Category Archives: Android

ICS: Android 4 on Droid 3

Ice Cream Sandwitch on Droid 3

From the creator of ICS: Android 4 on Kindle Fire comes another great: Cyanogen Mod 9 for Droid 3. Don’t know why the call it Alpha, I installed it on my phone and it looks, feels and works great.

To flash it, your phone has to be rooted with ROM Manager installed or at least ClockworkMod Recovery flashed. Download latest version of the ROM here (Bookmark that URL and come back for fresh builds). Scroll down to Droid 3 section, download the ROM and Google Apps onto your phone’s SD card. Don’t download XT860 patch if your model is not XT860 otherwise you will lose 3G service.

Reboot your phone into Recovery, backup your current ROM, wipe System, Data and Cache, locate 2 downloaded ZIPs and flash ROM and immediately after, without reboot – GApps. Reboot your phone, sign in to your Google account and enjoy.

Thanks, Hashcode, for developing really cool things; Verizon… well it’s 2012, wake up?

ICS: Android 4 on Kindle Fire

Ice Cream Sandwitch on Kindle Fire

Another day, another experiment on my new favorite toy business instrument – Kindle Fire. Today I went ahead and installed latest (as of this date) incarnation of Android OS – version 4 aka Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS). Again, like in case with CyanogenMod 7 (which is essentially Android 2.3.7) installation is extremally easy thanks to TWRP recovery. Just download Kindle Zone ICS ROM put it on your Fire, reboot into TWRP recovery, *backup your existing rom* and flash the ICS.

It boots nicely and looks pretty good. Connects to WiFi with Internet and LAN access (ES File Explorer comes preinstalled and accessed SMB shares on my home network with no problems).

Being a very early version it has it share of problems. Video doesn’t work correctly (MP4 files for example play in fast-forward mode, YouTube can’t connect). Sounds work sporadically and overall moving around the interface has a jerky feeling. But it looks like a very good start and I am looking forward to a more stable release. Meanwhile I am back to CM7

UPDATE 02/18/2012. Now this is what the doctor ordered. The new update from the same XDA forum thread as above breathed new life into my Kindle. Basically, everything works. And it looks awesome! Here is direct link to the ROM. So now this is my OS of choice for my Fire. Did I mention it’s Cyanogen Mod 9? Did I also mention that there’s Google Chrome now available on Android Marked for Ice Cream Sandwich?

Ice Cream Sandwich on Kindle Fire

CyanogenMod on Kindle Fire

CyanogenMod on Kindle Fire Lately I’ve been posting a lot about Kindle Fire and no wonder – I love this tablet and tweaking with it.

Today I went to tweaking extreme – installed a custom ROM, namely CyanogenMod. CyanogenMod is famous for being a better replacement ROM for a wide multitude of Android devices from Droid phones to Nook tablets. And finally it made its way to Kindle Fire. Installing it turned out to be surprisingly easy – first, using Kindle Fire Utility root your Fire and install TWRP Recovery – very useful instrument not only for installing new ROMs but also for backing up and restoring your existing one in case something goes wrong. Second, download latest CyanogenMod in form of “update.zip” and place into temp/download folder of your Fire. And lastly reboot into TWRP recovery, browse for the ZIP and install it.

CyanogenMod didn’t let down, it was perfect as usual – fast, highly customizable, this one specifically build for Fire with its lack of hardware buttons. It has many wonderful features (for example picture in this post is, unlike previous posts, is a direct screenshot from my Fire, “take a screenshot” is one of the options appearing in menu when you press and hold power button).

It has everything. The only drawback for me is, for the love of it, I couldn’t make Amazon Instant Video app work in this mod. The issue is widely discussed on the Interwebs, multiple possible solutions are offered, but none worked for me. And since Prime Instant Videos is the only original Fire feature that I use – I had to return back to rooted stock Amazon ROM with ADW launcher (thanks TWRP for making ROM backup and recovery a very simple experience). Until working version of Amazon Instant Video is bundled with Cyanogen – I am keeping the stock.
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Kindle Fire as an Android Tablet

Got my Kindle Fire. I must say – I love everything about this device. It’s fast, powerful, with a very nice screen. There’re gazillion reviews out there, I am not going to repeat them, just mention what I did to make it truly perfect.

Since Fire is powered by Android OS there’s no limit to what can be done with it.

Amazon Kindle Fire as an Android TabletFirst, I rooted it. Mostly I did it so I can install Android Market. Amazon’s own AppStore is nice and all, but very limited comparing to Android Market (even if it has Market’s apps, usually they’re a few versions behind). Beware though – if you root your Fire, you will lose video streaming capabilities from Amazon, so what I did – rooted, installed Market, unrooted (luckily it’s a one-click operation with rooting app).

Second, even though I like Fire’s home screen with the carousel and everything, I am used to more traditional Android display, so I installed ADW Launcher and got 5 home screens, app drawer and all the bells and whistles. And still kept all Fire capabilities (Amazon video, music & books) via pre-installed apps, now available in app drawer.

And last, I installed Dolphin Browser HD to use instead of preinstalled Silk web browser, since Dolphin is much more capable, and superb FBReader to read my own collection of ebooks. Those two apps are permanently docked in my home screen.

I could go on and on, about how you can stream your own music and videos from your home PC via GMote app, how you can now install GMail, YouTube and any other Google app etc. etc. but that would take forever. The conclusion: Fire is an Android tablet and capable of anything Android Tablet can do.

VB for Android

Found this gem today:

Basic 4 Android

It’s a Visual Basic IDE environment for developing Android apps. But unlike other similar solutions it does not require bloated runtime running on the device, Basic4Android easily compiles native APK app.

Don’t learn Java, utilize your existing Visual Basic skills instead. And the community of thousands of developers can be a huge help as well.

Also you’re in luck today. Download the trial, play around with it and if you like it – use discount code “bvqbet” to get 50% off any version! Here’s how:

  1. Visit purchase link: http://www.basic4ppc.com/android/purchase.html
  2. Select Plimus as your checkout option
  3. Enter coupon code bvqbet in the coupon code field
  4. Profit! You get a 50% discound off a regular price

Happy coding!

Restore bricked DROID 3 phone

If you bricked your Motorola DROID 3 phone while rooting it, installing some custom ROM or doing other fun stuff – don’t despair, there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

(Disclaimer: I am not responsible for anything that happens to your phone. But then again, if you’re reading this, something already has happened to it).

  1. Download the Motorola Stock Image (SBF) v5.6.890 HERE
  2. Download Motorola Flashing Utility (RSDLite) v5.5 HERE
  3. Extract the contents of the SBF file to a folder on your computer
  4. Install RSDLite
  5. Boot your DROID 3 into bootloader by holding both Vol+ & Vol- at the same time when powering on the phone
  6. Select “AP Fastboot” from boot menu by pressing Vol- repeatedly and then press Vol+ to select it
  7. Open RSDLite and browse for the XML in the folder where you extracted the SBF file
  8. Connect the phone to PC via USB, and when RSDLite  says  “Connected”, hit “Start“
  9. Wait for the phone to finish flashing, and booting (it can reboot several times, let it be)

You’re done! Your phone is resurrected, feel free to root it, install custom ROMs and do other fun stuff again.

NOTE: You phone may require activation after the flash, just follow original Verizon activation steps (if you’re not prompted to activate your phone and still have no connection just dial *228 and follow the instructions).

CREDITS: Thanks chevycam94 for original SBF-ing instructions and files. As a matter of fact these instructions are pretty much exact copy of first 9 steps of his instruction on how to flash his custom ROM Steel Droid – check it out!