Ok, so I'm pretty new to this whole Android thing, but I'm not daft and know a think or two about computers and software, so I'm not a complete 'noob'...
However, to spare me the drama of trawling through thousands of pages, I have a few quick concise questions, and would appreciate concise answers.
So I bought a generic handset, branded as an Onyx Dragon though AnTuTu benchmark app tells me its a Yusu... details and specs from Chinavision.com (search Onyx Dragon).
I initially bought it because I needed a new phone (been on a Moto V3 Razr for about 6 years!) so got this cos it was cheap and looked good. Runs Froyo on what I have found to be pretty **** hardware (MT6516, advertised as 416MHz but shown to be around 207MHz, but not sure if this is main CPU or radio core...) with not a lot of RAM. I installed an 8Gb SD card to save the apps and keep as much free internal space as possible, in case the OS supports disc memory (?). The wireless is good and screen works well, but the GPS, navigation and camera are rubbish, but they are not why I bought it; I have a decent camera and I can read a map. Its definitely 'entry level' so I'm not too bothered if I brick it.
Since I got it, and seeing the many cheap 'clones' out there, I'm keen to get into them a bit more and start developing. I already rooted it with z4root, BusyBox and Superuser all installed fine. ROM Manager is running but because I don't know the actual brand I'm not yet running ClockWorkMod (doesn't show up in the list). I'm keen to install Gingerbread or maybe even CyanogenMod 7, but cannot flash the ROM without CWM. Can anyone tell me what phone 'model' I should use for this particular handset?
I can't overclock the chipset, but have been looking at other clones to play with, such as htc Incredible G11i Pro clone from etotalk.com and 'CyberStar' 3G handset with MT6573 650MHz chipset (also from Chinavision).
Does anyone have any knowledge/experience with these clones? They look great and if they work as well as the budget model I have now then there is certainly potential. Sure, they may not be as good as a genuine Galaxy or Nexus, but then the price reflects that. However, as a cheap development platform you can't really go wrong! I'd like to see faster processors and more hardware mod ability such as clocking, just to see what is possible. Anyone tried ICS on one of these? I read elsewhere that if Froyo runs ok on a cheap device then GB should be better. My friend has GB 2.3.3 on a genuine $500 Galaxy S2 and I'd love to show him up with a rooted and clocked clone running ICS for a fraction of the price!!
Well, thats not as concise as I would like, but it covers pretty much everything. One last thing though, I cannot install ES File Explorer 1.6.1, it will download from Market and attempt to install but then fail. The latest version I have is the pre-installed 1.4.2.2. I've tried everything I can think of; downloading on my Mac and copying via USB to install from Astro making sure ES is not running, failed. Tried uninstalling ES with ROM Toolbox having root access and disabled AVG, failed. Tried to launch new version from package options, failed. I have installed ES Task Manager v1.2 but cannot use all the features as it says File Explorer needs to be updated, and needless to say updating it from the prompts failed as well... Any ideas? I'm thinking a flash to GB should include the latest version (or better alternative).
Thanks all in advance!
I don't think it's possible to run ICS on such a low spec'd device. This onyx dragon runs on a 416Mhz ARM9 processor with a 200 Mhz ARM7 GPU. Even the G1 that uses a 528Mhz ARM11 CPU can't run ICS well. I would suggest that you give up on theses crappy chineses devices. If you don't have money you can find a LG Optimus One for 100 bucks on ebay and it is A LOT better than any of these chinese crap phones
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
For CWM, take a look at this site http://www.koushikdutta.com/2010/02/clockwork-recovery-image.html and the quote below
Don't see your phone? Email me if you want to help me get it working!
And of course, all the source can be found on Github.
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Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
Moving to Q&A
Hey all, thanks for the feedback. Basically, sure I don't want to spend a lot being a student, I don't have a lot, but I'm keen to get more out of what I can afford, hence the Chinese crap (yes it is crap but if it does what you need...) : ) just a shame I can't clock mine! Does anyone know if ANY MediaTec chips can be?
Sure, I think running ICS is a bit optimistic, but I'd still like to give GB or C-Mod a go, providing I can get CWM installed. I'd like to compile myself and even think about refining my own version, perhaps slimming down a newer version to run on low performance hardware. What's this about a special cable needed with a 3.5mm jack?
And am I right in thinking Honeycomb was only for tablets, not phones...?
droidscope said:
Hey all, thanks for the feedback. Basically, sure I don't want to spend a lot being a student, I don't have a lot, but I'm keen to get more out of what I can afford, hence the Chinese crap (yes it is crap but if it does what you need...) : ) just a shame I can't clock mine! Does anyone know if ANY MediaTec chips can be?
Sure, I think running ICS is a bit optimistic, but I'd still like to give GB or C-Mod a go, providing I can get CWM installed. I'd like to compile myself and even think about refining my own version, perhaps slimming down a newer version to run on low performance hardware. What's this about a special cable needed with a 3.5mm jack?
And am I right in thinking Honeycomb was only for tablets, not phones...?
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Click to collapse
Yes you are right about honeycomb. As for the device. Without kernel source which will never be released due to copyright issues you may have a bit of trouble Modding it. CM only supports authentic devices and not clones as the hardware specs as you learned are faked and never true.
droidscope said:
Hey all, thanks for the feedback. Basically, sure I don't want to spend a lot being a student, I don't have a lot, but I'm keen to get more out of what I can afford, hence the Chinese crap (yes it is crap but if it does what you need...) : ) just a shame I can't clock mine! Does anyone know if ANY MediaTec chips can be?
Sure, I think running ICS is a bit optimistic, but I'd still like to give GB or C-Mod a go, providing I can get CWM installed. I'd like to compile myself and even think about refining my own version, perhaps slimming down a newer version to run on low performance hardware. What's this about a special cable needed with a 3.5mm jack?
And am I right in thinking Honeycomb was only for tablets, not phones...?
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Click to collapse
Hi droidscope,
Not all the Chinese phones are crap there are a few very capable phones now entering the market and they are catching up the bigboys rapidly.
For more info & reviews on the latest Chinese phones check over here http://www.gizchina.com/category/phones/ Try to stick with the branded chinese phones such as Zopo, ZTE, Newman etc because there is at least some support where as the direct copy/clones have no support at all. If buying try to get the phone pre rooted because some of the Chinese phone are getting more difficult to root. I would look here http://www.etotalk.com/ if buying and select the MOD ROM $4.99 for most phones then the phone will come pre rooted with working playstore language etc. They do not 1 to 1 copys although some of the phones have more than a passing look of some of the more famous brands. I have used them a few times and they have not let me down be sure to email them first to ask about stock levels though.
Im buying a new android mini pc and I was wondering is the Rk3188 the most powerful out now. Ive searched the web and every android stick says there more powerful then this one and blah blah..... Does anyone know which one is the top-of-the-line mini pc out now?
Connormdy said:
Im buying a new android mini pc and I was wondering is the Rk3188 the most powerful out now. Ive searched the web and every android stick says there more powerful then this one and blah blah..... Does anyone know which one is the top-of-the-line mini pc out now?
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Click to collapse
for now there's nothing new out, everybody is sticking to rk3188.
there are a couple of development board with something more powerfull like Odroid-ux but nothing at consumer level.
okay so here's the deal. I recently bought an off-brand tablet that i have never heard of, it is a maxwest 7370 tablet. I have a joke about it i call it a samsing lol. It seems like a good deal, it came with a 7" screen, 1.2 gigahertz dual core ,800 some odd mb of RAM, 8 gigs of storage, HDMI output, microSD slot, and Flash support, it runs on jelly bean 4.2.2 It was only one hundred and seventy dollars. And I'm happy with it so far but on the other hand I have had no success even finding this model of tablet on the Internet. Today I attempted several times at rooting this device with no success. I use software downloaded on my laptop one called kingo root the other was one click rooting. the only thing I was planning on using the rooted tablet for was supporting interface with my playstation 3 sixaxis controller. If anyone can help me figure out how to root this or just pairing my controller it would be greatly appreciated. I don't know much of anything about Android or rooting them but I would love to unlock more potential out of this thing! I use it mostly for fun but maybe some listening and learning will allow me to do much more.
Hello, I'm really new to Android devices. In fact, this is my first Android-based device ever. But I do have a lot of experience with Linux and Windows, and it's weird how locked down ARM-based hardware actually is. Android isn't as bad as Apple, but it's still a lot less freedom than I'm used to having. I'm getting the impression that installing custom ROM would be almost as much of a pain as installing the Homebrew Channel on a Wii.
Anyway, one thing that I should point out about my device is that it has no touchscreen at all. It has a touchpad and a keyboard in a laptop form factor, but it runs Android. It has SD card slots, USB ports, and an Ethernet port. It's a netbook with smartphone hardware. I'm curious what I can do with it, and I wouldn't be losing much if I bricked it.
If it were possible, I'd be interested in figuring out how to compile a custom version of Linux for it and flash it to ROM. I really think X with a light Window manager would work well on that hardware. If I can't, though, I would be content with a newer version of Android. It's currently running Jelly Bean and I'm wondering what the new versions are like.
The only thing I've been able to find out about the device is that it's based on a WonderMedia Prizm WM8880, has 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage, and a 1.5GHz Cortex A9 processor. Mali-400 Graphics. In Google Play, the device is listed as No Carrier WonderMedia GA-1311F. I did a search for GA-1311F, and I found no results.
Note that I don't have an actual Manufacturer or model number, everything I can find digging around leads back to the chipset manufacturer, WonderMedia or some company called WMT. It seems like WonderMedia has ties to VIA technologies, and that they definitely don't make the device I'm using. So that means I have no idea who the manufacturer is.
Is any of this information helpful, or is my device unable to be hacked simply because the manufacturer is too obscure?
Sorry to bump my own thread, but I thought I would mention that I've managed to find out about a method called KingRoot that often works on Android 4.2. I managed to install the APK, but the program got to around 60% and then said my device couldn't be rooted.
I'm not crazy about most of the other methods because they require a USB cable that I don't have. Most Android phones or tablets would presumably have a mini-USB port with a small end for the phone and a large end for the computer, like my Windows Phone does. This machine only has regular-sized USB ports, however, and thus I would need to buy a USB male A to USB male A cord that's capable of performing the same function. I hate to waste the money on it not knowing if it will even work, though. I'm also wondering if I need to worry about crossover vs. patch cables like I would with Ethernet, etc. It's starting to seem like more trouble than it's worth.
There was another method I tried called OneClickRoot, but they told me that I needed to have that same dreaded cable hooked up to my PC, AND pay them $20 on top of it. I'm pretty sure that's ridiculous.
I'm probably going to figure this out eventually, but I'm really frustrated that this is tougher than hacking my Wii was. Embedded systems with non-standard hardware are an amazing pain to deal with.
EDIT: Even thoughc it said it failed, all of a sudden BusyBox installed successfully after I restarted the computer. I think I may have done it, although I'm not sure. Apparently I have a Linux kernel on here already somehow... is that the part of Android that's based on Linux?
imgur.com/HiRyqW2
Still, there's not much I'm finding that tells me how to set up anything much better than using a terminal and a VNC viewer within Android to view a Linux system running on top of it. I guess that could be useful if I had a beefier Android device, but with this it's only useful for a command line.
Hi,
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Try asking your question in the General Q&A forum:
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Good luck & welcome to Android
My young nephew has this tablet, branded as It UK 10.1" Quad Core.
Does anyone recognize it, I guess it's possibly a re-branded tablet. I am looking for the possibility of updating the ROM on it, I of course won't be surprised if there isn't anything .
Thank you for reading.
From looking around it looks like its not a rebrand and instead just a tablet designed for IT.
I was not able to find the kernel source code for the tablet or any form of a stock rom.