphone jack and have it transmit that way.
I want the phone to be the interface of the system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is reasonable. You could even use the device to work some of the data modes on a suitable tranceiver. I think I've seen this done with the Palm, so the Palm might be a source for some of the code.
The biggest problem I run into is I don't know how to make the phone work with whatever I plug into it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have not looked at the USB interface yet -- my last serial work was RS-232 -- so I don't know what these things will let us do.
These Linux/Android devices have been out for several years and there might already be some software for this -- have you looked?
Seven more posts.
Frank

I have been looking around for quite a while now. There is a ton of software for turning a computer into a controller station(SDR), but not a lot for mobile devices. Wolphi .com is the best I've seen so far, but their device isn't what I'm looking for. I don't want to have a full separate radio, just an inline receiver/transceiver and have all other "radio" functions controlled by the phone. I dunno maybe I'm reaching here.
Thanks for all the input so far btw

BranSidhe said:
There is a ton of software for turning a computer into a controller station(SDR), but not a lot for mobile devices. Wolphi .com is the best I've seen so far, but their device isn't what I'm looking for. I don't want to have a full separate radio, just an inline receiver/transceiver and have all other "radio" functions controlled by the phone. I dunno maybe I'm reaching here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Back in 2003 and 2004 I wrote a controller on Windows NT for my FT-897, and that was not a difficult task because I wrote it as a command line program -- no GUI. Are you intending to build your own radio, or just an interface for the phone/radio connection?
I looked at a few of the applications at wolphi.com and they all use only audio input and decode the audio signal. To control the device you would need USB, as you said. If no one has done this yet for any radio then maybe there is something in the USB implementation which limits it. I would probably have tried it by now if I were still licensed and had a radio to try it with, so I'm really surprised that a controller hasn't already been written.
I'm pretty sure I saw a controller written for a Palm PDA to control the Yaesu portable low power HF radio. I don't recall if it actually did any keying and transmitting though.
I don't think you are reaching too far. It seems to me that this can be done and it would be very useful if you do accomplish it.
Frank
ADDED 07:42:
After thinking back I recall that I had two or three connections between my radio and computer. An RS-232 serial cable connection was used to send commands to the radio and to receive replies from it. There was also one or two connections to send and receive audio; this was through two ports on the computer but I can't recall if it was separate connections or a combined connection on the radio.
The program I wrote had several options and one of them was to function as an echo repeater: it recorded a signal when the squelch broke and then retransmitted that recording when the transmitting station's carrier ceased. It was handy for other hams to hear what their station sounded like. An Android controller would probably use the same dual connection; for example, a command is sent through USB from Android to radio to key the transmitter then outgoing audio is sent through the headphone port; then the radio is unkeyed through the USB port.
The Android application will be a fairly typical Android application, except that is would communicate with a native Linux application that communicates with the USB port. This does not seem difficult to me and I'm really surprised it hasn't been done.
SGH-I717(AoCP6.4), SM-N900V/MI9(dlV), XDA Premium

[Q] Trusted Bluetooth device

Hello everyone, just moved from a Nexus 5 and enjoying many of the unique features, one thing that interests me most is the ability to unlock the phone with a trusted Bluetooth device. I already have a fitbit, so was hoping I could use this, however it turns out you can't, I think it is due to the way Bluetooth 4 is designed to minimise battery drain and it therefore not always connected. I was wondering what other people use , other than say speakers and headphones. I know Motorola have a device planned, but hasn't been released yet.

Thunder_Bolt said:
Hello everyone, just moved from a Nexus 5 and enjoying many of the unique features, one thing that interests me most is the ability to unlock the phone with a trusted Bluetooth device. I already have a fitbit, so was hoping I could use this, however it turns out you can't, I think it is due to the way Bluetooth 4 is designed to minimise battery drain and it therefore not always connected. I was wondering what other people use , other than say speakers and headphones. I know Motorola have a device planned, but hasn't been released yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HX550 earpeace is the only thing I have used. The Moto 360 is the coolest option - but an expensive one. I understand the new micro power-bank is like your fitbit and doesn't do the trick.

I actually have the Power Pack Micro that I use as a trusted device. Works perfectly!

Thanks for the replies, I never knew about the power pack micro, think that is what I will go for, hopefully Motorola will release it in the UK soon.

I connected mine to my desktop PC. Tried it for a bit and it was a cool idea, except that when connected to it the sound would go through the headsets plugged in to the PC. If I tried disabling the audio connection through properties on the PC the phone would disconnect. I couldn't find a way to keep it connected without audio so I ended up removing it.
Would be nice if there was a WiFi option, then I could pair it with that. For now I guess I'll just live without.

cbsevenfifty said:
I connected mine to my desktop PC. Tried it for a bit and it was a cool idea, except that when connected to it the sound would go through the headsets plugged in to the PC. If I tried disabling the audio connection through properties on the PC the phone would disconnect. I couldn't find a way to keep it connected without audio so I ended up removing it.
Would be nice if there was a WiFi option, then I could pair it with that. For now I guess I'll just live without.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have a look at Skiplock in the play store. I have been using that in the meantime, it works much the same as the trusted devices, but also does wifi. I have it set up with my home wifi network so when my phone is in the house I don't need to put the unlock code into the phone, does Bluetooth as well, just need to get myself one of those power pack micro now...

Advanced Keyguard Manager also let's you bypass the lockscreen based on WiFi connection.

cbsevenfifty said:
I connected mine to my desktop PC. Tried it for a bit and it was a cool idea, except that when connected to it the sound would go through the headsets plugged in to the PC. If I tried disabling the audio connection through properties on the PC the phone would disconnect. I couldn't find a way to keep it connected without audio so I ended up removing it.
Would be nice if there was a WiFi option, then I could pair it with that. For now I guess I'll just live without.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wifi trusted areas is supposed to come as part of Android L I believe.

You cant use it with your fitbit because it doesnt pair, it only uses bluetooth to sync to the app occasionally. It doesnt have anything to do with BT 4.0 afaik.
The only trusted device I use is my car.

Celeras said:
You cant use it with your fitbit because it doesnt pair, it only uses bluetooth to sync to the app occasionally. It doesnt have anything to do with BT 4.0 afaik.
The only trusted device I use is my car.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info Celeras, that makes perfect sense.

pseudopsyche said:
I actually have the Power Pack Micro that I use as a trusted device. Works perfectly!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there a way to quickly/easily lock the phone when using this? I'd like to do the same, but wonder about the security if someone steals both my phone and my keys -- the phone's power button won't lock the device if the trusted bluetooth is nearby.
Is it possible, for example, to use the button on the Power Pack Micro to disconnect or lock the device? Or is there some quick way to re-enable the PIN using the phone itself? It would presumably be easy with a Moto 360 or a BT headset -- just turn the BT device off, and the connection will be broken. But it's not clear that the Power Pack Micro can be turned off or disconnected without going through the Moto Connect app.
Thanks!

/dev/random said:
Is there a way to quickly/easily lock the phone when using this? I'd like to do the same, but wonder about the security if someone steals both my phone and my keys -- the phone's power button won't lock the device if the trusted bluetooth is nearby.
Is it possible, for example, to use the button on the Power Pack Micro to disconnect or lock the device? Or is there some quick way to re-enable the PIN using the phone itself? It would presumably be easy with a Moto 360 or a BT headset -- just turn the BT device off, and the connection will be broken. But it's not clear that the Power Pack Micro can be turned off or disconnected without going through the Moto Connect app.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can quickly lock the screen from the notification shade...there is a persistent notification at the top of the shade saying you're unlocked, and and if you tap it, it locks and stays locked until the next time you unlock it from the PIN/Pattern/PW lockscreen. You could also quickly unlocked it by turning off whatever device you are using as a trusted BT device. The Power Pack Micro has a power button you can turn it off with.
I've got so many things I use as Trusted Devices:
Moto 360
Moto Hint
Power Pack Micro
BT stereo headphones (Bluebuds X)
BT speakers at my work desk
BT HR monitor while at the gym
My cars Sync system
Cobra Tag - this one is really cool device, like the Power Pack it tethers your phone and lets you page it the phone if you've misplaced it, but goes one step further - if you get too far from your phone, both the phone and the Cobra Tag sound an alarm. Great for making sure you don't walk away from a restaurant or home or wherever with your keys in your pocket but the phone left behind (or vice versa). the Power Pack doesn't do that tethering alarm.
To your original concern, if someone walks off with both your BT device and your phone, you're screwed, unless you have time to get on Android Device Manager and remotely lock the phone.

Wow, you have a lot of devices, unfortunately the Motorola powerpack micro is not available in the UK yet, hopefully it will arrive soon.

Help making a app that uses Steelseries Stratus Duo controller 2.4ghz usb reciever?

Hey there! i was at my local store looking for a controller and came across the Steelseries Stratus Duo, i got it and brought it home hoping that it would work nicely with my phone, the exact opposite was true, i was using Bluetooth
and it had horrible lag and often times disconnected i tried to fix the lag and connection drops, nothing worked.
And sense this has no way to update firmware (at-least at the moment) on the Bluetooth side, i am not able to use it in that mode.
I have tested this on multiple devices, some carrying the bt 5.0 chip some with bt 4.2 and some with bt 4.1
the controller says it is using a Bt 4.1 chip (that's what it says on the box)
all exhibit the same issue's as noted above. most if not all are supposed to be compatible, but all of them are glitchy. with this controller.
So i was understandably disappointed, not wanting to return the controller,i tried out something, if you have ever used steam link app for android and plugged in a USB controller? if so the application will ask you if you want to use it with your device? you can choose yes or no, i tried it and was really surprised that it worked as well as it did, absolutely no issues with lag nor random connection drops.
just REALLY SOLID PERFORMANCE.
So, that gave me an idea, what if i made a stand alone application that allows us to use the included USB receiver with android?
and add extra functionality on top of it. such as emulating other controllers for better app compatibility.
I was looking for a driver or something that can pull access from that receiver. something i can integrate into my project.
As far as i know the controller is just seen as a Xbox 360 controller so i was wondering if there is a Pre-made driver for integration with apps, that would save me a lot of time and would simplify the process quite a bit.
The app will be free and will be given to people on my discord and on host sites.
Here's a link to the discord server i created.
nevermind its not letting me post links (thats fine)
I created the discord server because other people are having this issue as well.
and that's where all the progress will be recorded. also if you have this controller and are experiencing issues you can join too!
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Oneplus One cannot connect to CHARGIE battery charge controller

I've been keeping my battery alive by using Battery Pro app but you have to monitor it 24/7. So I bought a couple of CHARGIE devices - a hardware controller that goes between the cord and charge block to turns charging on and off via an app.
My phone connected to the device only once during many tests. I've been trying various settings and suggestions by the company. They insist it will work with Android v6 so maybe the phone is the problem. Device requires bluetooth "ble" so I turned on full location options (GPS, Wi-fi, bluetooth, cellular networks). I turned on setting to display all ble devices - shows a printer from a neighbour's house but not a Chargie 2 feet away! Ideas or information welcome...

Bluetooth is required for basic communication with the Chargie device, but if your particular phone's Bluetooth doesn't work, you can use another phone to configure Hardware Limiter and use it on the 1st phone without the app. Location Access is unfortunately required by Android's device scan library. Chargie doesn't use it (no purpose). iOS doesn't request that, for example.
If that particular Chargie doesn't work at all, on any phone, please contact [email protected] and it will be replaced for free.

Thank you so much for the info. The Chargies work (I have 3), just not reliably or quickly. I can plug in my phone right beside the Chargie and the app says it isn't in "range". Or it continually says the BLUE Chargie isn't in range even when plugged into the RED one! I had all radios including GPS on during the testing but GPS isn't needed. Still not sure how Airplane mode with Bluetooth turned on affects it. BTW my Oneplus One has Bluetooth 4.0.
Getting the phone connected takes so long, it's hardly worth the time to figure out the "hardware limiter" option with a Windows laptop. Not much documentation on it. I certainly don't want to leave my phone beside the device while charging. I was getting some answers via email until I asked how to return the devices. I may have to just accept that the device works 'sometimes'.