Have been 'having fun' with my various Android devices in the last few days/week (?), after keeping ajour with CyanogenMod CM12 status.
The Galaxy Nexus from Samsung is a solid workhorse, too slow on startup for me to love it, but, when CM11 nightlies started dropping off in frequency, it was clear that things were moving fast on the CM12. Actually the developer had trouble with his own GNex too..
So, when a new Beta was released for the GNex I downloaded it, with a special Gapps version, read through the experiences others were having on XDA, and set at it with gusto. Its amazing where the time goes when playing with these things, so I had a couple of late nights and early mornings during the last week or so..
The CM12 beta installed OK, but there was space trouble for the first versions of Gapps I tried. Finally, I had success with the Pico version, and the long process of restoring apps began. Finally got things the way I like, using the Google Now launcher, though startup still suffers delays which I believe is related to sorting out the Carrier (Telenor). Will try it without a SIM, and see if that helps.
Lollipop was now running on the LG G3, the Nexus 10, Nexus 7 2013, and the GNex.
This left the Galaxy S2 running very fast on Stock 4.1.2. There was really no need to upgrade this device to Lollipop other than to see how it ran, but after quite a lot of preparation I downloaded various suggestions from old GS2 YouTubes aimed at getting my Recovery to a version required for CM12 installation.
Lots of the above were great for installing some kernel to get root status, but the only one that included a very old version of CWM was the Siyah kernel I had used a year or so ago.. When I had got the GS2 into a pretty hopeless state, the Siyah saved my bacon :)
Now I had the old CWM version it was possible to Restore what I believe was CM10 from the middle of last year. This restored slowly, but it got me to a state allowing Restore of CM11 from around Christmas. I then had CWM 6.0.4.5. Enough to install the CM12 Beta from lysergic, which awaited with the same Pico Gapps.
The CM12 Beta installed with no problems, and I was able to run Nandroid after setting things up the way I like. I am really impressed by how well Lollipop runs on this very old device. Equally as well as the GNex, and with 200+ MB free ram!
There we are then, all Lollipopped :)
This by the way is written on my new N20p 13" Chromebook from Lenovo.
Showing posts with label Nexus 7. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nexus 7. Show all posts
Monday, 19 January 2015
Monday, 8 April 2013
The Nexus Reboot Fiasco Continues
My previous post was about Nexus 10 reboots, but I should mention that the Nexus 7 is prone to these too. My latest experience of this happened when I pulled the recharge cable from my N7.. happily the N7 is far more stable than the N10, though they have been virtually identical from a software point of view. Both were running the Franco until a couple of days ago when I restored them to the #1 backup taken with the Franco Updater, so both are basically 'Stock 4.2.2 + Root'
The following is a post I made in the Phandroid forums:
It was a laughable coincidence really, as I wasn't aware of Safe Mode until that morning. For those who are equally ignorant, it boots up with just the Google apps present. I had done a search and found the URL hidden behind 'Safe Mode' in the post above, and as soon as I arrived on the thread and went to scroll down the page, it froze and then rebooted! Unbelievable... :)
From the lack of reboot reports while in Safe Mode I would believe this fact to be of interest to Google, particularly if it occurs again.
The following is a post I made in the Phandroid forums:
Nexus 10 Reboot in Safe Mode
I've been following as many threads as possible about Nexus 10 reboots, and an odd thing just occurred.. I came across Safe Mode earlier today, and was surfing around on the N10 (in Safe Mode) looking for SM threads.
I came across a thread on the Nexus7Nexus10 forum at Safe mode and blow me down, when I should scroll down the page my N10 froze and rebooted!
LOL
The only odd thing about the page is some flashing forum indicator which you may see for yourselves.
I am rooted on JB 4.2.2
Mvh
cintra
Really must update my signature to include GS2, SG Nexus, Nexus 7 & 10__________________iMacs, GS2, SG Nexus, Nexus 7, Nexus 10, & Win8
It was a laughable coincidence really, as I wasn't aware of Safe Mode until that morning. For those who are equally ignorant, it boots up with just the Google apps present. I had done a search and found the URL hidden behind 'Safe Mode' in the post above, and as soon as I arrived on the thread and went to scroll down the page, it froze and then rebooted! Unbelievable... :)
From the lack of reboot reports while in Safe Mode I would believe this fact to be of interest to Google, particularly if it occurs again.
Monday, 11 March 2013
Rooting Mania
In 22nd February's post I covered updating to Yakju build on my SG Nexus. I did a LOT of reading on XDA Forums after that until, on March 1st (Susan's birthday) I was mentally prepared to risk turning it into a 'brick'..
A senior member of XDA, efrant, had produced the guide not only for the Yakju task, but also in a paragraph E: which I had overlooked, he spelt out the next step - Rooting the phone!
Well, after almost 2 years spent compiling Gentoo I know what Root is and does, but somehow the idea of 'bricking' your favourite mobile phone is a touch off-putting. Anyway, after becoming tired, confused, and mixing things up like a true n00b on XDA, I succeeded in rooting the Nexus quite late in the evening.
YES! :) Now I could carry out the next steps - NANDroid backup, and Titanium Backup Pro (TB). Hallowed words of Android's inner sanctum..
TB turned out to have a non-intuitive GUI, particularly where backing up to Dropbox was concerned. The documentation did not clarify how this was done, so I emailed support. They came back with a pleasant description after ca. 24 hours, by which time I had Googled my way to the answer on XDA forums.
It turns out that slowly Uploading to Dropbox is not a good solution, but having a 200GB spare partition on the iMac is, and I found several ways to transfer backups there in the coming days, as I decided on backup schedules.
Then there was the ClamXav GingerBreak Trojan issue! This turned out to be a correct false alarm, as GingerBreak is used in the root process. Moving the iMac's Downloads folder and my work folders to the 200GB partition solved that problem.
To cut a long story short, I Rooted the Nexus 7 next, and after success with that sprinted on to Root the Nexus 10. The latter used a different ClockworkMod (CWM) Recovery file, which clearly wasn't backing up apps. This gave me the opportunity to try TWRP instead of CWM.
TWRP cut out most of the manual work with Fastboot, and was a joy to use compared to pressing Power & Volume buttons, which one has to do with CWM whenever one wants to run a NANDroid backup. It also puts the latter into the 'SDcard' where TB can 'Restore an app from NANDroid', my data test.
Over the next few days I found the following excellent Root applications:
A senior member of XDA, efrant, had produced the guide not only for the Yakju task, but also in a paragraph E: which I had overlooked, he spelt out the next step - Rooting the phone!
Well, after almost 2 years spent compiling Gentoo I know what Root is and does, but somehow the idea of 'bricking' your favourite mobile phone is a touch off-putting. Anyway, after becoming tired, confused, and mixing things up like a true n00b on XDA, I succeeded in rooting the Nexus quite late in the evening.
YES! :) Now I could carry out the next steps - NANDroid backup, and Titanium Backup Pro (TB). Hallowed words of Android's inner sanctum..
TB turned out to have a non-intuitive GUI, particularly where backing up to Dropbox was concerned. The documentation did not clarify how this was done, so I emailed support. They came back with a pleasant description after ca. 24 hours, by which time I had Googled my way to the answer on XDA forums.
It turns out that slowly Uploading to Dropbox is not a good solution, but having a 200GB spare partition on the iMac is, and I found several ways to transfer backups there in the coming days, as I decided on backup schedules.
Then there was the ClamXav GingerBreak Trojan issue! This turned out to be a correct false alarm, as GingerBreak is used in the root process. Moving the iMac's Downloads folder and my work folders to the 200GB partition solved that problem.
To cut a long story short, I Rooted the Nexus 7 next, and after success with that sprinted on to Root the Nexus 10. The latter used a different ClockworkMod (CWM) Recovery file, which clearly wasn't backing up apps. This gave me the opportunity to try TWRP instead of CWM.
TWRP cut out most of the manual work with Fastboot, and was a joy to use compared to pressing Power & Volume buttons, which one has to do with CWM whenever one wants to run a NANDroid backup. It also puts the latter into the 'SDcard' where TB can 'Restore an app from NANDroid', my data test.
Over the next few days I found the following excellent Root applications:
- DiskUsage. This gives a visual overview of the files system.
- CWMR Touch Installer. Speeds up access to Recovery.
- X-Plore. A dual-pane file explorer.
- Solid Explorer. This is the perfect dual-pane explorer!
- GooManager. This installs TWRP, very easily!
- CPU Tuner. Gives you control over power consumption.
- USB OTG Helper (root). An aid to using USB Mass storage.
- System Tuner Pro. Monitors everything.
- ES File Explorer. Gives access to NAS drives..
- Battery Monitor Widget Pro.
Thursday, 20 December 2012
Attach a Flash Disk to Nexus.. ?
An article in The Telegraph I found back in November by a Rick Maybury Can I transfer photos onto a Nexus 7? caught my eye, always have been a sucker for gimmicky ideas, and this one hadn't til then entered my mind.
It turns out that if you have the right little (OTG) cable, see "otg cable nexus 7" and an app from the Play Store called Nexus Media Importer, you were all set!
Sounded interesting, so I tried ordering from Amazon, " Sorry, not to Norway", in the end I ordered from MyTrendyPhone, and it arrived a day or two ago.
There is just one thing you need to watch according to a tip I saw somewhere
It worked perfectly on a 32GB Corsair Fat32 flash drive I had hanging around :)
It turns out that if you have the right little (OTG) cable, see "otg cable nexus 7" and an app from the Play Store called Nexus Media Importer, you were all set!
Sounded interesting, so I tried ordering from Amazon, " Sorry, not to Norway", in the end I ordered from MyTrendyPhone, and it arrived a day or two ago.
There is just one thing you need to watch according to a tip I saw somewhere
Quote:
|
-Attach the OTG cable to the Nexus or other device.
-Attach your USB device to the OTG cable.
-The application will launch automatically.
|
It worked perfectly on a 32GB Corsair Fat32 flash drive I had hanging around :)
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Nexus 7 from Multicom
I felt a bit fed up my Samsung Galaxy Nexus was not getting a swift update to Jelly Bean, and had heard only good reports of the ASUS Nexus 7, so on Saturday 25th August at 11 AM I ordered a US model from Multicom..
On Tuesday at 1:30 PM it was delivered to the door by my friendly postman :) That I call service!
I plugged it in to charge, started adding key apps, and was a little surprised to be advised that an update to 4.1.1 was ready, even if the battery level wasn't. I continued adding apps, including Evernote. That was a mistake as I have almost 5000 notes containing a number of images. It took a long time, and I don't think it did the battery much good..
When the battery level allowed, I upgraded to 4.1.1 OK, and continued adding apps. However, although I was happy with the look and feel of the Nexus 7, I was worried how slow the charging was going. Checking battery state with Spare Parts Pro I found it said the device was discharging.. WHAT!?
I tried a few things to narrow things down: swapped the Nexus USB cable with my GS2's. No change on the Nexus, but the GS2 certainly charged OK via the Nexus cable.. then I used the iPad's charger, but still the device said 'discharging', even when it was slowly moving towards 75%.
Ended up plugging it in beside my bed, and it reached 100% by the morning. Will add comments as and when I learn more. By the way, there are a number of other posts about slow Nexus 7 charging on the web.
On Tuesday at 1:30 PM it was delivered to the door by my friendly postman :) That I call service!
I plugged it in to charge, started adding key apps, and was a little surprised to be advised that an update to 4.1.1 was ready, even if the battery level wasn't. I continued adding apps, including Evernote. That was a mistake as I have almost 5000 notes containing a number of images. It took a long time, and I don't think it did the battery much good..
When the battery level allowed, I upgraded to 4.1.1 OK, and continued adding apps. However, although I was happy with the look and feel of the Nexus 7, I was worried how slow the charging was going. Checking battery state with Spare Parts Pro I found it said the device was discharging.. WHAT!?
I tried a few things to narrow things down: swapped the Nexus USB cable with my GS2's. No change on the Nexus, but the GS2 certainly charged OK via the Nexus cable.. then I used the iPad's charger, but still the device said 'discharging', even when it was slowly moving towards 75%.
Ended up plugging it in beside my bed, and it reached 100% by the morning. Will add comments as and when I learn more. By the way, there are a number of other posts about slow Nexus 7 charging on the web.
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