Android Brains

Year of the Dragon!

brains — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:24:01 +0000

Rovio Mobile have released updated levels to the Angry Birds Seasons series for Chinese New Year. Year of the Dragon has a whole new set of levels and fun all designed around the Chinese New Year. The new features include the ability to use the Mighty Eagle (Mighty Dragon) for help clearing those hard-to-beat levels. Like all the previous ABS updates, this one offers a new set of colors, graphics, items, and more, all centered around the common theme.

Fireworks popping, lanterns glowing, red envelopes bursting with money – it’s Chinese New Year! This holiday is China’s biggest and longest festival, a time for feasting with family and friends, setting off fireworks, and having fun. The Angry Birds are celebrating the start of the Year of the Dragon, but the piggies are trying to scare them away from their eggs! Luckily the Angry Birds have some help – the Mighty Eagle has transformed into the fearsome Mighty Dragon!

Download Angry Birds Seasons now.

Android Land!!!

brains — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 16:36:22 +0000

It Appears our Android’s may be dreaming of more than Electric Sheep!

Telstra has today launched Androidland — a world-first store within a store that showcases the latest Android™ smartphones and tablets.
Unveiled at Telstra’s flagship retail outlet in Bourke Street Melbourne, the 154 square meter space brings together interactive technology, games and on-site experts to explain the features of Google’s popular
Android operating system which now powers some of the world’s leading smartphones and tablets.

Kindle Fire Bricked!

brains — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 16:17:21 +0000

The Amazon Kindle Fire has been a raging success so far due to its low price despite its fairly low end specs. This has made the device popular with the Android Mod community keen to get Android goodies and the latest Android OS Ice Cream Sandwich (or ICS) onto the device.

Would be Kindle Fire modder’s beware, several reports are emerging from users that managed to Brick their devices in gaining root access. Details are sketchy as to the exact cause. Probable causes include the recent Amazon update, bad permissions and even the mere presence of Vending.apk (Android Market) itself. In the worst case the device goes into a recovery boot loop with the message:

“Your Kindle has detected a problem and must clear app storage. The recovery process will erase some applications and data from your device. Apps from the appstore are stored in the cloud and can be reinstalled later.
This will reset your kindle to its original factory settings. you will need to re-register your kindle prior to downloading items from your Amazon account.
Please press power button to proceed.”

However, after following the prompt the Fire reboots itself back to the same screen. The dreaded boot loop or bricked state where the device cannot be communicated with over USB. Congratulations your Kindle Fire is now as useful as a brick, albeit an expensive one! This is a serious issue as in many cases there is no adb shell or Fastboot access to the device leaving it impossible to fix without sending it back to Amazon. One solution remains – the factory cable fix.

It appears the device can be brought up in factory mode by using a factory cable. This is a special micro usb cable that has an pin 4 connected to +5V, a pin that’s not normally used. You might be lucky searching online for a Motorola factory cable. If you have a little DIY experience with a soldering iron its easy to make one yourself. BE WARNED!!! This has the added danger of blowing up your Kindle Fire and PC USB port if done wrong!!! Details on how to make one can be found below. When the factory cable is connected the device comes up in Fastboot mode which means custom ROM’s can be flashed to the device. Right now we’re days away from a CM7 build and will no doubt see a CM9 ICS build early next year.

UPDATE:Be warned that larger system partitions such as system can’t be reflashed due to fastboots’ memory limit. The latest favored fix is to use TWRP 2.0 recovery tool to restore which uses the smaller recovery partition, more here.

Making a DIY Factory Cable

WARNING: REQUIRES SOME PREVIOUS SOLDERING EXPERIENCE AND A STEADY HAND AS PARTS ARE SMALL

DISCLAIMER: WE ACCEPT NO LIABILITY IF YOU SHORT CIRCUIT OUT YOUR PC IN THE PROCESS!!!!!

REALLY!!!

What you will need:

USB->Mini/Micro-B USB cable
Sharp model knife
Soldering Iron and Solder
Soldering tools: pliers, wire stripers, desolder
Small piece of insulated wire (red)
Elecrical tape
Continuity Tester
Optional: In case you butcher the micro end of your USB cable a handy alternative is the Sparkfun USB MicroB Plug Breakout Board, its way easier to solder and avoid shorts this way.

If your device manufacturer uses this method to flash their device your device should boot into factory mode

Once you’ve used the factory cable for recovery purposes do not use it for normal use!

Kindle Fire – Ice Cream Sandwich Launcher

brains — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:01:07 +0000

The Kindle Fire is a neat little Android tablet from Amazon and what better complement than a cool Android 4 ICS style launcher. Installation is via a simple package download:

Make sure that in Settings->Device Allow Install from Unknown source is enabled.
Download the apk via device web browser from Syndicate Apps.
Open the downloads folder and install the apk from there.
Navigate back to home. Click the option to always use launcher by default.
Note: this is still in beta so not everything is working yet such as folders, you can upgrade if you so desire.

Now you can enjoy the Android goodness you have come to expect such as live wallpapers, desktop widgets and more.

Install Android Market on the Amazon Kindle Fire

brains — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 02:27:07 +0000

Not happy with the selection of apps on the Amazon App Store or simply miss Android Market. Fear not there is a way to install it on your Kindle Fire for the tech savy. First you need to have gained root access, instructions here. Now lets begin:

Disclaimer: We take no responsibility for damage to your device, this guide is for educational purposes only! Please cross reference the latest instructions available as they may change.
Before you begin you should consider Amazon is determined to stop device rooting. They sell the device at a loss as they expect to profit from the digital service sold on the device. Device updates have already unrooted some devices and un-installed third party apps such a Android Market.
Download require files: Several files make up the Google Service Framework including Android Market, Books, Voice, Maps, Google+, Reader, Gmail, Street View, Youtube, Talk, Netflix. A few others are need too:
- Google Services Framework APK
- Vending.apk
- Root Explorer (Google App Store – copy to SD card) or ES File Explorer (Amazon App Store)
- Go Launcher or Market Opener
Unknown Sources: Make sure that the “Allow Installation of Application from Unknown Sources” is already switched ON. Also you should enable the “Side Loading Apps” on your Kindle to make this work.
Connect over ADB: Assuming you have the Android SDK installed connect to the device with ADB.
Install Packages: Copy Vending and Google Service Framework APK file to your Kindle. Using ADB
- Run the adb shell and remount the /system folder to rw mode, first check mount is correct using cat /proc/mounts
  mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
- Use ADB to push over Vending.apk
  adb push /yourpath/Vending.apk /data/app/.
- Use ADB to change the file permission for Vending.apk
  - Launch ADB Make sure that root owns the file by executing chown root.root Vending.apk.
  - Verify if you’re successful by issuing the command ls –l
  - Change the file permission to RW by issuing chmod 644 Vending.apk.
  - Checked again by issuing the command ls –l. The file should now have the –rw-r–r—permission.
  - Once you’re done with the correct file permission reboot your Kindle Fire.
Install the Launcher for Android Market: Using the Go Launcher you can access the Android Market from your Kindle. Alternatively there is Market Opener which is easier to use. The installation will be the same for both launcher so you should not have problem installing either of the two. But don’t install them both. Copy your preferred Android Market launcher to your Kindle Fire. Using Root Explorer or ES File Explorer navigate to the folder location where you put the files. Install the APK file. Press the ‘Home’ button. If you install the Market Opener, you should see a market icon on the Kindle UI. But if you install the Go Launcher select it to launch the Android Market.

When things go wrong:

Bricked bootloop: Message saying your kindle has detected a problem, see here

Rooting the Kindle Fire

brains — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 02:02:32 +0000

The Amazon Kindle Fire was a break through in affordable quality tablets. Something which gets the mod community very excited and keen to get customizing under the hood. Be warned rooting is not for the average user but is easier than you may think. Having root access opens that little black box for customization of the underlying software. In particular installation of android market and future ROMs for Android 4.0. The following steps can be used to root the Kindle Fire via a Win/Mac/Linux PC:

DISCLAIMER: We take no responsibility for damage to your device, this guide is for educational purposes only! Please cross reference the latest instructions available as they may change.
Copy Protection Warning: Videos will not play on rooted devices. You need to use OTA Root Keeper to temporarily unroot the device.
Install the Android SDK: Tools are required from the Android SDK, you need to download this first from developer.android.com
Install Kindle Fire Driver: In the folder where the SDK was installed open the google-usb_driver folder. In that folder find the file android_winusb.inf (or the platform equivalent) and add the following code to both the [Google.NTx86] and [Google.NTamd64] sections:
;Kindle Fire %SingleAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_1949&PID_0006 %CompositeAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_1949&PID_0006&MI_01
Close and save this file.

Alternatively: For Windows download this ini file (right click save link as) and copy it inside the Android SDK folder /google-usb_driver. In My Computer ~> device manager under unknown devices go through the driver update steps and point to the latter directory. When installation is complete the Kindle Fire should show up under Android Devices -> Android Composite ADB Interface.
Enable Access via ADB: Navigate to the .android directory in your home folder and edit the adb_usb.ini file, adding the following line of code at the end: 0×1949 Close and save that file. Run adb in a terminal and run:
adb kill-server adb start-server adb devices
Root with Super One Click: Connect the Kindle Fire to the PC. Navigate to Device Manager (Windows) and under “Other Devices” find your Kindle Fire. Choose the android_winusb.inf file (Mac/Linux may require tweaking). On the Kindle Fire, tap the settings icon in the status bar. Then choose ‘More’ option, then ‘Device,’ and finally check the box that enables unknown sources. Download Super One Click and start the program. Run the tool and choose the “Root” option. Your Kindle Fire is now rooted!

Next learn how to install Android Market!

Amazon Kindle Fire

Cotton Candy

brains — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 11:28:42 +0000

Linux thin clients fit into palm size USB have been available for years. Norwegian technology company FXITech have now applied a similar idea to Android. Cotton Candy is a USB device that contains a dual core 1.2GHz Samsung Exynos ARM CPU, has its own 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microSD slot and HDMI-out while only weighting 21 grams.
The device can be plugged into a PC, for example, and will launch a standalone Android 2.3 Gingerbread window on a Mac, PC or virtually any screen it is plugged into. The device is expected to go on the market in a year’s time for under US$200. By then hopefully we’ll see the latest and greatest Android OS on there.

Sphero

brains — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 10:26:25 +0000

A new incarnation of the of the remote controlled toy for the smart phone era has arrived with Sphero. It’s the first robotic ball that you can control with your smartphone or tablet via tilt, touch, or swing. Sphero delivers a unique mixed-reality experience with single and multi-player games that let you engage in the virtual world and play in the real one. Most of all, Sphero will challenge, entertain, and always surprise you. It’s the ball evolved.

The ball contains a small Orbotix Smart Robot at 74mm diameter and 168 grams. Its controlled over your device Bluetooth and has a 50ft range and a top speed of 3ft per second. Internal guidance system including gyro, accelerometer and compass. It has an induction chargeable battery that gives over 60 minutes fun at full speed. Inside is a multi-colored LED capable of producing thousands of colors. The Sphero can also change color via an internal multicolored LED.

A few starter apps are also available for Sphero

Sphero Hub
Sphero Blox
Sphero Drive
Sphero Golf
Sphero Draw N’ Drive

Check them out here. Read more info and where to purchase on http://www.gosphero.com

The Ball. Evolved. from GoSphero on Vimeo.

Google TV 2.0 Update

brains — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 11:38:06 +0000

Google announced that they will be releasing the Google TV 2.0 incorporating Android 3.0 features. This new update will bring several improvements including the Android Market and an improved user interface. Here are the main additions:

Improved user interface thats easy to use
Content search feature will make it easier for users to find movies, videos from Live TV, Netflix, YouTube, HBO GO, and more.
New and improved YouTube App, brings a better user experience.
Android Market and apps. Over fifty Android developers are already working on apps for Google TV.

Google says that Sony devices are going to get first dibs on the Android 3.0 update. The Logitech Revue will receive it later on. New Google-TV-powered devices will also be coming in the near future.

Google TV has had a tough reception since its introduction in May last year. Its greatest criticism has been the level of content rather than the platform itself. This may explain Google’s intentions to move into the cable business. What come of that remains to be seen.

Android Library Problems

brains — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 22:47:35 +0000

Some developers out there using library projects may be pulling their hair out after updating their developer tools to r14. A blog post has now appread on the android developers blog – here explaining a few matters.

We’ve also been experiencing a few problems, here were our solutions:

The project cannot be build until build path error are resolved – Try adding a dummy apk under Libraries, then remove it. You may be missing a apk lib definition in the project settings. Android Tools – fix project settings can also be of use.

Conversion to Dalvik format failed with error 1 – make sure there are no .jar files in the library project bin folder, this of course dpends on your choice of setup for the library project if your including source or source and resources.