Related
The following is a direct copy paste from somewhere else Enjoy! The wait is over for Alpha!
___________________________________
CyanogenMod for TouchPad
ALPHA 1
"LOWER YOUR EXPECTATIONS" EDITION
* READ THIS COMPLETELY *
Sweet, sweet Internet,
You waited more-or-less patiently for over a month, so at long last, here it is-- an alpha version of CyanogenMod 7.1.0 (an enhanced version of Google's Android 2.3) for the TouchPad.
Understand, this version is definitely an alpha, with all that implies. Those expecting perfection will be sorely disappointed. Many things won't work as well as they will eventually. But you wanted it ASAP, and hopefully, this version should be somewhat useable and gives a sense of progress.
With that said, let's answer some questions, FAQ style.
WHAT KIND OF WARRANTY DOES THIS SOFTWARE COME WITH, IF ANY?
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE PROJECT AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE PROJECT OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
Got it? Good.
WHAT IS CYANOGENMOD FOR TOUCHPAD?
CyanogenMod is a community-developed and supported Android distribution for over 60 tablets and phones. This ported version is for the recently discontinued HP TouchPad tablet.
In truth, this "alpha" version is not intended for the general public. Rather, those technically competent hobbyists and developers who are interested in testing an early development version and fully understand the risks of doing so may find interest in it. But there are many bugs and problems in this alpha version. There will be MANY app compatibility issues as well.
WHAT IS THE "ALPHA 1" VERSION AND HOW DO I INSTALL IT?
*** This early version represents the start of a process, not the end, and as such will not be sufficiently awesome, so take any expectations you have and lower them. Now lower them about five feet below that. ***
To be clear, you are encouraged NOT to install this software, as the alpha is only a test version and as stated above, there is no claim that it is fit for any purpose. You may experience issues ranging from the benign to the very serious, including potential data leakage, and/or permanent loss of data, and even the possible "bricking" or permanent disabling of your device. Or worse. It can't be emphasized enough how risky its use may be. Try it entirely at your own risk and with full understanding of the potential for problems and acceptance of any consequences that may result.
That said, if you do understand, acknowlege, and accept these risks and still want to continue, there are installation instructions (and additional exciting caveats and warnings) bundled with ACME Installer.
DOES INSTALLING CYANOGENMOD VOID MY WARRANTY WITH HP?
While HP has expressed moral support for the project ("For those of you in the development community actively working to port Android to the Touchpad, we applaud your efforts"), other HP representatives have also stated that "anyone who loads Android on their Touchpad voids their warranty."
Therefore, it may be prudent to assume that installing (or attempting to install) Android or any other OS besides the stock WebOS would result in the voiding of your manufacturer's warranty. Generally speaking, you must assume any and all risk when experimenting with this software.
SO WHAT WORKS AND WHAT DOESN'T WORK?
Most hardware features of the Tablet should now be supported, although not 100%. There may be issues with sound, camera, wifi, etc. As stated previously, it is definitely an alpha build.
Here is a helpful list of features that are near-completion. Thanks to DarkRedFlame for compiling this.
* Booting into Android
* ADB commands via ADB
* Power, back/home and volume button layout
* Touchscreen support (Multi-touch, 10 fingers)
* GPU Acceleration (2D Acceleration doesn't work, but not a release blocker)
* Dual core processing
* Bluetooth
* Sound
* Accelerometer
* Power Management
* Battery Reporting
* Camera(only video chat, no recording or snapshots)
* Vibration
* Backlight
* LED
* Multiboot (via moboot)
* ClockworkMod Recovery
* Fast Switch Boot
* Fake SD card Mount
* Light Sensor(need to check "Enable Light Decrease" in cyanogenmod settings->display->automatic backlight
* Accessing webOS files from Android and vice versa
* Touchstone Support
* Softkeys
* Wifi
* And much, much more!
As far as what *doesn't* work, that list is probably too long for a FAQ.
* Many apps will have compatibility issues. Many. Including possibly your favorite app.
* Phone-related items (such as the dialer and text messenger) are left in the build. These apps consume minimal energy and can largely be ignored.
* Speaking of energy-- power management has not been the focus of the port thus far. Battery life is not as good as it might be, and you can probably expect improvement in this area over time.
DOES ROM MANAGER WORK?
Not completely. It can't be used to install or update ClockworkMod Recovery for example. Developer Koush will first need to add TouchPad compatibility to Rom Manager.
ONCE THE ALPHA IS INSTALLED, HOW DO I UPDATE FROM THERE?
Once CM is installed, you can use the original ACME installer to install most (but not all) subsequent "update...zip" files you come across.
Or, if you have installed and are familiar with ClockworkMod Recovery, you can also use it to install "update...zip" files as you would for other CyanogenMod devices.
WHAT IS THIS "CLOCKWORKMOD RECOVERY" EXACTLY?
ClockworkMod Recovery, which you can start into from the boot menu, is a special "Recovery" mode-- often used in emergencies when your regular system doesn't load for some reason. Once you have started ClockWorkMod, you are presented with a series of menus and can chose to reset your installation of CyanogenMod to factory settings or load or format individual areas (called "partitions") of your installation.
Additionally, ClockworkMod can be used to back up or restore your entire Cyanogenmod installation to your SD Card. It can also install updates from special "update files" (which are usually named update-some-name.zip).
Since ClockworkMod Recovery is part of CyanogenMod, it is only "aware" of your Cyanogenmod installation. It can not back up or install updates to WebOS or any other operating system.
THE TOUCHPAD DOESN'T HAVE AN SD CARD SLOT. YET CLOCKWORKMOD RECOVERY AND OTHER APPS IN CYANOGENMOD MAY REQUIRE ME TO USE AN SD CARD. WHAT NOW?
If you've used WebOS, you may be familiar with the user-accessible "media" partition that can be mounted to your computer via USB. Well, that "media" partition is now also shared with ClockworkMod Recovery and CyanogenMod, both of whom now identify it as the SD Card (or /sdcard or /mnt/sdcard). So think of this area as a "fake" SD Card, which can be accessed from WebOS, ClockworkMod Recovery, AND CyanogenMod. You can therefore use it as a common area to share files between different operating systems as well as mount it to your PC (again, from different boots). Neat, huh?
I KEEP SEEING REFERENCES TO "MOBOOT". WHAT'S THAT?
MoBoot is a project separate from CyanogenMod, lead by jcsullins and tmzt and based on the "lk" project, which allows the TouchPad to boot into multiple operating systems or recovery images. Technically speaking, it loads just after the "bootie" bootloader that comes with the TouchPad, and displays a menu for the user to select whether they'd like to boot into the stock WebOS or Cyanogenmod, or something else.
You can install the latest version of moboot using ACME Installer. It can NOT yet be installed from ClockworkMod Recovery.
More information about using moboot can be found on IRC (freenode server) in the #moboot channel.
Or, you can learn more about the project at:
http://code.google.com/p/moboot
SO WHERE DO I REPORT BUGS?
The issue list is currently at http://code.google.com/p/cmtouchpad/issues/list
To avoid duplication, do not submit a new issue until you have thoroughly read the existing issues.
OH NOES! I SCREWED EVERYTHING UP! WHAT DO I DO IF I "BRICK" OR SOMEHOW MY TABLET STOPS WORKING?
After you freak out and regret having tried this, you can attempt to hold down the "home" button and the power button together for about 30 seconds.
DIDN'T WORK
Still nothing? Or maybe you have a dreaded triangle-with-an-exclamation-mark on the screen?
Another "emergency" idea (for advanced folks only) is to boot ClockWorkMod Recovery *directly* from your computer via USB cable rather than from the TouchPad's internal storage. To try this, find an "update...zip" file that contains ClockWorkMod. Inside this zip file is a file called something like "uImage.ClockWorkMod". Extract/unzip that file to your computer, then use novacom (which you used with ACME installer) to "inject" ClockworkMod into your TouchPad.
This process should be familiar to you-- very similar in fact to using ACME Installer. It's done by starting the tablet with the up-volume key held down. When you see the USB icon, connect your computer to the TouchPad via USB, then, in a Terminal, navigate on your computer to where the uImage.ClockWorkmod file is, and type:
novacom boot mem:// < uImage.ClockworkMod
Assuming everything went well and ClockworkMod did start up, you may now use CWM to re-install "update...zip" files, restore from backups, format partitions, or reset everything to factory settings. Or use ADB (search online for "ADB" if you're not familiar with this fantastic Android tool) to figure out what's wrong.
I DON'T UNDERSTAND ANY OF WHAT YOU JUST SAID. CAN'T I JUST START OVER?
Sounds like you should give the "WebOS Doctor" a shot. The WebOS Doctor is a program from HP that is used, effectively, to wipe your TouchPad and reinstall the WebOS software so you can begin anew. Get more info here:
http://ws.hpwebos.com/webosdoctor/sorry.htm
The very helpful homebrew site WebOS-Internals.org also has a page that talks about how to use it:
http://www.webos-internals.org/wiki/How_To_Recover
DO I HAVE ANY OTHER OPTIONS FOR HELP?
If none of the above ideas helped, you'll have to go online for assistance.
Browse to http://webchat.freenode.net/ and fill out the web form. Under "Channels", put #cyanogenmod-touchpad and hopefully someone there will have some helpful advice. It is usually not necessary to preface your question with "Can I ask a question?"-- just go ahead and ask.
You may also try one of the many support forums at www.rootzwiki.com or www.xda-developers.com or another Android site.
To a large extent, the Android community will have to help each other as this is an unofficial, buggy release with no corporate, official, or really *any* support. Now you know the reason for all the caveats and warnings.
WHERE IS THE SOURCE CODE FOR THIS RELEASE?
Some of the Android code licensed under the Apache and other Open Source licenses for this alpha test version is not yet available to the general public. However, all GNU Public Licensed software that comprises CyanogenMod, including the kernel, is available at http://www.github.com/cyanogenmod. The kernel for TouchPad used by this project is available at https://github.com/CyanogenMod/hp-kernel-tenderloin .
When appropriate (hopefully sooner rather than later), CyanogenMod will open the code, and patches/fixes can then be submitted by developers via Gerrit at:
http://review.cyanogenmod.com
IS THIS ALPHA OVERCLOCKED?
Overclocking is optional and can be done with an app like SetCPU. Keep in mind it can cause additional instability!
HOW CAN I DONATE TO THIS PROJECT?
To be clear, the key developers of CyanogenMod for TouchPad are not interested in monetary donations for this effort. This is a project motivated by the challenge and satisfaction of working on the port itself, not by financial reward. The developers have previously announced that any "bounty" won for completing this port to TouchPad will be donated to charity.
That said, there are some who have insisted on making some kind of donation to express their support and gratitude. It should therefore be noted that the official CyanogenMod Web site does have a "donation" area in the bottom right-hand corner of the front page.
http://www.cyanogenmod.com/
Also, the CM for TP developers recommend you learn about the Electronic Frontier Foundation ( http://www.eff.org ), which is an organization fighting to preserve and protect the legal rights of the common citizen in this rapidly changing digital age. As large companies and governments try to limit or narrow your rights, the EFF is on the front lines defending the public interest. A contribution to the EFF is also tax-deductible for United States citizens. As supporters, the developers invite you to visit the EFF web site and learn more about their activities and goals.
http://www.eff.org
I AM A "KANGER" WHO WANTS TO TAKE CYANOGENMOD, MODIFY SOME MINOR FEATURE SUCH AS FONTS OR THEMES, THEN OFFER IT UNDER A NEW NAME AND ASK FOR DONATIONS (OR SELL IT) AS IF THIS IS ALL MY WORK. CAN YOU HELP ME?
Absolutely not. One of the concerns about releasing an early alpha is the sad fact that unscrupulous parasites will creep from the shadows of the Internet, slap their name on this port, then try to sell it for an inflated and unwarranted profit. This has been the case for CM on other devices, and we expect, unfortunately, the same thing will likely happen here.
While the GPL and Apache licenses certainly allow CyanogenMod and Android to be sold, and while there may be legitimate occasions where installation or support expenses may warrant or justify charging money, the CM for Touchpad developers are unified in disgust for those who prey upon the uninformed by simply not telling them that a free version of the software is available or by claiming in their advertisements or to the media (who should know better) that they have created or designed the port themselves.
To be clear now-- mods, themes, remixes, and hacks are great- it's the life blood of open source. And there's nothing at all wrong with asking for donations or even charging for something of value you've contributed. But skimming off the free work of others is plain douchy. And not in a good way.
So the developers ask YOU, beloved Internet, to do your part in keeping an eye out for each other's welfare, and enlighten those, including in the media, who might otherwise be taken in by unscrupulous hucksters.
SO WHAT ABOUT YOU? WHO DO YOU WANT TO THANK?
Shout-outs, yeah! Let's start with Hewlett Packard/Palm -- for creating a wonderful tablet, then making it affordable. We are inspired and encouraged by their commitment to Open Source (and do hope this kernel source kerfuffle is resolved quickly). Generally speaking, we really like WebOS and especially the WebOS community, and wanted to made sure that WebOS would continue to be accessible along with CM7, so that users can have the best of all worlds. While thanking HP, it's appropriate to also thank their technical partner Qualcomm, whose Code Aurora project makes CM7 possible not only on the TouchPad, but many other devices as well.
Thanks to Rootzwiki for hosting a forum where people could have meta-conversations about what was appropriate for the forum, as well as meta-meta-conversations and meta-meta-meta conversations... to degrees extending into meta-oblivion. Similarly, thanks to the residents of the freenode IRC channel #cyanogenmod-touchpad for never, ever asking for an ETA. Again, big ups to the WebOS homebrew community for their participation and willingness to offer all kinds of technical insights into how things worked. Particularly we'd like to recognize http://www.webos-internals.org as a source of enlightenment for anyone who's interested in WebOS. If you haven't installed their excellent Preware by now, you have no excuse. Go do it.
A special moment of recognition goes to the members of Team TouchDroid. Wow, that was some drama, huh?
There are countless others who deserve buku credit-- Google, Github, Kernel.org, the wider CyanogenMod and Android community, the thread-that-never-ended on slickdeals.net, those who contributed TouchPads to developers, our teachers, parents, wives, husbands, children, pets, Newton, Tesla, Turing, etc. But this isn't the Grammys, so we'll stop here. The general point is to recognize that all developers stand on the shoulders of giants.
So thanks, everyone, for your help and support so far. And if anyone was missed, sorry.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ICE CREAM SANDWICH COMES OUT?
You mean the next version of Android expected from Google sometime in November '11? Well, if the transition from Froyo (2.2) to Gingerbread (2.3) is a model, it may take several months from the release of the Ice Cream Sandwich source code before a viable port to TouchPad is available.
Or not. Ya never know.
WHERE IS THE SOURCE CODE?
Source code can be found at http://www.github.com/cyanogenmod
As of alpha 1 the kernel source is open. The rest of the source will be opened
as soon as some code can be merged into mainline CM7. This expected to happen
very soon.
DOWNLOADS
Initial install will require multiple files to download. Download the installer README first
and be sure you understand the directions.
Note: Please do not link directly to files. Link only to this thread.
Alpha1:
Note: Alpha1 is an extremely rough build. Expect more crashes than you can count. Many many things do not work yet.
Mirror 1:
REAMDE: http://mirror.dal.tdrevolution.net/kmobs/ACMEInstaller README.txt
Installer: http://mirror.dal.tdrevolution.net/kmobs/ACMEInstaller
CM7: http://mirror.dal.tdrevolution.net/kmobs/update-cm-7.1.0-tenderloin-a1-fullofbugs.zip
Clockwork Recovery: http://goo-inside.me/roms/cmtouchpad/alpha1/update-cwm_tenderloin-1012.zip
Mirror 2:
README and Installer: http://goo-inside.me/roms/cmtouchpad...EInstaller.zip
CM7: http://goo-inside.me/roms/cmtouchpad...fullofbugs.zip
Clockwork Recovery http://goo-inside.me/roms/cmtouchpad...rloin-1012.zip
Please keep the conversations civil!
First video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c20yOVKm5UM
Second video: http://youtu.be/fsZXe-_v9uQ
Third video: http://youtu.be/8IVkj_vdY6s
Fourth video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApfeSj4Ql6Q
Alpha video: http://tinyurl.com/43gwjlo
Show Your Support
To receive notifications regarding updates -> Click to Mark as Installed.
If you like this modification -> Click to Nominate for Modification of the Month.
If you like to thank the author -> Click Here
This modification may not be copied, reproduced or published elsewhere without author's permission.
CM7 Alpha Released 10/13
CM7 Alpha Released [10/13]
CyanogenMod - (A Project that goal is to be able to dual-boot android and webOS)
What currently works:
COMPLETE Wifi (Fixed 10/9)
COMPLETE Camera (Fixed 10/7)
COMPLETE Touchstone Support (Fixed 10/6)
COMPLETE Power Management (Fixed 10/4)
COMPLETE Clockwork Recovery (Fixed 9/30)
COMPLETE Battery Reporting (Fixed 9/29)
COMPLETE Fake SD card Mount (Fixed 9/26)
COMPLETE Vibration (Fixed 9/26)
COMPLETE Bluetooth (Fixed 9/24)
COMPLETE Dual CPU Processor (Fixed 9/23)
COMPLETE Fast Switch Boot (Appears fixed to me Video Update 9/23)
COMPLETE Booting into Android
COMPLETE ADB commands via ADB
COMPLETE Power, back/home and volume button layout
COMPLETE Touchscreen support (Multi-touch, 10 fingers)
COMPLETE GPU Acceleration (50/50 2D Accel support, just like any other gingerbread device out there)
COMPLETE Sound http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApfeSj4Ql6Q
COMPLETE Accelerometer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IVkj_vdY6s
COMPLETE Backlight (Confirmed in IRC)
COMPLETE LED (Confirmed in IRC)
COMPLETE Multiboot (Confirmed in IRC)
COMPLETE Light Sensor (Confirmed in IRC)
COMPLETE Accessing webOS files from Android and vice versa
COMPLETE Softkeys
PARTIALLY Compass (Bugs need to be worked out)
What does not currently work:
See issues below
What's currently being worked on:
Gyroscope
Beating Metal Gear Solid 4 under 5 hours.
Bugs and Issues, see below.
What can possibly work:
HDMI through Micro USB (The System-on-a-Chip has the required hardware, have to find which pin #) (webOS 3.0.4 may have HDMI support, and if so we can reverse engineer the process, stay tuned)
GPS (Does not seem possible to implement because hardware seems to be lacking GPS functionality)
Issues:
High Priority Cannot record sound, unless sound is already playing [Accepted]
High Priority Battery Drains while sleeping and active [Accepted]
High Priority Plugging in headphones does not mute external speakers [Accepted]
Medium Priority Apps in market are being filtered [Accepted]
Medium Priority Battery does not shut down device at critical battery level [Reported]
Medium Priority Camera does not take pictures [Accepted]
Low Priority Reboot and Shutdown can take a long time [Accepted]
Low Priority LED light turns off while sleeping [Accepted]
Low Priority Light Sensor does not work automatically, needs to be turned on manually [Accepted]
Low Priority No audio support for BT headsets [Accepted]
Low Priority Add divx codecs for video support [Started]
Low Priority GPS apps crashes because apps assume for valid GPS [Accepted]
Fixed Reboot to Android from webOS app (Fixed 10/12)
Fixed msm_rotator does not work correctly. Screen may rotate for video, but becomes distorted. (Fixed 10/11)
Fixed Sleep Issues (Fixed 10/11)
Fixed Touchscreen has feedback issues (Fixed 10/11)
Fixed Camera fails to save to disk, does not rotate (Fixed 10/11)
Fixed Airplane mode stays on once turned on, happens because the touchpad doesn't have a real radio interface layer. (Fixed 10/10)
Fixed Screen stays blank for 10 second before boot animation appears (Fixed 10/9) (Confirmed in IRC)
Fixed Wifi Issues (Fixed 10/9)
Fixed Sh exceeds the open file limit (Fixed 10/9)
Fixed Sleep Issues for Wifi (Fixed 10/9)
Fixed CPU stays on max frequency (Fixed 10/8)
Fixed Touchscreen turns off when accelerometer is disabled (Fixed 10/7)
Fixed Touchstone works and charges, but no event is raised to show you it's charging (Fixed 10/6)
Fixed Touchscreen events (touches) are ignored after sleep (Fixed 10/5)
Fixed Protect certain partitions in the kernel (Fixed 10/5)
Fixed Root for bluetooth cmattach (Fixed 10/5)
Fixed Touchscreen stays on at all times, even when screen is turned off (Fixed 10/4)
Fixed Touchscreen has issues with pinch gestures (Fixed 10/3)
Fixed No root access (Fixed 9/30)
Way to double post there ace...man these forums are a joke now. Ill stick to rootz from now on.
Nice... installed perfectly anyone pushed Market.apk to theirs yet....?
Scratch that... Installed "gapps gb 20110815 signed.zip"
Been waiting for this.. Thanks to all the devs working on this project.
Any feedback from the early installers?
At work, so I won't be able to try this for a good 10-11 hours.
Missing G-Apps still trying to find an update that will install them, other than that the device is very snappy touchscreen it so much more responsive a few minor bugs (one of which it wont connect to my work's wireless) other than that i am very impressed.
Just Me said:
Any feedback from the early installers?
At work, so I won't be able to try this for a good 10-11 hours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I watched the install vid. but i need to install from a windows computer. anyone with a walkthrough?
jdmtsx said:
I watched the install vid. but i need to install from a windows computer. anyone with a walkthrough?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've written a "somewhat" easier tutorial here
Question at all: is it normal there is no marketplace?
(I'm not that android-guru ^^ )
so two questions to the early addopters: will it delete/modify the custom kernel in webos and will it **** up the partition layout on the touchpad?
mendel129 said:
I've written a "somewhat" easier tutorial here
Question at all: is it normal there is no marketplace?
(I'm not that android-guru ^^ )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your tutorial!
However step 5 is vague.
could you please elaborate on:
grab the cmd, browse to the place where you’ve downloaded the acmeinstaller file, and type “C:\Program Files\Palm, Inc\novacom” boot mem:// < ACMEInstaller
How do I "browse to the place I've downloaded the acme installer?
Lets say for example it is in: C:\Users\Zak\Desktop\cm7touchpad\ACMEinstaller
How do I browse there in CMD.exe ?
Thanks!
zgroten said:
Thanks for your tutorial!
However step 5 is vague.
could you please elaborate on:
grab the cmd, browse to the place where you’ve downloaded the acmeinstaller file, and type “C:\Program Files\Palm, Inc\novacom” boot mem:// < ACMEInstaller
How do I "browse to the place I've downloaded the acme installer?
Lets say for example it is in: C:\Users\Zak\Desktop\cm7touchpad\ACMEinstaller
How do I browse there in CMD.exe ?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cd \Desktop
cd \cm7touchpad
or just cd C:\Users\Zak\Desktop\cm7touchpad\
(you can autocomplete with tab )
mendel129 said:
cd \Desktop
cd \cm7touchpad
or just cd C:\Users\Zak\Desktop\cm7touchpad\
(you can autocomplete with tab )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!!
Sorry for bugging you, one more question...
I am getting "Access is denied" after typing:
C:\Program Files\Palm, Inc\novacom” boot mem:// < ACMEInstaller
zgroten said:
Thanks!!
Sorry for bugging you, one more question...
I am getting "Access is denied" after typing:
C:\Program Files\Palm, Inc\novacom” boot mem:// < ACMEInstaller
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) are you running cmd in elevated permissions?
2) do you have novacom installed in the first place?
mendel129 said:
1) are you running cmd in elevated permissions?
2) do you have novacom installed in the first place?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, and Yes.
It shows up in my programs list as "Novacomd"
Well mine installed ok but it seems to wipe your WebOS install (at least it did for me) so I had to restore my palm profile!
Not had much time to play with android yet but im impressed so far!
Loving this! xD
Sent from my HP Touchpad using Tapatalk
Can't imagine why it wasn't released here.
/sarcasm
My problem is actually that I cannot get it to mount.
mendel129 said:
Question at all: is it normal there is no marketplace?
(I'm not that android-guru ^^ )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
download the google apps package from here: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/wiki/Latest_Version#Google_Apps
put in on your touchpad
boot clockwork recovery using novacom (same as for installing cm7, but instead of using "ACMEInstaller" use "uImage.ClockworkMod", go to install, install from zip on sd card, choose the google apps package
done =)
and you have a functional marketplace
Android 4.0.3 Platform and Updated SDK tools
Posted by Xavier Ducrohet, Android SDK Tech Lead on 16 December 2011 at 11:00 AM
Today we are announcing Android 4.0.3, an incremental release of the Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) platform. The new release includes a variety of optimizations and bug fixes for phones and tablets, as well as a small number of new APIs for developers. The new API level is 15.
Some of the new APIs in Android 4.0.3 include:
Social stream API in Contacts provider: Applications that use social stream data such as status updates and check-ins can now sync that data with each of the user’s contacts, providing items in a stream along with photos for each. This new API lets apps show users what the people they know are doing or saying, in addition to their photos and contact information.
Calendar provider enhancements. Apps can now add color to events, for easier tracking, and new attendee types and states are now available.
New camera capabilities. Apps can now check and manage video stabilization and use QVGA resolution profiles where needed.
Accessibility refinements. Improved content access for screen readers and new status and error reporting for text-to-speech engines.
Incremental improvements in graphics, database, spell-checking, Bluetooth, and more.
For a complete overview of what’s new in the platform, see the Android 4.0.3 API Overview.
Going forward, we’ll be focusing our partners on Android 4.0.3 as the base version of Ice Cream Sandwich. The new platform will be rolling out to production phones and tablets in the weeks ahead, so we strongly encourage you to test your applications on Android 4.0.3 as soon as possible.
We would also like to remind developers that we recently released new version of the SDK Tools (r16) and of the Eclipse plug-in (ADT 16.0.1). We have also updated the NDK to r7.
Visit the Android Developers site for more information about Android 4.0.3 and other platform versions. To get started developing or testing on the new platform, you can download it into your SDK using the Android SDK Manager.
those of google are incredible every so often an update to fix errors.
[GUIDE | READ ME | DISCONTINUED-28/06/12 ] A Newbie Guide for your Galaxy Tab 7.7 ▓░░
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Do terms like ‘Android ROM’ confuse you? Is your understanding of ‘flashing’ limited to acts of exhibitionism? Do you feel left out or clueless when your friends talk about flashing the latest custom ROM to their Android device ? here is a guide for you to make your life easier
Hey guys, this is a guide which will help many people (new users).
The Very Beginning!
Android is an Operating System (OS), like Windows or OSX to your computer or iOS [1] to the iPad and iPhone. It controls how the phone reacts to your inputs, what's displayed on the screen and when. Many would argue, the OS is the most important factor of any mobile device. Whether or not you agree, it certainly has a massive impact on user experience, hopefully at the end of this, you'll be able to make up your own mind.
Note-
Red color means -> its important !!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Understanding ROM’s and Builds
A ROM is essentially a custom version of Android. Each tweaks, combines, or optimizes Android to offer something standard versions lack. Within ROM’s, you have what are known as builds (basic branches of Android code) that offer certain features and characteristics.
Think of it as a crude metaphor for Microsoft Windows. There’s XP, Vista, and Windows 7. All three are Windows operating systems and can typically run the same programs, but there are major differences between them. Within each OS, there’s further distinction between Vista Home, Vista Pro, and Vista Ultimate. Likewise, one ROM can spawn multiple versions. For instance, there are several flavors of Drake’s Hero ROM..
Be advised that some ROM’s require a wipe (erases all information stored on your phone) before or after installation. This is done when you enter the recovery mode and perform a “factory data reset.”
What is Firmware?
The read-only operating systems that we just discussed above are also called ‘firmware’, as they stay firmly in place without modification access to the users of the device. Modification of firmware is still however possible, just not under normal usage. Many devices require specialized hardware to be used for the purpose while other devices have the storage set as read-only through software protection only, which can be removed or overridden without the need for any specialized hardware, just by using software written for the purpose, often but not always requiring connection to a computer.
Thus, the terms ‘operating system’ and ‘firmware’ both refer to the same thing and can be used interchangeably when applied to such devices.
Flashing
The ROM memory used in smartphones and tablets etc. is often same as flash memory found in SD cards and USB flash drives, simply optimized for better speed and performance while running the operating system. As explained above, it is read-only under normal usage and requires a special procedure for any modifications to be made to its contents. The procedure of modifying or replacing the contents of such flash memory is known as flashing. Thus, in layman’s terms, flashing is essentially the same as installing or modifying the firmware of a device that is stored on its protected flash memory.
2 – Mobile Operating Systems
ROM as the Operating System
When it comes to smartphones and tablets, the term ROM is used to refer to the firmware stored in the internal memory of the device, rather than the internal memory itself. It can also refer to a file prepared for the purpose of replacing this firmware with another version of using a special method.
Thus, when you are told by someone to download a ROM, they are referring to the file that contains the firmware in a format ready to be installed to your phone to replace it’s existing firmware. Similarly, when asked what ROM is your phone running or when told by someone their phone is running a particular ROM, they are again talking about the particular variant of the firmware.
Types of ROMs->
Unlike most desktop operating systems, mobile operating systems can be found in installable format in multiple forms, which can be categorized as follows.
A)Truly Stock ROMs / firmware:
This is the operating system in its default form, without any modifications made to it except for any device-specific support required to run it on the particular device. Truly stock firmware provides the standard user experience of the operating system without any cosmetic or functional changes made.
B)Manufacturer or Carrier branded Stock ROM / Firmware:
This type of firmware has had enhancements added over the default operating system by the device manufacturer or the mobile service carrier. This often includes interface enhancements, proprietary applications and in most cases, restrictions intended to limit the use of the device with a specific carrier or region. There are often further restrictions preventing installation of firmware not released by the carrier or manufacturer.
C)Custom ROM / firmware:
Independent developers who like to customize their devices beyond the standard options provided often tend to release the fruits of their labor for the rest to enjoy, in form of custom ROMs.
3 – Stock Vs. Custom ROMs
Both stock and custom ROMs have their merits and demerits and choosing between the two requires careful consideration. In this section, we are going to make a comparison between the two types of ROMs to help you make the right choice. Let us begin by taking a look at their advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages & Disadvantages of Stock ROMs
Stock firmware is the result of a lot of research and testing done by the operating system vendor, the device manufacturer and/or the mobile service carrier. Therefore, it carries several advantages:-
1>It is usually quite stable upon release.
2>Almost all bugs are patched during the extensive beta testing before release.
3>It carries the official support by the firmware vendor, device manufacturer and the mobile service carrier.
4>Updates are pushed automatically to the device by the carrier.
Along with its advantages, stock firmware also carries its disadvantages and these include:
1>Updates aren’t frequent, as development is done mostly by corporations who have to follow a scheduled release cycle.
2>Providing feedback to the manufacturer in case of any issues is either impossible, unwelcome (often with Apple devices), or a long, tedious process.
3>Similarly, getting official support can be a hassle as well, involving a tedious process.
4>If the device manufacturer and operating system developer are different (as is the case with Android and Windows Phone 7), any updates released by thekoperating system vendor need to be edited by the device manufacturer or mobile carrier to add compatibility and additional software before release. Hence, some devices get updates delayed by months.
5>Updates are often released first in the United States, leaving the rest of the world waiting. (A world does happen to exist beyond the United States, we’ve confirmed it ourselves!)
6>Worse still, when manufacturers choose to no longer release official updates for their older devi#es in favor of newer ones, their users are essentially stuck with old versions of the operating system. This case is evident with many Android devices barely a year and a half old.
Advantages & Disadvantages of Custom ROMs-
Custom ROMs are as good or as bad as the effort put into them by their developers. Key advantages of custom ROMs are:
1)First and foremost, choice! There are thousands of custom ROMs out there for a range of devices, each offering a diverse set of features not found in the stock ROM.
2)Update frequency – custom ROMs are often under active development and newer releases of the core operating system are incorporated in them way before updated official ROMs are released.
3)Providing feedback is as easy as leaving a message on the development forum for the ROM in question.
Getting support with your issues at the forums is similarly easy, as not only the main developers themselves but also other experienced users of the ROM from the community are glad to help you with your issues and in the process, improve the ROM for everyone.
4)Custom ROMs usually have all the extra restrictions removed
5)Performance enhancements and optimizations found in many custom ROMs can make them much faster than stock ROMs ,enabling users to get the most out of their devices.
5)Overclocking options are built into some custom ROMs, further speeding up the devices.
6)Undervolting options found in some ROMs on the other hand result in improved battery life.
7)Old phones with little internal memory can benefit most from custom ROMs that allow them to use the external SD card memory for the apps exactly the way they would use the internal memory.
So with all these advantages, there should be no reason to stick with the stock ROM, right? Not necessarily! Like all things in life, custom ROMs come with their disadvantages as well:
1)Due to the lack of extensive testing prior to release, many custom ROMs can be buggy in the beginning and installing a ROM with missing or corrupt critical files can even brick your phone.
2)Several custom ROMs that are ports of ROMs from other phones can have missing functionality that hasn’t been made to work on your phone with the ROM yet.
Installing a custom ROM usually involves wiping your phone to factory settings, so you lose your data and start from scratch. Fortunately, Android’s built-in contact syncing along with apps offering message, call log and app backup/restore make this process easier, letting you retain your data.
The installation process can be cumbersome and requires you to root your phone and often circumvent its security features to allow for custom ROM installation in the first place.
Installing a custom ROM will in most cases void your phone’s warranty, though often the process is reversible, meaning you can turn your phone back to stock as long as it isn’t bricked.
Choosing the Right Custom ROM
With several custom ROMs available for most Android devices, choosing the right one isn’t always easy. The question of ‘which is the best ROM for _____ phone / tablet’ is as often frowned-upon at the forums as it is asked, since there is no universal answer for it. One ROM may be the best for me while another might suit you better. The only solution is to read a lot, go through the feature list, read user response and if required, ask the developer questions at the forum page for the ROM. Attempt to install the ROM only after you are fairly satisfied that doing so will not harm your device to the extent you can’t fix.
Nandroid BACKUPA Nandroid Backup is a backup file of your current ROM and its settings, you can do it manually using Clockwork Mod Recovery, it's fairly intuitive so you shouldn't have too much issue figuring these steps out.*IMPORTANT*
RISKS OF ROOTINGWhen a root exploit is initially found, it may or may not be stable. What this means is that it may not work reliably, or worse, it may cause a permanent failure of the phone, preventing it from booting up. A responsible phone hacker will therefore test the exploit extensively across many phones and modify the exploit as needed to make it stable. When the exploit has been proven to work safely and reliably, it is released to the public. However, this does not guarantee that the exploit will work with every single phone that it targets. The person or team that releases the exploit will make it clear that the exploit is "use at your own risk." Each person considering rooting their phone needs to understand this risk and decide whether it's worth proceeding or not.
Once the exploit has removed the NAND protection, the risk of permanently damaging your phone becomes very, very low. That's not to say that you can't get yourself into a bind, but with a little bit of know-how, rarely does a bad situation mean a bricked phone. If you haven't guessed already, a bricked phone is a phone that shares the qualities of a brick: it can look rectangular and do nothing.
As a preemptive safety measure, the custom recovery program installed as part of the root exploit contains a very useful tool called a NANDroid backup/restore. This utility backs up your internal memory and essentially is a save-state. No matter how you change your phone in the future, you can always bring your phone back to the state it was in at the time of the backup. It is highly recommended to make a NANDroid backup before flashing anything.
Knowledge is power here. If you've read this far, you already have a really good foundation into the Android rooting world. For more excellent infor-ation, I recommend reading this post: Quick INTRO TO ROOTING for those new to rooting, which will give you a broader vocabulary of root-related terminology. The more information you gather, the more you will realize that the risks of rooting are very low, while the rewards are very high.
And don't hesitate to use these forums to ask questions and seek clarifications. The rooting community is strong, and there are tons of people eager to help. Today's newbies are tomorrow's experts. Good luck in your endeavor%r1
The Android Family Tree
Android has a come a long was since its birth in 2008, however we're not here to fire into its history specifically, but what its history might mean for you! Android has been released in incremental versions. Each phone may differ in what version it has installed, usually the vendor decides what version it will choose, and develops Android into a specific ROM [2] for the device. To find out what version of Android your device is, navigate to the settings menu and select 'about phone', under 'Android version' there will be three numbers, the first two, will tell you what release you're running. There are currently 5 flavours of Android for phones, these are;
1.5 - Cupcake
One thing you'll learn, Android has quirky names! This version of android is likely the most basic version you'll meet, very few handsets still selling have this version. If you have a handset with version 1.5, you're limited in a big way! There are many features missing that means 1.5 just can't support many of the applications offered up in the market!
1.6 - Donut
Donut offered a few improvements over Cupcake; Voice search, turn-by-turn navigation and an improved market to name a few! It's still missing a few features that don't allow the more advanced apps to run. So don't be suprised if you're missing a few from the market.
2.0/2.1 - Eclair
Google picked up their game with the move to 2.1, it is arguably the largest and most important update Google made. Most applications will work on 2.1! It also included support for Microsoft exchange (if you don't know what this is, you don't need it) increased speed, smoothness, and improved the user interface immensely.
2.2 - Froyo
Currently the largest version in use, you're with a masses here and perhaps will find comfort in it. a few performance tweaks, faster browsing and the ability to run Adobe Flash 10.1 is among the few things you can do over your 2.1 bretheren.
2.3/2.4 - Gingerbread
Updated UI, higher resolution screens, VoIP calls, improved keyboard, introduced NFC to the world, faster performance, and a better battery life are among the benefits over your older bretheren. This released also improved voice-to-text engine input, copy and paste, audio effects, and enabled simultaneous multiple camera support.
4.0 - Ice Cream Sandwich
Ok huuuge update here, haven't played on it yet but this is shaping up to be the biggest update since 2.1, if not ever! Combining Gingerbread and Honeycomb, this is loooking a very mature and slick version of Android. Massive UI overhaul; hardware acceleration, no physical/permanent buttons, new Roboto font, Honeycomb task manager, new screen layouts, easily customisable folders, widget app drawer and a customisable launcher. Other improvements include new contacts or 'people' app, further improved copy and paste, further improved keyboard, visual voicemail with improved functionality, improved gestures, new lock screen, integrated screenshot capture, facial recognition unlocking, Android Beam utilising NFC, and awesome 3g data management software!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Power saving tips:
Dont use a live theme
Use a dark wallpaper
Turn off wi-fi & bluetooth when not in use
Stop friendstream, facebook & peep updating every 5mins. Set mine to manual.
Set email app to manual
Set screen brightness to auto or 40% (lower if you can put up with it).
How does one flash a kernel?
The process is a simple as flashing a ROM, put the .zip on ur sdcard, go into recovery,wipe cache,dalvik-cache, install .zip from sdcard, reboot phone and ur done.
How to Flash A Custom ROM-
Download a ROM of your choice from the All Things Root section (The Forum you are in) You can find direct links to each of them in the All Things Root Guide that is stickied at the top of this forum.
1- Once downloaded, its recommended to download it from your computer and place it on your phone, put it on the root of your internal or external sd cards. Root meaning not in a folder.
2- Reboot into recovery using Quick Reboot.
3- Using your volume keys to scroll and your power key to select, scroll down tand select "Wipe data/Factory Reset" then scroll to "Yes" and select.
4- Scroll down and select "Wipe Cache Partition" and then select "Yes"
5- Scroll down and select "Advanced" and select "Wipe Dalvik Cache" and then select "Yes" then scroll down and select "Go Back"
6- Sroll down and select "mounts and storage" then scroll down and select ONLY these 3 listed, "format data" and then select "Yes", then scroll down and select "format cache" and then select "Yes", then scroll down and select "format system" and then select "Yes". Then scroll down to and select "Go Back"
7- Then scroll down to "Install Zip From Sd", if you put the ROM on your external SD card select "choose zip from SD". If you put it on your internal scroll down and select 'choose zip from internal". Then after you selected one of those depended on where you put the ROM, scroll down and select the ROM and then Select "Yes".
Let it run and do its thing and once it says its done, select "reboot system now" and enjoy
How To Flash A Theme-
Download a theme of your choice from the All Things Root section (The Forum you are in) You can find direct links to each of them in the All Things Root Guide that is stickied at the top of this forum.
1- Once downloaded, its recommended to download it from your computer and place it on your phone, put it on the root of your internal or external sd cards. Root meaning not in a folder.
2- Reboot into recovery using Quick Reboot.
3- Using your volume keys to scroll and power button to select, scroll down and select "wipe cache partition" and then select "Yes"
4- Scroll down to and select "Advanced" and then select "Wipe Dalvik Cache"
5- Then scroll down and select "Go Back"
6- Then scroll down to "Install Zip From Sd", if you put the theme on your external SD card select "choose zip from SD". If you put it on your internal scroll down and select 'choose zip from internal". Then after you selected one of those depended on where you put the theme, scroll down and select the theme and then Select "Yes".
Let it run and do its thing and once it says its done, select "reboot system now" and enjoy
You can find stock firmwares here -sampro.pl
sammobile
Important (Read it carefully) -> Forum & Marketplace Rules & announcements
Some other guides by some great developers-
> [ROM&GUIDE] Official Firmwares SGT 7.7 P6800 + P6810 Download By xenix96
>[GUIDE] Root By Jade Eyed Wolf
> [Guide] Full Tutorial To Install Custom ROM [GT-P6800] BY haidharbbc
Useful posts -
> [FAQ] Com-on Issues with the P6800 and their Solutions (where available) By Theory
>Welcome To the Galaxy Tab 7.7 Forum -Please Read Before Posting- by original_ganjaman
>[REF] Partitions P6800 + P6810 By Chainfire
> Simple ways to speed up your tablet!!
HONYCOMB FULL PREVIEW USER GUIDE *IMPORTANT*
I will update it ,when there is a need.
--->I will add more. If I ever miss anything please send me a private message
That should be enough to get you started.
CHANGELOG-
UPDATE - 22/04/12 MAJOR UPDATE !! lot of information added!!!!
UPDATE -02/05/12 Android Terms,Slang & Definition added to guide see post #3 !!
UPDATE - 28/06/12-Due to fact, i dont own this tab anymore, there will be no updates.sorry!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope this guide helps you.......
Thanks..........
Please comment if you have any problems, or want to share anything.
Please give an REVIEW ,it means a lot to me.Thank you.
-------------------*Important Tips*---------------------
--- Important Tips ---
[1]THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS THE *BEST* ROM OR *BEST* TWEAKS
-everything that has *best* in it's name is mainly made by questioner's preference.
[2] STOP ASKING FOR ETA'S....Stop asking when will it be released or when will that be released.its silly you know. IT WILL COME WHEN ITS READY GET IT ?
[3]OK this will be quite simple. If it says DEVS ONLY leave it alone. Don't comment unnecessary trash and ask for ETA's.
It's unstable so don't go making a thread in general section asking if it's stable or not.ok ?
[4]RESPECT THE DEVELOPERS*IMPORTANT*
[5] Read or search before posting anything! GOOGLE is your best friend!
https://www.google.com (use me)
SEARCH SEARCH SEARCH SEARCH BEFORE DOING SOMETHING !!!!!
I hope i am clear.....
[6] Stop posting and posting the same stuff over and over and over again! If it says in the ROM description that ""This" is not working" Dont keep on asking is "this" working? or something like that.
[7] Post in the proper section. You will get more help if you do this.
For example... don't start a question thread in developers forum just because you think it's more active than general section. EVERYTHING HAS IT'S PURPOSE
[8] If a bug has been reported once,then THATS ENOUGH REPORTING < Read once more,enough said
[9] LOOK,READ AND THEN ONLY POST,If there is something you want to post,then look at thread,read the whole thread and then ONLY post.
Credits - DooAce ,prawesome
Android Terms,Slang & Definitions*Important* + How to Increase Battery Life !
PART #1
Android Terms,Slang & Definitions
Apps2SD:A method of storing applications and cache on the device's microSD card.
ADB:Android Debug Bridge (adb) is a versatile command line tool that lets you communicate with an emulator instance or connected Android-powered device. It is a client-server program that includes three components:
•A client, which runs on your development machine. You can invoke a client from a shell by issuing an adb command. Other Android tools such as the ADT plugin and DDMS also create adb clients.
•A server, which runs as a background process on your development machine. The server manages communication between the client and the adb daemon running on an emulator or device.
•A daemon, which runs as a background process on each emulator or device instance.
AMOLED:Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode. Basically, a very colorful, bright, display found in some smartphones.
APK:Android application package file. Each Android application is compiled and packaged in a single file that includes all of the application's code (.dex files), resources, assets, and manifest file. The application package file can have any name but must use the .apk extension. For example: myExampleAppname.apk. For convenience, an application package file is often referred to as an ".apk".
Alpha:The alpha phase of the release life cycle is the first phase to begin software testing (alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, used as the number 1). In this phase, developers generally test the software using white box techniques. Additional validation is then performed using black box or gray box techniques, by another testing team. Moving to black box testing inside the organization is known as alpha release.[1]
Alpha software can be unstable and could cause crashes or data loss. The exception to this is when the alpha is available publicly (such as a pre-order bonus), in which developers normally push for stability so that their testers can test properly. External availability of alpha software is uncommon in proprietary software. However, open source software, in particular, often have publicly available alpha versions, often distributed as the raw source code of the software.
The alpha phase usually ends with a feature freeze, indicating that no more features will be added to the software. At this time, the software is said to be a feature complete.
Boot Animation:Boot animation is a term for a graphical representation of the boot process of the operating system.
Boot animation can be a simple visualisation of the scrolling boot messages in the console, but it can also present graphics or some combinations of both.
Unlike splash screens, boot screen or boot animation is not necessarily designed for marketing purposes, but can be to enhance the experience of the user as eye candy, or provide the user with messages (with an added advantage of color coding facility) to diagnose the state of the system.
Bootloader:This small program's only job is to load other data and programs which are then executed from RAM.Often, multiple-stage boot loaders are used, during which several programs of increasing complexity load one after the other in a process of chain loading.
Bootloop:When your system recycles over and over without entering the main OS.
Beta: is the software development phase following alpha. It generally begins when the software is feature complete. Software in the beta phase will generally have many more bugs in it than completed software, as well as speed/performance issues. The focus of beta testing is reducing impacts to users, often incorporating usability testing. The process of delivering a beta version to the users is called beta release and this is typically the first time that the software is available outside of the organization that developed it.
The users of a beta version are called beta testers. They are usually customers or prospective customers of the organization that develops the software, willing to test the software without charge, often receiving the final software free of charge or for a reduced price.
Beta version software is often useful for demonstrations and previews within an organization and to prospective customers. Some developers refer to this stage as a preview, prototype, technical preview (TP), or early access.
Some software is kept in perpetual beta—where new features and functionality is continually added to the software without establishing a firm "final" release.
CPU:It stands for Central Processing Unit and handles all the complex mathematical formulas necessary to do everyday things like surfing the Internet.
Cache:A component that transparently stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster. The data that is stored within a cache might be values that have been computed earlier or duplicates of original values that are stored elsewhere. If requested data is contained in the cache (cache hit), this request can be served by simply reading the cache, which is comparatively faster. Otherwise (cache miss), the data has to be recomputed or fetched from its original storage location, which is comparatively slower. Hence, the greater the number of requests that can be served from the cache, the faster the overall system performance becomes.
CDMA:Mobile phone standards called cdmaOne, CDMA2000 (the 3G evolution of cdmaOne) and WCDMA (the 3G standard used by GSM carriers), which are often referred to as simply CDMA, and use CDMA as an underlying channel access method.
CIQ:Carrier IQ. A piece of preinstalled software that runs with elevated access in the background of portable devices by default and records everything. Potentially can be exploited to steal information.
Dual Core:A dual core processor is a central processing unit (CPU) that has two separate cores on the same die, each with its own cache. It essentially is two microprocessors in one. This type of CPU is widely available from many manufacturers. Other types of multi-core processors also have been developed, including quad-core processors with four cores each, hexa-core processors with six, octa-core processors with eight and many-core processors with an even larger number of cores.
Dalvik:The Android platform's virtual machine. The Dalvik VM is an interpreter-only virtual machine that executes files in the Dalvik Executable (.dex) format, a format that is optimized for efficient storage and memory-mappable execution.
Dalvik Cache:Writable cache that contains the optimized bytecode of all apk files (apps) on your Android device. Having the information in it's own cache makes applications load faster and perform better.
EXT2:The ext2 or second extended filesystem is a file system for the Linux kernel. It was initially designed by Rémy Card as a replacement for the extended file system (ext).
ext2 was the default filesystem in several Linux distributions, including Debian and Red Hat Linux, until supplanted more recently by ext3, which is almost completely compatible with ext2 and is a journaling file system. ext2 is still the filesystem of choice for flash-based storage media (such as SD cards, and USB flash drives) since its lack of a journal minimizes the number of writes and flash devices have only a limited number of write cycles. Recent kernels, however, support a journal-less mode of ext4, which would offer the same benefit along with a number of ext4-specific benefits.
EXT3:Third extended filesystem, is a journaled file system that is commonly used by the Linux kernel. It is the default file system for many popular Linux distributions, including Debian. Stephen Tweedie first revealed that he was working on extending ext2 in Journaling the Linux ext2fs Filesystem in a 1998 paper and later in a February 1999 kernel mailing list posting, and the filesystem was merged with the mainline Linux kernel in November 2001 from 2.4.15 onward.Its main advantage over ext2 is journaling, which improves reliability and eliminates the need to check the file system after an unclean shutdown. Its successor is ext4.
EXT4:It was born as a series of backward compatible extensions to ext3, many of them originally developed by Cluster File Systems for the Lustre file system between 2003 and 2006, meant to extend storage limits and add other performance improvements.However, other Linux kernel developers opposed accepting extensions to ext3 for stability reasons,and proposed to fork the source code of ext3, rename it as ext4, and do all the development there, without affecting the current ext3 users. This proposal was accepted, and on 28 June 2006, Theodore Ts'o, the ext3 maintainer, announced the new plan of development for ext4.
FC/FC's:Short for "force close," meaning an app that has crashed.
Fastboot:A diagnostic protocol used primarily to modify the flash filesystem in Android smartphones from another computer over a USB connection. It is part of the Android Debug Bridge library.
Utilizing the Fastboot protocol requires that the device be started in a boot loader or Second Program Loader mode in which only the most basic hardware initialization is performed. After enabling the protocol on the device itself it will accept any command sent to it over USB via a command line. Some of most commonly used fastboot commands include:
•flash - Overwrites a partition in flash with a binary image stored on the host computer.
•erase - Erases a partition in flash.
•reboot - Reboots the device into the either the main operating system or the system recovery partition.
•devices - Displays a list of all devices (with Serial #) connected to the host computer.
Flashing:The ROM memory used in smartphones and tablets etc. is often same as flash memory found in SD cards and USB flash drives, simply optimized for better speed and performance while running the operating system.
Hotspot:A spot that offers Internet access over a wireless local area network through the use of a router connected to a link to an Internet service provider. Hotspots typically use Wi-Fi technology.You can connect wifi campatible devices to it.
HDMI:High-Definition Multimedia Interface) is a compact audio/video interface for transmitting encrypted uncompressed digital data.It is a digital alternative to consumer analog standards, such as radio frequency (RF) coaxial cable, composite video, S-Video, SCART, component video, D-Terminal, or VGA (also called D-sub or DE-15F). HDMI connects digital audio/video sources (such as set-top boxes, DVD players, HD DVD players, Blu-ray Disc players, AVCHD camcorders, personal computers (PCs), video game consoles (such as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360), AV receivers, tablet computers, and mobile phones) to compatible digital audio devices, computer monitors, video projectors, and digital televisions.
JIT:The Just-in-Time Compiler. Released with Android 2.2, it's a method of greatly speeding up apps in Android on the software side.
Kang:Someone writes a code,someone else modifies the code to make their own release,its concidered a kang release.
Kernel:A kernel is a layer of code that allows the OS and applications to interface with your phone's hardware. The degree in which you can access your phone's hardware features depends on the quality of code in the kernel. The homebrew (rooting) community for HTC has made several kernel code improvements that give us additional features from our hardware that the stock kernel does not. When you flash a custom ROM, you automatically get a kernel. But you can also flash a standalone kernel ROM on top of the existing one, effectively overwriting it. These days, the difference in custom kernels is less about new features and more about alternate configurations. Choosing a custom kernel is basically choosing one that works best with your ROM.
Launcher:Collectively, the part of the Android user interface on home screens that lets you launch apps, make phone calls, etc. Is built in to Android, or can be purchased in the Android Market.
LCD Density:Pixel density is a measurement of the resolution of devices in various contexts; typically computer displays, image scanners, and digital camera image sensors.
First of all you need to understand that the Android User Interface uses something called a "display independent pixel" or a "dip" (yes, it's confusing because the density settings are in "dots per inch" or "dpi" which are considered the same as "ppi" or "pixels per inch" as well).
The default LCD Density setting on Android is 160 dpi. As far as the operating system is concerned 1 dip @ 160 dpi = 1 screen pixel. It doesn't mean that's actually true, but you've gotta start somewhere. In my opinion it would have been a lot nicer if they'd chosen 100 dpi because then it would be an easy percentage thing, but they didn't so we're stuck with this formula.
Mod:The act of modifying a piece of hardware or software or anything else for that matter, to perform a function not originally conceived or intended by the designer.
Nightly:A build that is performed at the end of each day of development. If you use a continuous integration server, it will generally be configured to build the code and run the unit tests on every check in. At the end of each day you may want to run more extensive tests, regression test and integration tests for example, which take too long to run on each check in and these would be triggered after the nightly build. If you have a full continuously delivery pipeline the nightly build may also be used to deploy the built code to environments for user testing.
Open GL:An open source 3D graphics library used in many devices, including Android devices.
Open & Closed Beta:Developers release either a closed beta or an open beta; closed beta versions are released to a select group of individuals for a user test and are invitation only, while open betas are from a larger group to the general public and anyone interested. The testers report any bugs that they find, and sometimes suggest additional features they think should be available in the final version.
Overclock:To increase the speed of your CPU.
Partition:The phone's internal memory (not the SD card) is solid-state (flash) memory, AKA NAND. It can be partitioned much like a normal hard drive can be partitioned. The bootloader exists in its own partition. Recovery is another partition; radio, system, cache, etc are all partitions.
Here are the standard partitions on an Android phone:
/misc - not sure what this is for.
/boot - bootloader, kernel
/recovery - holds the recovery program (either clockworkmod or RA recovery for a rooted Evo)
/system - operating system goes here: Android, Sense, boot animation, Sprint crapware, busybox, etc
/cache - cached data from OS usage
/data - user applications, data, settings, etc.
The below partitions are not android-specific. They are tied to the hardware of the phone, but the kernel may have code allowing Android to interact with said hardware.
/radio - the phone's radio firmware, controls cellular, data, GPS, bluetooth.
/wimax - firmware for Sprint's flavor of 4G, WiMax.
PRL:The Preferred Roaming List, basically a way of telling your phone which towers to connect to first.
RUU:a complete software package released by HTC, it can contain many things they are trying to update. Radio, ROM, bootloader, etc... Installing an ruu is like installing an image on a hard drive it wipes the phone and installs the image. It will wipe everything data and all so if you install one be prepared.
Radios:On the HTC side of things,the radios persist of:
•WiFi, which operates at 2.4-5ghz depending on what channel it's running
•Cellular/3G, which carries voice and data
•4G/WiMAX, which only carries data
•GPS, which is receive-only
•Bluetooth, which talks to WiiMotes and headsets
Flashing a radio means updating the code that controls the phones way of sending and recieving a signal.
Root:The first level of a folder.
SBC:(the ability to charge your battery beyond the default safe limit). The concept is similar to overclocking a processor: you're overriding the safety limits established to achieve additional performance. The benefit here is that you may gain more use of your battery per charge. The drawback is that you can damage the battery and significantly reduce its longevity. Some kernels claim they are using a safe technique to prevent battery damage. Just be aware of the potential risks.
Sideloading:It means installing applications without using the official Android Market.
Splash Screen:A splash screen is an image that appears while android is loading.Splash screens cover the entire screen or simply a rectangle near the center of the screen. The splash screens of operating systems and some applications that expect to be run full-screen usually cover the entire screen.
Superuser/SU:On many computer operating systems, the superuser is a special user account used for system administration. Depending on the operating system, the actual name of this account might be: root, administrator or supervisor.
Normal work on such a system is done using ordinary user accounts, and because these do not have the ability to make system-wide changes any viruses and other malware - or simple user errors - do not have the ability to adversly affect a whole system. In organizations, administrative privileges are often reserved for authorized experienced individuals.
Script:The Scripting Layer for Android (abridged as SL4A, and previously named Android Scripting Environment or ASE) is a library that allows the creation and running of scripts written in various scripting languages directly on Android devices. SL4A is designed for developers and is still alpha quality software.
These scripts have access to many of the APIs available to normal Java Android applications, but with a simplified interface. Scripts can be run interactively in a terminal, in the background, or via Locale.
SDK:(SDK or "devkit") is typically a set of software development tools that allows for the creation of applications for a certain software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system, or similar platform.
Stock:This is the operating system in its default form, without any modifications made to it except for any device-specific support required to run it on the particular device.
S-On:Security on,means no acces to the phones operating system.
S-Off:Security was exploited,now have access to the operating system.
Tethering:Means sharing the Internet connection of an Internet-capable mobile phone with other devices. This sharing can be offered over a wireless LAN (Wi-Fi), Bluetooth, or by physical connection using a cable. In the case of tethering over wireless LAN, the feature may be branded as a mobile hotspot.The Internet-connected mobile phone acts as a portable router when providing tethering services to others.
USB:Stands for Universal Serial Bus. Is a method of connecting devices to a computer. Most smartphones now use microUSB cables to charge and sync.
Updater Script:When Android devices install updates via 'update.zip' files using recovery mode they have to perform a wide range of functions on files and permissions. Instead of using a minimal shell such as {b,d,c}sh the Android designers decided to create a small functional language that can be extended by device manufacturers if necessary. Since the Android "Donut" release (v1.6) the scripting language is called Edify and is defined primarily in the bootable/recovery/{edify,edifyscripting,updater} directories of the Android source-code tree.
Wireless N:Wireless N technology increases wireless internet connection. Wireless 'N' routers also work with Wireless 'G' and 'B' wireless adapters.
WiiMax:(Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is a communication technology for wirelessly delivering high-speed Internet service to large geographical areas.
YAFFS:Yaffs1 is the first version of this file system and works on NAND chips that have 512 byte pages + 16 byte spare (OOB;Out-Of-Band) areas.[clarification needed] These older chips also generally allow 2 or 3 write cycles per page,which YAFFS takes advantage of - i.e. dirty pages are marked by writing to a specific spare area byte.
Newer NAND flash chips have larger pages, 2048 bytes + 64 bytes spare areas, and stricter write requirements.Each page within an erase block (128 kilobytes) must be written to in sequential order, and each page must be written only once.YAFFS2 was designed to accommodate these newer chips.YAFFS2 is based on the YAFFS1 source code,with the major difference being that internal structures are not fixed to assume 512 byte sizing,and a block sequence number is placed on each written page. In this way older pages can be logically overwritten without violating the "write once" rule.[clarification needed]
YAFFS is a robust log-structured file system that holds data integrity as a high priority.A secondary YAFFS goal is high performance.YAFFS will typically outperform most alternatives.It is also designed to be portable and has been used on Linux, WinCE, pSOS, eCos,ThreadX and various special-purpose OSes.A variant 'YAFFS/Direct' is used in situations where there is no OS, embedded OSes and bootloaders: it has the same core filesystem but simpler interfacing to the OS and NAND flash hardware.
Zipalign: An archive alignment tool introduced first time with 1.6 Android SDK (software development kit). It optimizes the way an Android application package (APK) is packaged. Doing so enables the Android operating system to interact with the application more efficiently, and hence has the potential to make the application and overall the whole system much faster. Execution time is minimized for zipaligned applications, resulting is lesser amount of RAM consumption when running the APK.
CREDITS-Diablo67
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PART #2How to increase battery of Your Tab !
While many of us, and our readers, are seasoned vets of the Android ecosystem, there are many that are just starting out. After spending the last hour looking for something to cover that was extreme, I had an idea. That idea is what you are seeing here. A newbie friendly series of posts that will outline various topics from the simple, to the more complex. Not always about some new root tool, some new device or some insane kernel. More focused on basic daily operations, things that can improve upon the newest users experience to the Android ecosystem.
In today’s newbie guide we are going to outline a few battery saver tips and tricks that can help extend the life of your battery.
Tip #1 - As much as we all love the look of live wallpapers, they suck battery. Sticking to a static, or regular picture, will help out. Alternatively, the best option for many devices is using a true black png image. This is particularly helpful on AMOLED based screens, as color pixels use power where as black does not. Click the link to head to a black png, long press on it and save it. Then apply it as your wallpaper. If you can set it as a lockscreen wallpaper too that would be a good idea.
Tip #2 – Cut back on the widgets. While widgets are pretty, fun and often times useful, over doing it can hurt you long-term. Not just in battery performance, but even device performance. For instance, using Beautiful Widgets, you can get the date, time and weather in one widget versus running three different ones. If you can’t live with out them, then at least adjust the settings for when they update. Instead of polling the weather every time you turn your screen on, set it to every 4 or 8 hours. Most widgets will also let you set them to only pol manually. While it might be a slight inconvenience, pulling data for updates uses power and it uses your data plan.Similar rules apply to apps like Hootsuit, Facebook and so on.
Tip #3 – Screen brightness can dramatically affect your overall battery life. Many devices have an auto brightness setting that will use your light sensor to adjust the brightness according to the current lighting conditions. It is recommended that you leave that turned on. I have found that while it is nice, I prefer to have manual control of my brightness. If you spend a great deal of time indoors, the lowest brightness setting is enough to see your screen and use your phone. While the next statement might seem to contradict the widget tip, not all widgets consume power. Most Android version have a ‘power control’ widget which gives you quick access to WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, Sync and brightness. If your device doesn’t have one, you can locate single button widgets that offer the brightness control, such as this one. I personally keep it to the lowest setting and if I need more light, just tap the brightness button to make it brighter when I need it.
Tip #4 - This one is simple and easy. Keep Wi-Fi and GPS off unless you actually need them. Both are easily controlled with the power control widget ro any other number of apps to keep you from having to go through the settings all the time. Heck, many newer devices even have those in the notification drop down bar now.
Tip #5 – When traveling or staying in an area that has no reception, turn of the devices radios. Sounds silly right? But if you are somewhere that gets no service at all, your device is going to be constantly searching for service and your battery is going to drain like crazy. The easiest and most universal way to turn of your radios is to put the device in ‘airplane mode.’ That is generally under Menu > Settings > Wireless and Networks. Although some UI’s have it in a different location and there are also apps and widgets that can accommodate this function. This also works out well in an office environment where Wi-Fi might be present but cell service is non existent. You might need to toggle the Wi-Fi back on for data use, but your phone won’t be searching for cell connection the whole day either.
Tip #6 – Adjust your screen off time. Many of us seasoned vets just hit the power button when we are done on our phone to turn of the screen. While it is rare, some devices don’t have that option. Setting the screen off time to the lowest amount of time will help ensure your phone’s screen goes off in case you forget. Believe me, I have seen people set their phone down with the screen on for hours and wonder why their battery dies so quickly. This can be accessed via Menu > Settings > Display. Depending on your current device, it might be screen off timer or sleep. Maybe others, not sure.
Tip #7 – This tip has a few various parts. First, running your battery through a few charge cycles is always a good idea. This means fully charging the device, then running it until it powers off. While it is off, plug in and charge it to 100%. Then repeat the process at least twice, but three times is a good idea. Sadly, the batteries the manufacturers use, aren’t always of the highest quality. Bummer huh.
Tip #8 – Watch for ‘rogue’ apps. By that we mean, if you have recently installed an application and you have noticed that your battery life has also recently gotten worse, you may have a rogue app running. This is usually pretty easy to find by checking Menu > Settings > Battery. You can usually see what apps are sucking juice. If you locate one, you can kill that process to stop it from eating battery, or if it is an app you hardly use simply uninstall it.
Tip #9 – Final tip for this post. Your launcher. Yes, your current launcher might be the culprit as well and you may not even know it. The fantabulous Sense UI found on HTC devices, TouchWiz found on Samsung devices and MotoBlur found on Motorola devices can also attribute to battery brain. Often times switching to a new launcher such as Go Launcher EX, ADW Launcher EX or countless other launchers can provide not only a boost in battery performance, but also a boost in your devices speed. Not to mention the added benefit of fun UI elements, themes and tweaks.
While there are plenty of other tips and tricks that I am sure our readers will add to the comments, these are 9 that can really make a difference in your daily consumption. Give them a try if you haven’t already done so and give it a couple of days. Nothing happens over night.
CREDITS-> Stormy Beach.
Good guide for the noobs
Thread updated - Major update - 22/04/12
Please comment if you have any problems, or want to share anything.
Please give an REVIEW ,it means a lot to me.Thank you.
Great job. I'm sure it'll help newbies a lot. Too bad that there is still not much in the development section to put your guide to work. Hopefully that'll come soon.
Marand55 said:
Great job. I'm sure it'll help newbies a lot. Too bad that there is still not much in the development section to put your guide to work. Hopefully that'll come soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes , you are right... there is not much in the development section ,it can be due to since its new tablet . hope it gets better.
Thanks for putting all this together... haven't read through it all yet as I think it probably covers a lot of what I know and have learnt since I joined the Android world last year, but I will bookmark it so I can point friends this way if they leave the iPhone flock.
Ruxin said:
Thanks for putting all this together... haven't read through it all yet as I think it probably covers a lot of what I know and have learnt since I joined the Android world last year, but I will bookmark it so I can point friends this way if they leave the iPhone flock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you
This is a fantastic guide not only for someone new to the p6800/p6810, but anyone new to the Android ecosystem in general. Thank you for clearing a lot up for me!
JemaKnight said:
This is a fantastic guide not only for someone new to the p6800/p6810, but anyone new to the Android ecosystem in general. Thank you for clearing a lot up for me!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your welcome ;-)
Great information. I wish I had it to look at when I first started playing around with rooting my Nook Color! This is a good thread to keep handy when a real novice gets the bug. Thanks.
GUIDE UPDATED -2/05/12"Android Terms,Slang & Definitions" added SEE post #3
Thanks for using the siggy!
And thanks again for the effort on piling things up!
billy_overheat said:
Thanks for using the siggy!
And thanks again for the effort on piling things up!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your welcome !
Thumbs Upz! This is amust read and priority post before u go to other topics.
Help
Great Post!
Please I know I am most likely in the wrong area or post, I have had a Desire HD before and been down the road of rooting and flashing roms on it, I now own a Galaxy tab 7.7 and feel as if this is all new for me again. unfortunately I am in South Africa and had bought my tablet online, I was not told it would be a Arabic region tablet. Could I please ask who to speak to or ask for help on roms, I have the build number (HTJ85B P6800JPKL4) and want to know what roms will work and what not to use on this.
Please, I know you guys have better things to worry about but your advise or help would be gladly appreciated
Thank you in advance!
evil_penguin said:
Tip #1 - As much as we all love the look of live wallpapers, they suck battery. Sticking to a static, or regular picture, will help out. Alternatively, the best option for many devices is using a true black png image. This is particularly helpful on AMOLED based screens, as color pixels use power where as black does not. Click the link to head to a black png, long press on it and save it. Then apply it as your wallpaper. If you can set it as a lockscreen wallpaper too that would be a good idea.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does anybody have a link to the png? I have misplaced mine, and I miss it. There doesn't seem to be a link here anywhere. thx.
Thanks
Thanks, really helpfull covers many things I was wondering about
thx
very helpful
I figured i would post this thread to help all of the new members and experienced understand the Android slang,there are actually a few i did'nt know the meaning of until i made this thread.I have compiled most of the terms,definitions and slang i could dig up,if theres anything i missed,let me know and i will add it to the thread,otherwise i will update this thread as new slang,terms and definitions are presented to me.
Apps2SD:A method of storing applications and cache on the device's microSD card.
ADB:Android Debug Bridge (adb) is a versatile command line tool that lets you communicate with an emulator instance or connected Android-powered device. It is a client-server program that includes three components:
*A client, which runs on your development machine. You can invoke a client from a shell by issuing an adb command. Other Android tools such as the ADT plugin and DDMS also create adb clients.
*A server, which runs as a background process on your development machine. The server manages communication between the client and the adb daemon running on an emulator or device.
*A daemon, which runs as a background process on each emulator or device instance.
Android:A Linux-based operating system for mobile devices such as HTC EVO.Versions are alphabetically codenamed after snacks: Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean.
AMOLED:Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode. Basically, a very colorful, bright, display found in some smartphones.
APK:Android application package file. Each Android application is compiled and packaged in a single file that includes all of the application's code (.dex files), resources, assets, and manifest file. The application package file can have any name but must use the .apk extension. For example: myExampleAppname.apk. For convenience, an application package file is often referred to as an ".apk".
Alpha:The alpha phase of the release life cycle is the first phase to begin software testing (alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, used as the number 1). In this phase, developers generally test the software using white box techniques. Additional validation is then performed using black box or gray box techniques, by another testing team. Moving to black box testing inside the organization is known as alpha release.[1]
Alpha software can be unstable and could cause crashes or data loss. The exception to this is when the alpha is available publicly (such as a pre-order bonus), in which developers normally push for stability so that their testers can test properly. External availability of alpha software is uncommon in proprietary software. However, open source software, in particular, often have publicly available alpha versions, often distributed as the raw source code of the software.
The alpha phase usually ends with a feature freeze, indicating that no more features will be added to the software. At this time, the software is said to be a feature complete.
Boot Animation:Boot animation is a term for a graphical representation of the boot process of the operating system.
Boot animation can be a simple visualisation of the scrolling boot messages in the console, but it can also present graphics or some combinations of both.
Unlike splash screens, boot screen or boot animation is not necessarily designed for marketing purposes, but can be to enhance the experience of the user as eye candy, or provide the user with messages (with an added advantage of color coding facility) to diagnose the state of the system.
Bootloader:This small program's only job is to load other data and programs which are then executed from RAM.Often, multiple-stage boot loaders are used, during which several programs of increasing complexity load one after the other in a process of chain loading.
Bootloop:When your system recycles over and over without entering the main OS.
Beta: is the software development phase following alpha. It generally begins when the software is feature complete. Software in the beta phase will generally have many more bugs in it than completed software, as well as speed/performance issues. The focus of beta testing is reducing impacts to users, often incorporating usability testing. The process of delivering a beta version to the users is called beta release and this is typically the first time that the software is available outside of the organization that developed it.
The users of a beta version are called beta testers. They are usually customers or prospective customers of the organization that develops the software, willing to test the software without charge, often receiving the final software free of charge or for a reduced price.
Beta version software is often useful for demonstrations and previews within an organization and to prospective customers. Some developers refer to this stage as a preview, prototype, technical preview (TP), or early access.
Some software is kept in perpetual beta¡ªwhere new features and functionality is continually added to the software without establishing a firm "final" release.
CPU:It stands for Central Processing Unit and handles all the complex mathematical formulas necessary to do everyday things like surfing the Internet.
Custom:Independent developers who like to customize their devices beyond the standard options provided often tend to release the fruits of their labor for the rest to enjoy, in form of custom ROMs.
Cache:A component that transparently stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster. The data that is stored within a cache might be values that have been computed earlier or duplicates of original values that are stored elsewhere. If requested data is contained in the cache (cache hit), this request can be served by simply reading the cache, which is comparatively faster. Otherwise (cache miss), the data has to be recomputed or fetched from its original storage location, which is comparatively slower. Hence, the greater the number of requests that can be served from the cache, the faster the overall system performance becomes.
CDMA:Mobile phone standards called cdmaOne, CDMA2000 (the 3G evolution of cdmaOne) and WCDMA (the 3G standard used by GSM carriers), which are often referred to as simply CDMA, and use CDMA as an underlying channel access method.
CIQ:Carrier IQ. A piece of preinstalled software that runs with elevated access in the background of portable devices by default and records everything. Potentially can be exploited to steal information.
ClockwordMod: Also called as CWM is a popular custom recovery for Android phones and tablets developed by Koushik Dutta (Koush), a well*known name in the Android dev community. ClockworkMod recovery allows you to perform several advanced recovery, restoration, installation and maintenance operations on your Android device. It allows user to install custom ROMs, kernels, themes, mods and more however, installing custom kernel from CWM is not yet available to Xperia family.
Dual Core:A dual core processor is a central processing unit (CPU) that has two separate cores on the same die, each with its own cache time. It essentially is two microprocessors in one. This type of CPU is widely available from many manufacturers. Other types of multi-core processors also have been developed, including quad-core processors with four cores each, hexa-core processors with six, octa-core processors with eight and many-core processors with an even larger number of cores.
Dalvik:The Android platform's virtual machine. The Dalvik VM is an interpreter-only virtual machine that executes files in the Dalvik Executable (.dex) format, a format that is optimized for efficient storage and memory-mappable execution.
Dalvik Cache:Writable cache that contains the optimized bytecode of all apk files (apps) on your Android device. Having the information in it's own cache makes applications load faster and perform better.
EXT2:The ext2 or second extended filesystem is a file system for the Linux kernel. It was initially designed by R¨¦my Card as a replacement for the extended file system (ext).
ext2 was the default filesystem in several Linux distributions, including Debian and Red Hat Linux, until supplanted more recently by ext3, which is almost completely compatible with ext2 and is a journaling file system. ext2 is still the filesystem of choice for flash-based storage media (such as SD cards, and USB flash drives) since its lack of a journal minimizes the number of writes and flash devices have only a limited number of write cycles. Recent kernels, however, support a journal-less mode of ext4, which would offer the same benefit along with a number of ext4-specific benefits.
EXT3:Third extended filesystem, is a journaled file system that is commonly used by the Linux kernel. It is the default file system for many popular Linux distributions, including Debian. Stephen Tweedie first revealed that he was working on extending ext2 in Journaling the Linux ext2fs Filesystem in a 1998 paper and later in a February 1999 kernel mailing list posting, and the filesystem was merged with the mainline Linux kernel in November 2001 from 2.4.15 onward.Its main advantage over ext2 is journaling, which improves reliability and eliminates the need to check the file system after an unclean shutdown. Its successor is ext4.
EXT4:It was born as a series of backward compatible extensions to ext3, many of them originally developed by Cluster File Systems for the Lustre file system between 2003 and 2006, meant to extend storage limits and add other performance improvements.However, other Linux kernel developers opposed accepting extensions to ext3 for stability reasons,and proposed to fork the source code of ext3, rename it as ext4, and do all the development there, without affecting the current ext3 users. This proposal was accepted, and on 28 June 2006, Theodore Ts'o, the ext3 maintainer, announced the new plan of development for ext4.
FC/FC's:Short for "force close," meaning an app that has crashed.
Fastboot:A diagnostic protocol used primarily to modify the flash filesystem in Android smartphones from another computer over a USB connection. It is part of the Android Debug Bridge library.
Utilizing the Fastboot protocol requires that the device be started in a boot loader or Second Program Loader mode in which only the most basic hardware initialization is performed. After enabling the protocol on the device itself it will accept any command sent to it over USB via a command line. Some of most commonly used fastboot commands include:
*flash - Overwrites a partition in flash with a binary image stored on the host computer.
*erase - Erases a partition in flash.
*1reboot - Reboots the device into the either the main operating system or the system recovery partition.
*1devices - Displays a list of all devices (with Serial #) connected to the host computer.
Flashing:The ROM memory used in smartphones and tablets etc. is often same as flash memory found in SD cards and USB flash drives, simply optimized for better speed and performance while running the operating system.
Hotspot:A spot that offers Internet access over a wireless local area network through the use of a router connected to a link to an Internet service provider. Hotspots typically use Wi-Fi technology.You can connect wifi campatible devices to it.
HDMI:High-Definition Multimedia Interface) is a compact audio/video interface for transmitting encrypted uncompressed digital data.It is a digital alternative to consumer analog standards, such as radio frequency (RF) coaxial cable, composite video, S-Video, SCART, component video, D-Terminal, or VGA (also called D-sub or DE-15F). HDMI connects digital audio/video sources (such as set-top boxes, DVD players, HD DVD players, Blu-ray Disc players, AVCHD camcorders, personal computers (PCs), video game consoles (such as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360), AV receivers, tablet computers, and mobile phones) to compatible digital audio devices, computer monitors, video projectors, and digital televisions.
Hboot:Its mainly responsible for checking and initializing the hardware and starting the phones software. It can also be used for flashing official software releases, as well as a few other things. HBoot can be compared to the BIOS on a computer.
HAVS:a control system that dynamically adjusts the voltage based on CPU load. This has proven to be a battery saver, but it can actually have the opposite effect when multiple control systems are operating (like setCPU).
JIT:The Just-in-Time Compiler. Released with Android 2.2, it's a method of greatly speeding up apps in Android on the software side.
Kang:Someone writes a code,someone else modifies the code to make their own release,its concidered a kang release.
Kernel:A kernel is a layer of code that allows the OS and applications to interface with your phone's hardware. The degree in which you can access your phone's hardware features depends on the quality of code in the kernel. The homebrew (rooting) community for HTC has made several kernel code improvements that give us additional features from our hardware that the stock kernel does not. When you flash a custom ROM, you automatically get a kernel. But you can also flash a standalone kernel ROM on top of the existing one, effectively overwriting it. These days, the difference in custom kernels is less about new features and more about alternate configurations. Choosing a custom kernel is basically choosing one that works best with your ROM.
Launcher:Collectively, the part of the Android user interface on home screens that lets you launch apps, make phone calls, etc. Is built in to Android, or can be purchased in the Android Market.
LCD Density: Pixel density is a measurement of the resolution of devices in various contexts; typically computer displays, image scanners, and digital camera image sensors.
First of all you need to understand that the Android User Interface uses something called a "display independent pixel" or a "dip" (yes, it's confusing because the density settings are in "dots per inch" or "dpi" which are considered the same as "ppi" or "pixels per inch" as well).
The default LCD Density setting on Android is 160 dpi. As far as the operating system is concerned 1 dip @ 160 dpi = 1 screen pixel. It doesn't mean that's actually true, but you've gotta start somewhere. In my opinion it would have been a lot nicer if they'd chosen 100 dpi because then it would be an easy percentage thing, but they didn't so we're stuck with this formula.
Mod:The act of modifying a piece of hardware or software or anything else for that matter, to perform a function not originally conceived or intended by the designer.
Nandroid:To backup the current running rom.
Nightly:A build that is performed at the end of each day of development. If you use a continuous integration server, it will generally be configured to build the code and run the unit tests on every check in. At the end of each day you may want to run more extensive tests, regression test and integration tests for example, which take too long to run on each check in and these would be triggered after the nightly build. If you have a full continuously delivery pipeline the nightly build may also be used to deploy the built code to environments for user testing.
Open GL:An open source 3D graphics library used in many devices, including Android devices.
Open & Closed Beta: Developers release either a closed beta or an open beta; closed beta versions are released to a select group of individuals for a user test and are invitation only, while open betas are from a larger group to the general public and anyone interested. The testers report any bugs that they find, and sometimes suggest additional features they think should be available in the final version.
Overclock:To increase the speed of your CPU.
Partition:The phone's internal memory (not the SD card) is solid-state (flash) memory, AKA NAND. It can be partitioned much like a normal hard drive can be partitioned. The bootloader exists in its own partition. Recovery is another partition; radio, system, cache, etc are all partitions.
Here are the standard partitions on an Android phone:
/misc - not sure what this is for.
/boot - bootloader, kernel
/recovery - holds the recovery program (either clockworkmod or RA recovery for a rooted Evo)
/system - operating system goes here: Android, Sense, boot animation, Sprint crapware, busybox, etc
/cache - cached data from OS usage
/data - user applications, data, settings, etc.
The below partitions are not android-specific. They are tied to the hardware of the phone, but the kernel may have code allowing Android to interact with said hardware.
/radio - the phone's radio firmware, controls cellular, data, GPS, bluetooth.
/wimax - firmware for Sprint's flavor of 4G, WiMax.
PRL:The Preferred Roaming List, basically a way of telling your phone which towers to connect to first.
RUU:a complete software package released by HTC, it can contain many things they are trying to update. Radio, ROM, bootloader, etc... Installing an ruu is like installing an image on a hard drive it wipes the phone and installs the image. It will wipe everything data and all so if you install one be prepared.
Recovery Mode:A small separate operating mode you can boot your device into, used for device administration. Two popular custom recovery modes are Amon Ra and Clockwork.
Rom/Firmware:Read-Only Memory and technically speaking, it refers to the internal storage of a device, which is supposed to contain the operating system instructions that needn¡¯t be modified at all during the device¡¯s normal operation.
Radios: On the HTC side of things,the radios persist of:
*WiFi, which operates at 2.4-5ghz depending on what channel it's running
*Cellular/3G, which carries voice and data
*4G/WiMAX, which only carries data
*GPS, which is receive-only
*Bluetooth, which talks to WiiMotes and headsets
Flashing a radio means updating the code that controls the phones way of sending and recieving a signal.
Ram: (Random Access Memory) A group of memory chips, typically of the dynamic RAM (DRAM) type, which function as the computer's primary workspace. When personal computers first came on the market in the late 1970s, 64KB (64 kilobytes) of RAM was the upper limit. Today, 64MB (64 megabytes) of SDRAM is entry level for a desktop computer, a thousand times as much (see SDRAM).
The "random" in RAM means that the contents of each byte of storage in the chip can be directly accessed without regard to the bytes before or after it. This is also true of other types of memory chips, including ROMs and PROMs. However, unlike ROMs and PROMs, RAM chips require power to maintain their content, which is why you must save your data onto disk before you turn the computer off. To learn about the types of RAM chips and how to upgrade your memory, see memory module. To learn how memory is used to process data, see computer or memory. See also dynamic RAM and static RAM.
Recovery:RecoverySystem contains methods for interacting with the Android recovery system (the separate partition that can be used to install system updates,wipe user data,etc).
Root:The first level of a folder.
Rooting:A process allowing users of mobile phones, tablet PCs, and other devices running the Android operating system to attain privileged control (known as "root access") within Android's subsystem. Rooting is often performed with the goal of overcoming limitations that carriers and hardware manufacturers put on some devices, resulting in the ability to alter or replace system applications and settings, run specialized apps that require administrator-level permissions, or perform other operations that are otherwise inaccessible to a normal Android user. Rooting is analogous to jailbreaking devices running the Apple iOS operating system or the Sony PlayStation 3. On Android, rooting can also facilitate the complete removal and replacement of the device's operating system.
SBC: (the ability to charge your battery beyond the default safe limit). The concept is similar to overclocking a processor: you're overriding the safety limits established to achieve additional performance. The benefit here is that you may gain more use of your battery per charge. The drawback is that you can damage the battery and significantly reduce its longevity. Some kernels claim they are using a safe technique to prevent battery damage. Just be aware of the potential risks.
Sideloading:It means installing applications without using the official Android Market.
Splash Screen:A splash screen is an image that appears while android is loading.Splash screens cover the entire screen or simply a rectangle near the center of the screen. The splash screens of operating systems and some applications that expect to be run full-screen usually cover the entire screen.
Superuser/SU: On many computer operating systems, the superuser is a special user account used for system administration. Depending on the operating system, the actual name of this account might be: root, administrator or supervisor.
Normal work on such a system is done using ordinary user accounts, and because these do not have the ability to make system-wide changes any viruses and other malware - or simple user errors - do not have the ability to adversly affect a whole system. In organizations, administrative privileges are often reserved for authorized experienced individuals.
Script:The Scripting Layer for Android (abridged as SL4A, and previously named Android Scripting Environment or ASE) is a library that allows the creation and running of scripts written in various scripting languages directly on Android devices. SL4A is designed for developers and is still alpha quality software.
These scripts have access to many of the APIs available to normal Java Android applications, but with a simplified interface. Scripts can be run interactively in a terminal, in the background, or via Locale.
SDK: (SDK or "devkit") is typically a set of software development tools that allows for the creation of applications for a certain software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system, or similar platform.
Stock:This is the operating system in its default form, without any modifications made to it except for any device-specific support required to run it on the particular device.
S-On:Security on,means no acces to the phones operating system.
S-Off:Security was exploited,now have access to the operating system.
Tethering:Means sharing the Internet connection of an Internet-capable mobile phone with other devices. This sharing can be offered over a wireless LAN (Wi-Fi), Bluetooth, or by physical connection using a cable. In the case of tethering over wireless LAN, the feature may be branded as a mobile hotspot.The Internet-connected mobile phone acts as a portable router when providing tethering services to others.
Userspace(Governor):This governor, exceptionally rare for the world of mobile devices, allows any program executed by the user to set the CPU's operating frequency. This governor is more common amongst servers or desktop PCs where an application (like a power profile app) needs privileges to set the CPU clockspeed.
Underclock:To reduce the speed of your CPU.
Undervolt:Undervolting means taking some of the voltage from the CPU which in return gives a longer battery life and lower temperature during intensive use of the CPU.
USB:Stands for Universal Serial Bus. Is a method of connecting devices to a computer. Most smartphones now use microUSB cables to charge and sync.
Updater Script:When Android devices install updates via 'update.zip' files using recovery mode they have to perform a wide range of functions on files and permissions. Instead of using a minimal shell such as {b,d,c}sh the Android designers decided to create a small functional language that can be extended by device manufacturers if necessary. Since the Android "Donut" release (v1.6) the scripting language is called Edify and is defined primarily in the bootable/recovery/{edify,edifyscripting,updater} directories of the Android source-code tree.
Wireless N:Wireless N technology increases wireless internet connection. Wireless 'N' routers also work with Wireless 'G' and 'B' wireless adapters.
WiiMax: (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is a communication technology for wirelessly delivering high-speed Internet service to large geographical areas.
YAFFS:Yaffs1 is the first version of this file system and works on NAND chips that have 512 byte pages 16 byte spare (OOB;Out-Of-Band) areas.[clarification needed] These older chips also generally allow 2 or 3 write cycles per page,which YAFFS takes advantage of - i.e. dirty pages are marked by writing to a specific spare area byte.
Newer NAND flash chips have larger pages, 2048 bytes 64 bytes spare areas, and stricter write requirements.Each page within an erase block (128 kilobytes) must be written to in sequential order, and each page must be written only once.YAFFS2 was designed to accommodate these newer chips.YAFFS2 is based on the YAFFS1 source code,with the major difference being that internal structures are not fixed to assume 512 byte sizing,and a block sequence number is placed on each written page. In this way older pages can be logically overwritten without violating the "write once" rule.[clarification needed]
YAFFS is a robust log-structured file system that holds data integrity as a high priority.A secondary YAFFS goal is high performance.YAFFS will typically outperform most alternatives.It is also designed to be portable and has been used on Linux, WinCE, pSOS, eCos,ThreadX and various special-purpose OSes.A variant 'YAFFS/Direct' is used in situations where there is no OS, embedded OSes and bootloaders: it has the same core filesystem but simpler interfacing to the OS and NAND flash hardware.
Zipalign: An archive alignment tool introduced first time with 1.6 Android SDK (software development kit). It optimizes the way an Android application package (APK) is packaged. Doing so enables the Android operating system to interact with the application more efficiently, and hence has the potential to make the application and overall the whole system much faster. Execution time is minimized for zipaligned applications, resulting is lesser amount of RAM consumption when running the APK.
All credit of this information goes to Diablo67
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2
Baseband: is an adjective that describes signals and systems whose range of frequencies is measured from close to 0 hertz to a cut-off frequency, a maximum bandwidth or highest signal frequency; it is sometimes used as a noun for a band of frequencies starting close to zero. Baseband can often be considered a synonym to lowpass or non-modulated, and antonym to passband, bandpass, carrier-modulated or radio frequency (RF).
Brazilianwax(Governor):Similar to smartassV2. More aggressive ramping, so more performance, less battery
BFS:Brain Fxck Scheduler for Linux was created by veteran kernel programmer Con Kolivas and has been reported to improve responsiveness on light-NUMA (non-uniform memory access) Linux mobile devices and desktop computers with fewer than 16 cores.
Bloatware:Software or 'apps' that you don't need, but come preinstalled to a device's /system partition, meaning that you cannot remove them unless the device has been rooted. Usually, these are apps are sponsored by a company and included by a carrier for profit. For example, the Photobucket app included on the G2 by TMobile.
Compile:It translates (a android program)from a high-level language into another language, usually machine language.
Conservative(Governor):This biases the phone to prefer the lowest possible clockspeed as often as possible. In other words, a larger and more persistent load must be placed on the CPU before the conservative governor will be prompted to raise the CPU clockspeed. Depending on how the developer has implemented this governor, and the minimum clockspeed chosen by the user, the conservative governor can introduce choppy performance. On the other hand, it can be good for battery life.
The Conservative Governor is also frequently described as a "slow OnDemand," if that helps to give you a more complete picture of its functionality.
Decompile:To convert executable (ready-to-run) program code (sometimes called object code ) into some form of higher-level programming language so that it can be read by a human.
Deodex: Deodexing is basically repackaging of these APKs in a certain way, such that they are reassembled into classes.dex files. By doing that, all pieces of an application package are put together back in one place, thus eliminating the worry of a modified APK conflicting with some separate odexed parts.
GNU:A recursive acronym for “GNU's Not Unix!”; it is pronounced g-noo, as one syllable with no vowel sound between the g and the n. The GNU Project was launched in 1984 to develop a complete Unix-like operating system which is free software: the GNU system. “Free software” is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of “free” as in “free speech”, not as in “free beer”.
Governor:It controls the speed of the CPU.
Hotplug(Governor):The Hotplug governor performs very similarly to the OnDemand governor, with the added benefit of being more precise about how it steps down through the kernel's frequency table as the governor measures the user's CPU load. However, the Hotplug governor's defining feature is its ability to turn unused CPU cores off during periods of low CPU utilization. This is known as "hotplugging."
API:An application programming interface (API) is a specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other. An API may include specifications for routines, data structures, object classes, and variables. An API specification can take many forms, including an International Standard such as POSIX, vendor documentation such as the Microsoft Windows API, the libraries of a programming language, e.g. Standard Template Library in C++ or Java API.
An API differs from an application binary interface (ABI) in that an API is source code based while an ABI is a binary interface. For instance POSIX is an API, while the Linux Standard Base is an ABI.
Android Resolution:Android runs on a variety of devices that offer different screen sizes and densities. For applications, the Android system provides a consistent development environment across devices and handles most of the work to adjust each application's user interface to the screen on which it is displayed. At the same time, the system provides APIs that allow you to control your application's UI for specific screen sizes and densities, in order to optimize your UI design for different screen configurations. For example, you might want a UI for tablets that's different from the UI for handsets.
LDPI:Resources for low-density (ldpi) screens (~120dpi).
MDPI:Resources for medium-density (mdpi) screens (~160dpi). (This is the baseline density.)
HDPI:Resources for high-density (hdpi) screens (~240dpi).
XHDPI:Resources for extra high-density (xhdpi) screens (~320dpi).
NODPI:Resources for all densities. These are density-independent resources. The system does not scale resources tagged with this qualifier, regardless of the current screen's density.
TVDPI:Resources for screens somewhere between mdpi and hdpi; approximately 213dpi. This is not considered a "primary" density group. It is mostly intended for televisions and most apps shouldn't need it—providing mdpi and hdpi resources is sufficient for most apps and the system will scale them as appropriate. If you find it necessary to provide tvdpi resources, you should size them at a factor of 1.33*mdpi. For example, a 100px x 100px image for mdpi screens should be 133px x 133px for tvdpi.
Intellidemand(Governor):Intellidemand aka Intelligent Ondemand from Faux is yet another governor that's based on ondemand. Unlike what some users believe, this governor is not the replacement for OC Daemon (Having different governors for sleep and awake). The original intellidemand behaves differently according to GPU usage. When GPU is really busy (gaming, maps, benchmarking, etc) intellidemand behaves like ondemand. When GPU is 'idling' (or moderately busy), intellidemand limits max frequency to a step depending on frequencies available in your device/kernel for saving battery. This is called browsing mode. We can see some 'traces' of interactive governor here. Frequency scale-up decision is made based on idling time of CPU.
XDA-Developers was founded in 2003 as a small forum for users of original Windows Mobile PDAs, who wanted to try to improve or otherwise modify them. This led to a gradually growing community forming that worked to upgrade their devices beyond the last version given officially by the manufacturer of their device.
In 2008, XDA-Developers introduced Android-based phones to the site for the first time, with the T-Mobile G1.From that point onwards, XDA started to grow much more rapidly, as Android gained marketshare and momentum.
With a relatively open platform like Android, there will always be some people who want to do more! XDA and sites like it serve as a platform for those who want to improve their phones even further, enabling them to do so and to share their improvements.
With Android being open source, thescope for updating and tweaking your phone or tablet is much greater than ever possible with any other major mobile platform.Some people come to XDA-Developers to learn how toroottheir phone. Rooting your phone grants you the ability to access and change the files that control how your device operates. For example, you could remove pre-installedapplications with root access. You could also possibly improve the battery life of a device by tweaking or optimising the system, or installing a new Linux kernel.Others come to XDA-Developers to change how their device looks. Perhaps they dislike the user interfacethemeused by their OEM, or perhaps they simply prefer different colors to the default colours used.Perhaps, most commonly, people come to XDA-Developers to upgrade their phone to the latest version of Android, after their manufacturer or mobile carrierhas abandoned them on an older version, with no official way to reach the latest version of Android. This has led to a variety of “aftermarket” firmware distributions (often called “ROMs”), which aim to provide updates for devices no longer supported by their OEMs.
There are now over 4.6 million registered users on XDA (and many more reading the site)
CONTINUED FROM 3
1.0:Android 1.0, the first commercial version of the software, was released on 23 September 2008.The first Android device, the HTC Dream (G1), incorporated the following Android 1.0 features:
•Android Market application download and updates through the Market app
•Web browser to show, zoom and pan full HTML and XHTML web pages – multiple pages show as windows ("cards")
•Camera support – however this version lacked the option to change the camera's resolution, white balance, quality, etc.
•Folders allowing the grouping of a number of app icons into a single folder icon on the Home screen.
•Access to web email servers, supporting POP3, IMAP4, and SMTP.
•Gmail synchronization with the Gmail app
•Google Contacts synchronization with the People app
•Google Calendar synchronization with the Calendar app
•Google Maps with Latitude and Street View to view maps and satellite imagery, as well as find local business and obtain driving directions using GPS
•Google Sync, allowing management of over-the-air synchronization of Gmail, People, and Calendar
•Google Search, allowing users to search the Internet and phone apps, contacts, calendar, etc
•Google Talk instant messaging
•Instant messaging, text messaging, and MMS
•Media Player, enabling management, importing, and playback of media files – however, this version lacked video and stereo Bluetooth support
•Notifications appear in the Status bar, with options to set ringtone, LED or vibration alerts
•Voice Dialer allows dialing and placing of phone calls without typing a name or number
•Wallpaper allows the user to set the background image or photo behind the Home screen icons and widgets
•YouTube video player
•Other apps include: Alarm Clock, Calculator, Dialer (Phone), Home screen (launcher), Pictures (Gallery), and Settings.
•Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support
1.1: 9 February 2009, the Android 1.1 update was released, initially for the T-Mobile G1 only. The update resolved bugs, changed the API and added a number of other features:
•Details and reviews available when a user searches for businesses on Maps
•Longer in-call screen timeout default when using the speakerphone, plus ability to show/hide dialpad
•Ability to save attachments in messages
•Support added for marquee in system layouts
Cupcake: 30 April 2009, the Android 1.5 update, dubbed Cupcake, was released, based on Linux kernel 2.6.27.The update included several new features and UI amendments:
•Support for third-party virtual keyboards with text prediction and user dictionary for custom words
•Support for Widgets - miniature application views that can be embedded in other applications (such as the Home screen) and receive periodic updates
•Video recording and playback in MPEG-4 and 3GP formats
•Auto-pairing and stereo support for Bluetooth added (A2DP and AVRCP profiles)
•Copy and paste features added to web browser
•User pictures shown for Favorites in Contacts
•Specific date/time stamp shown for events in call log, and one-touch access to a contact card from call log event
•Animated screen transitions
•Ability to upload videos to YouTube
•Ability to upload photos to Picasa
Donut: 15 September 2009, the Android 1.6 SDK – dubbed Donut – was released, based on Linux kernel 2.6.29.Included in the update were numerous new features:
•Voice and text entry search enhanced to include bookmark history, contacts, and the web
•Ability for developers to include their content in search results
•Multi-lingual speech synthesis engine to allow any Android application to "speak" a string of text
•Easier searching and ability to view app screenshots in Android Market
•Gallery, camera and camcorder more fully integrated, with faster camera access
•Ability for users to select multiple photos for deletion
•Updated technology support for CDMA/EVDO, 802.1x, VPNs, and a text-to-speech engine
•Support for WVGA screen resolutions
•Speed improvements in searching and camera applications
•Expanded Gesture framework and new GestureBuilder development tool
Eclair: 26 October 2009, the Android 2.0 SDK – codenamed Eclair – was released, based on Linux kernel 2.6.29.Changes included:
•Expanded Account sync, allowing users to add multiple accounts to a device for email- and contact-synchronization
•Exchange email support, with combined inbox to browse email from multiple accounts in one page
•Bluetooth 2.1 support
•Ability to tap a Contacts photo and select to call, SMS, or email the person
•Ability to search all saved SMS and MMS messages, with delete oldest messages in a conversation automatically deleted when a defined limit is reached
•Numerous new camera features, including flash support, digital zoom, scene mode, white balance, color effect and macro focus
•Improved typing speed on virtual keyboard, with smarter dictionary that learns from word usage and includes contact names as suggestions
•Refreshed browser UI with bookmark thumbnails, double-tap zoom and support for HTML5
•Calendar agenda view enhanced, showing attending status for each invitee, and ability to invite new guests to events
•Optimized hardware speed and revamped UI
•Support for more screen sizes and resolutions, with better contrast ratio
•Improved Google Maps 3.1.2
•MotionEvent class enhanced to track multi-touch events
•Addition of live wallpapers, allowing the animation of home-screen background images to show movement
2.0.1:The Android 2.0.1 SDK was released on 3 December 2009.It was a minor platform release deployable to Android-powered handsets, including minor API changes, bug fixes and framework behavioral changes
2.1:The 2.1 SDK was released on 12 January 2010.It was a minor platform release deployable to Android-powered handsets, including minor amendments to the API and bug fixes.
Froyo: 20 May 2010, the Android 2.2 (Froyo) SDK was released, based on Linux kernel 2.6.32.Its features included:
•Speed, memory, and performance optimizations
•Additional application speed improvements, implemented through JIT compilation
•Integration of Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine into the Browser application
•Support for the Android Cloud to Device Messaging (C2DM) service, enabling push notifications
•Improved Microsoft Exchange support, including security policies, auto-discovery, GAL look-up, calendar synchronization and remote wipe
•Improved application launcher with shortcuts to Phone and Browser applications
•USB tethering and Wi-Fi hotspot functionality
•Added an option to disable data access over mobile network
•Updated Market application with batch and automatic update features
•Quick switching between multiple keyboard languages and their dictionaries
•Voice dialing and contact sharing over Bluetooth
•Support for Bluetooth-enabled car and desk docks
•Support for numeric and alphanumeric passwords
•Support for file upload fields in the Browser application
•Support for installing applications to the expandable memory
•Adobe Flash support
•Support for extra-high-PPI screens (320 ppi), such as 4" 720p
•Gallery allows users to view picture stacks using a zoom gesture
2.2.1:The Android 2.2.1 update was released on 18 January 2011, and included a number of bug fixes, security updates, and performance improvements.
2.2.2:The Android 2.2.2 update was released on 22 January 2011, and fixed minor bugs, including SMS routing issues that affected the Nexus One.
2.2.3:The Android 2.2.3 update was released on 21 November 2011, and consisted of two security patches.
Gingerbread: 6 December 2010, the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) SDK was released, based on Linux kernel 2.6.35.Changes included:
•Updated user interface design with increased simplicity and speed
•Support for extra-large screen sizes and resolutions (WXGA and higher)
•Native support for SIP VoIP internet telephony
•Faster, more intuitive text input in virtual keyboard, with improved accuracy,better suggested text and voice input mode
•Enhanced copy/paste functionality, allowing users to select a word by press-hold, copy, and paste
•Support for Near Field Communication (NFC), allowing the user to read an NFC tag embedded in a poster, sticker, or advertisement
•New audio effects such as reverb, equalization, headphone virtualization, and bass boost
•New Download Manager, giving users easy access to any file downloaded from the browser, email, or another application
•Support for multiple cameras on the device, including a front-facing camera, if available
•Support for WebM/VP8 video playback, and AAC audio encoding
•Improved power management with a more active role in managing apps that are keeping the device awake for too long
•Enhanced support for native code development
•Switched from YAFFS to ext4 on newer devices
•Audio, graphical, and input enhancements for game developers
•Concurrent garbage collection for increased performance
•Native support for more sensors (such as gyroscopes and barometers)
2.2.3:Released on 9 February 2011, Android 2.3.3 included several improvements and API fixes
2.3.4:Version 2.3.4 introduced support for voice or video chat using Google Talk.
2.3.5:Released on 25 July 2011, Android 2.3.5 included a number of system enhancements:
•Improved network performance for the Nexus S 4G, among other fixes and improvements
•Fixed Bluetooth bug on Samsung Galaxy S
•Improved Gmail application
•Shadow animations for list scrolling
•Camera software enhancements
•Improved battery efficiency
2.3.6:Released on 2 September 2011, this version fixed a voice search bug. The 2.3.6 update had the side-effect of impairing the Wi-Fi hotspot functionality of many Canadian Nexus S phones. Google acknowledged this problem and fixed it in late September.
2.3.7:Android 2.3.7 introduced Google Wallet support for the Nexus S 4G.
Honeycomb: 22 February 2011, the Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) SDK – the first tablet-only Android update – was released, based on Linux kernel 2.6.36.The first device featuring this version, the Motorola Xoom tablet, was released on 24 February 2011.Changes included:
•Optimized tablet support with a new virtual and “holographic” user interface
•Added System Bar, featuring quick access to notifications, status, and soft navigation buttons, available at the bottom of the screen
•Added Action Bar, giving access to contextual options, navigation, widgets, or other types of content at the top of the screen
•Simplified multitasking – tapping Recent Apps in the System Bar allows users to see snapshots of the tasks underway and quickly jump from one app to another
•Redesigned keyboard, making typing fast, efficient and accurate on larger screen sizes
•Simplified, more intuitive copy/paste interface
•Multiple browser tabs replacing browser windows, plus form auto-fill and a new “incognito” mode allowing anonymous browsing
•Quick access to camera exposure, focus, flash, zoom, front-facing camera, time-lapse, and more
•Ability to view albums and other collections in full-screen mode in Gallery, with easy access to thumbnails for other photos
•New two-pane Contacts UI and Fast Scroll to let users easily organize and locate contacts
•New two-pane Email UI to make viewing and organizing messages more efficient, allowing users to select one or more messages
•Support for video chat using Google Talk
•Hardware acceleration
•Support for multi-core processors
•Ability to encrypt all user data
3.1:The 3.1 SDK was released on 10 May 2011.Changes included:
•UI refinements
•Connectivity for USB accessories
•Expanded Recent Apps list
•Resizable Home screen widgets
•Support for external keyboards and pointing devices
•Support for joysticks and gamepads
•Support for FLAC audio playback
•High-performance Wi-Fi lock, maintaining high-performance Wi-Fi connections when device screen is off
•Support for HTTP proxy for each connected Wi-Fi access point
3.2:The 3.2 SDK was released on 15 July 2011,first appearing on Huawei's MediaPad tablet.Changes included:
•Improved hardware support, including optimizations for a wider range of tablets
•Increased ability of apps to access files on the SD card, e.g. for synchronization
•Compatibility display mode for apps that have not been optimized for tablet screen resolutions
•New display support functions, giving developers more control over display appearance on different Android devices
3.2.1:The Android 3.2.1 update was released on 20 September 2011, and included a number of amendments:
•Bug fixes and minor security, stability and Wi-Fi improvements
•Update to Android Market with automatic updates and easier-to-read Terms and Condition text
•Update to Google Books
•Improved Adobe Flash support in browser
•Improved Chinese handwriting prediction
3.2.2:The 3.2.2 update was released on 30 August 2011, and included bug fixes and other minor improvements for the Motorola Xoom 4G.
Android 4.0 – codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich, and based on Linux kernel 3.0.1– was previewed at the May 2011 Google I/O event,and officially launched at the Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich release event on 19 October 2011.
•Enhanced speed and performance
•Virtual buttons in the UI, in place of capacitive or physical buttons
•Separation of widgets in a new tab, listed in a similar manner to apps
•Easier-to-create folders, with a drag-and-drop style
•A customizable launcher
•Improved visual voicemail with the ability to speed up or slow down voicemail messages
•Pinch-to-zoom functionality in the calendar
•Offline search, a two-line preview, and new action bar at the bottom of the Gmail app
•Ability to swipe left or right to switch between Gmail conversations
•Integrated screenshot capture (accomplished by holding down the Power and Volume-Down buttons)
•Improved error correction on the keyboard
•Ability to access apps directly from lock screen (similar to HTC Sense 3.x)
•Improved copy and paste functionality
•Better voice integration and continuous, real-time speech to text dictation
•Face Unlock, a feature that allows users to unlock handsets using facial recognition software
•New tabbed web browser, allowing up to 16 tabs
•Automatic syncing of browser with users' Chrome bookmarks
•A new typeface family for the UI, Roboto
•Data Usage section in settings that lets users set warnings when they approach a certain usage limit, and disable data use when the limit is exceeded
•Ability to shut down apps that are using data in the background
•Improved camera app with zero shutter lag, time lapse settings, panorama mode, and the ability to zoom while recording
•Built-in photo editor
•New gallery layout, organized by location and person
•Refreshed "People" app with social network integration, status updates and hi-res images
•Android Beam, a near-field communication feature allowing the rapid short-range exchange of web bookmarks, contact info, directions, YouTube videos and other data
•Hardware acceleration of the UI
•Resizeable widgets – already part of Android 3.1 for tablets, but new for cellphones
•Wi-Fi Direct
•1080p video recording for stock Android devices
4.0.2:The Android 4.0.2 update was released on 28 November 2011,and fixed minor bugs on the Verizon Galaxy Nexus,the US launch of which was later delayed until December 2011.
4.0.3:The Android 4.0.3 update was first released on 16 December 2011.It included a number of bug fixes and optimizations, and offered improvements to graphics, databases, spell-checking and Bluetooth functionality,along with new APIs for developers,including a social stream API in the Contacts provider. Other features included Calendar provider enhancements, new camera apps enhancing video stabilization and QVGA resolution, and accessibility refinements such as improved content access for screen readers.
4.1 Jelly Bean:The report also mentions some interesting features that originally planned in the presence of ice Cream Sandwich is likely to be postponed and will be displayed on the jelly bean.
Reportedly,this is because these features are not ready until it came time to release the ice cream sandwiches.Google itself has not confirmed anything regarding this information.
Android 4.1, Jelly Bean, is the fastest and smoothest version of Android yet. Jelly Bean improves on the simplicity and beauty of Android 4.0, and introduces a new Google search experience on Android.
Jelly Bean features improved performance throughout the system, including faster orientation changes, faster responses when switching between recent apps, and smoother and more consistent rendering across the system through vsync and triple buffering.
Jelly Bean has more reactive and uniform touch responses, and makes your device even more responsive by boosting your device's CPU instantly when you touch the screen, and turns it down when you don't need it to improve battery life.
MIUI
(pronounced "Me You I", a play on the common abbreviation of the words user interface as UI),developed by Xiaomi Tech, is an aftermarket firmware for cell phones based on the open-source Android operating system. It features a heavily-modified user interface that does away with the Android app drawer and has drawn comparisons with Apple's iOS.It includes additional functionality not found in stock Android, including toggles on the notification pull-down, new music, gallery, and camera apps, and an altered phone dialer that displays matching contacts as a user enters a number.
MIUI is based on Android 2.3.7 and CyanogenMod 7.1 sources, and was initially developed in the Chinese language by Chinese startup Xiaomi.Xiaomi added a number of apps to enhance the basic framework; those include MITalk (a Blackberry Messenger clone),MINotes,MIBackup,MIMusic,and MIGallery.MIUI is made up of two parts, MI and UI, where UI stands for User Interface and MI, as stated by Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun, stands for Mobile Internet and Mission Impossible.
The modified operating system has been criticized for being similar to iOS.Due to the fact that MIUI is developed in China, some features that are not relevant to the Chinese market, such as WiMax support, are unavailable on MIUI, and without access to the source code, it is not possible for 3rd parties to easily add this support.
AOSP
The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is led by Google, and is tasked with the maintenance and development of Android.According to the project "The goal of the Android Open Source Project is to create a successful real-world product that improves the mobile experience for end users."AOSP also maintains the Android Compatibility Program, defining an "Android compatible" device "as one that can run any application written by third-party developers using the Android SDK and NDK", to prevent incompatible Android implementations.The compatibility program is also optional and free of charge, with the Compatibility Test Suite also free and open-source.
Sense
HTC Sense is a graphical user interface developed by HTC Corporation for mobile devices running Android, Brew and Windows Mobile.Based on the TouchFLO 3D design,HTC has referred to HTC Sense as both a user interface in itself and also as a user experience layer on top of TouchFLO 3D.Announced June 24, 2009, the first phone running Android to feature HTC Sense was the HTC Hero,and the first Windows Phone to feature HTC Sense (an updated TouchFLO) was the HTC HD2,announced October 6, 2009.
At the Mobile World Congress 2010, HTC showed their new updated HTC Sense UI to debut on the HTC Desire and HTC Legend, with an upgrade available for the Hero and Magic. The new version is based upon Android 2.1 and has new interface features such as the Friend Stream widget (which aggregates all Twitter, Facebook and Flickr information) and Leap, which allows access to all the home screens at once.
Smartphones including the HTC EVO 3D and the HTC Sensation feature HTC Sense 3.0, which has major visual and functional changes to HTC Sense, including a new lock screen which allows users to access their favorite applications directly. Only HTC Sensation and later devices will run HTC Sense 3.0, but older devices will still get some of the new features from HTC Sense 3.0 via an over-the-air update.[citation needed]
While the Windows Mobile version of Sense is the successor to TouchFLO 3D, with information featured on separate tabs, the Android version presents information through Android desktop widgets and applications, and includes launcher, app drawer, and lock screen replacements.
Cyanogenmod:is an open source replacement firmware for smart phones and tablet computers based on the Android mobile operating system. It offers features and options not found in the official firmware distributed by vendors of these devices.
Features supported by CyanogenMod include native theming support, FLAC audio codec support, a large Access Point Name list, an OpenVPN client, an enhanced reboot menu, support for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and USB tethering, CPU overclocking and other performance enhancements, soft buttons and other "tablet tweaks", toggles in the notification pull-down (such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS), app permissions management, as well as other interface enhancements. According to its developers, CyanogenMod does not contain spyware or bloatware.CyanogenMod is also stated to increase performance and reliability compared with official firmware releases.
CyanogenMod is developed as free and open source software based on the official releases of Android by Google, with added original and third-party code.
Although only a subset of total CyanogenMod users elect to report their use of the firmware, as of 24 August 2012, CyanogenMod has recorded over 3.1 million installs on a multitude of devices.
AOKP:AOKP stands for Android Open Kang Project. It is a custom ROM distribution for many Android devices. The name is a play on the word “kang” and AOSP (Android Open Source Project). The name was sort of a joke, but it just stuck, just like our infatuation with unicorns.
AOKP Versions
We have two different kinds of releases — Builds and Milestones. Builds are considered “nightlies” — they are released usually every week or two (sometimes even sooner, if there are any major bugs to fix). We have no set release schedule, we release Builds and Milestones as we feel they are ready.
Milestones: Most stable releases.
Builds: Newest releases with bleeding edge features and code.
Pacman: Paranoid + Aokp + Cyanogen = PACman
ROMs are compiled from source for Xperia Ray which is a msm7x30 device and is ported to Doubleshot [Mytouch 4g Slide] . This is a minimal port but with a lot of work done. It is still based on AOSP+CM source codes. The ROM packs all the tweaks from the three super ROMs into one.
4.2:Google was expected to announce Jelly Bean 4.2 at an event in New York City on 29 October 2012, but the event was cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy.Instead of rescheduling the live event, Google announced the new version with a press release, under the slogan "A new flavor of Jelly Bean". The first devices to run Android 4.2 were LG's Nexus 4 and Samsung's Nexus 10, which were released on 13 November 2012.
Android 4.2 takes the speed and simplicity of Jelly Bean to a different level – a completely new camera experience that’s beyond smart, a new form of typing that helps you power through your messages, and much more.
Continued From page 4
Screen size: Actual physical size, measured as the screen's diagonal.
For simplicity, Android groups all actual screen sizes into four generalized sizes: small, normal, large, and extra large.
Screen density
The quantity of pixels within a physical area of the screen; usually referred to as dpi (dots per inch). For example, a "low" density screen has fewer pixels within a given physical area, compared to a "normal" or "high" density screen.
For simplicity, Android groups all actual screen densities into four generalized densities: low, medium, high, and extra high.
Orientation:The orientation of the screen from the user's point of view. This is either landscape or portrait, meaning that the screen's aspect ratio is either wide or tall, respectively. Be aware that not only do different devices operate in different orientations by default, but the orientation can change at runtime when the user rotates the device.
Pixel Density:is a measurement of the resolution of devices in various contexts: typically computer displays, image scanners, and digital camera image sensors.
Density-Independent Pixel (dp):A virtual pixel unit that you should use when defining UI layout, to express layout dimensions or position in a density-independent way.
The density-independent pixel is equivalent to one physical pixel on a 160 dpi screen, which is the baseline density assumed by the system for a "medium" density screen. At runtime, the system transparently handles any scaling of the dp units, as necessary, based on the actual density of the screen in use. The conversion of dp units to screen pixels is simple: px = dp * (dpi / 160). For example, on a 240 dpi screen, 1 dp equals 1.5 physical pixels. You should always use dp units when defining your application's UI, to ensure proper display of your UI on screens with different densities.
Android Resolution:Android runs on a variety of devices that offer different screen sizes and densities. For applications, the Android system provides a consistent development environment across devices and handles most of the work to adjust each application's user interface to the screen on which it is displayed. At the same time, the system provides APIs that allow you to control your application's UI for specific screen sizes and densities, in order to optimize your UI design for different screen configurations. For example, you might want a UI for tablets that's different from the UI for handsets.
LDPI:Resources for low-density (ldpi) screens (~120dpi).
MDPI:Resources for medium-density (mdpi) screens (~160dpi).
HDPI:Resources for high-density (hdpi) screens (~240dpi).
XHDPI:Resources for extra high-density (xhdpi) screens (~320dpi).
NODPI:Resources for all densities. These are density-independent resources. The system does not scale resources tagged with this qualifier, regardless of the current screen's density.
TVDPI:Resources for screens somewhere between mdpi and hdpi; approximately 213dpi. This is not considered a "primary" density group. It is mostly intended for televisions and most apps shouldn't need it—providing mdpi and hdpi resources is sufficient for most apps and the system will scale them as appropriate. If you find it necessary to provide tvdpi resources, you should size them at a factor of 1.33*mdpi. For example, a 100px x 100px image for mdpi screens should be 133px x 133px for tvdpi.
Dex: Dalvik Executable. Compiled Android application code file. Android programs are compiled into .dex files, which are in turn zipped into a single .apk file on the device. .dex files can be created by automatically translating compiled applications written in the Java programming language.
Action:An action is a description of something that an Intent sender wants done. An action is a string value assigned to an Intent. Action strings can be defined by Android or by a third-party developer. For example, android.intent.action.VIEW for a Web URL, or com.example.rumbler.SHAKE_PHONE for a custom application to vibrate the phone.
Activity:An activity is a single screen in an application, with supporting Java code, derived from the Activity class. Most commonly, an activity is visibly represented by a full screen window that can receive and handle UI events and perform complex tasks, because of the Window it uses to render its window. Though an Activity is typically full screen, it can also be floating or transparent.
AndroidManifest.xml:Every application must have an AndroidManifest.xml file (with precisely that name) in its root directory of the source tree. The manifest presents essential information about the application to the Android system, information the system must have before it can run any of the application’s code.
Application:From a component perspective, an Android application consists of one or more activities, services, listeners, and intent receivers. From a source file perspective, an Android application consists of code, resources, assets, and a single manifest. During compilation, these files are packaged in a single file called an application package file (.apk).
Broadcast Receiver:An application class that listens for Intents that are broadcast, rather than being sent to a single target application/activity. The system delivers a broadcast Intent to all interested broadcast receivers, which handle the Intent sequentially.
Canvas:A drawing surface that handles compositing of the actual bits against a Bitmap or Surface object. It has methods for standard computer drawing of bitmaps, lines, circles, rectangles, text, and so on, and is bound to a Bitmap or Surface. Canvas is the simplest, easiest way to draw 2D objects on the screen. However, it does not support hardware acceleration, as OpenGL ES does. The base class is Canvas.
Content Provider:A data-abstraction layer that you can use to safely expose your application’s data to other applications. A content provider is built on the ContentProvider class, which handles content query strings of a specific format to return data in a specific format.
Data:The data partition on the device contains the user-related data, such as installed applications and settings for those apps, as well as your SQLite database containing Android settings and messages. Normally, the directory /data/app is off-limits through the ‘adb shell’ command, as well as other terminal applications that can run on the device, since this directory contains the apk files for apps. On a rooted phone, using the ‘su’ command will allow full access to this partition. This partition can be flashed using Fastboot or Nandroid.
DDMS: Dalvik Debug Monitor Service, a GUI debugging application included with the SDK. It provides screen capture, log dump, and process examination capabilities. If you are developing in Eclipse using the ADT Plugin, DDMS is integrated into your development environment.
Dialog:A floating window that that acts as a lightweight form. A dialog can have button controls only and is intended to perform a simple action (such as button choice) and perhaps return a value. A dialog is not intended to persist in the history stack, contain complex layout, or perform complex actions. Android provides a default simple dialog for you with optional buttons, though you can define your own dialog layout. The base class for dialogs is Dialog.
Drawable:A compiled visual resource that can be used as a background, title, or other part of the screen. A drawable is typically loaded into another UI element, for example as a background image. A drawable is not able to receive events, but does assign various other properties such as “state” and scheduling, to enable subclasses such as animation objects or image libraries. Many drawable objects are loaded from drawable resource files — xml or bitmap files that describe the image. Drawable resources are compiled into subclasses of android.graphics.drawable.
Flash Memory:Flash memory, also known as NAND memory, is nonvolatile – keeping information even when the device is off. Flash memory in the device is equivalent to the hard drive in a computer. This is where the device’s operating system (sometimes called firmware) and applications are stored. Flash memory is slower than RAM, but is (almost always) faster than SD cards.
Logcat:While in adb (see ADB), type in “adb logcat > logcat.txt”. This will help you when resolving issues and bugs. There are also tools in the market you can use for this, one of which is called aLogcat. It can show different categories (severity of errors ect.) too, which is something adb logcat cannot do.
Playstore(Old:Market):The market on Android is a place where you can purchase or download applications for your phone. When you download through the market, the installation process is transparent (as in you don’t have to deal with the APK files yourself), and there is the facility to rate apps and post comments which are visible to other users. Frequently, the developers of apps actually take onboard the feedback in the comments (mainly the smaller apps with slightly less feedback to sift through).
When an app is installed from the market, it is copied to ‘/data/app/apkname.apk’, as the act of ‘installing’. An app can store its data in the folder ‘/data/data/apkname’. It is possible to clear the data stored by an application by using the Manage Applications feature in Settings | Applications | Manage Applications.
Intent:A message object that you can use to launch or communicate with other applications/activities asynchronously. An Intent object is an instance of Intent. It includes several criteria fields that you can supply, to determine what application/activity receives the Intent and what the receiver does when handling the Intent. Available criteria include the desired action, a category, a data string, the MIME type of the data, a handling class, and others. An application sends an Intent to the Android system, rather than sending it directly to another application/activity. The application can send the Intent to a single target application or it can send it as a broadcast, which can in turn be handled by multiple applications sequentially. The Android system is responsible for resolving the best-available receiver for each Intent, based on the criteria supplied in the Intent and the Intent Filters defined by other applications.
Intent Filter:A message object that you can use to launch or communicate with other applications/activities asynchronously. An Intent object is an instance of Intent. It includes several criteria fields that you can supply, to determine what application/activity receives the Intent and what the receiver does when handling the Intent. Available criteria include the desired action, a category, a data string, the MIME type of the data, a handling class, and others. An application sends an Intent to the Android system, rather than sending it directly to another application/activity. The application can send the Intent to a single target application or it can send it as a broadcast, which can in turn be handled by multiple applications sequentially. The Android system is responsible for resolving the best-available receiver for each Intent, based on the criteria supplied in the Intent and the Intent Filters defined by other applications.
Layout Resource:An XML file that describes the layout of an Activity screen.
Manifest File:An XML file that each application must define, to describe the application’s package name, version, components (activities, intent filters, services), imported libraries, and describes the various activities, and so on.
9-Patch:A resizeable bitmap resource that can be used for backgrounds or other images on the device.
Odex: Odex stands for “Optimized Dalvik Executable” file. The Android system, as identified above, utilizes compressed data stored in the .apk file at runtime. To speed up this process, the most critical elements of application will be placed uncompressed in an .odex file, thus enabling the Android OS to quickly interpret that important information before it continues to parse the rest of the application. Stock ROMs will come from the manufacturer as “odexed”, meaning that the application(s) will have a .apk file and an .odex file, i.e. Calendar.apk and Calendar.odex.
Resources:Nonprogrammatic application components that are external to the compiled application code, but which can be loaded from application code using a well-known reference format. Android supports a variety of resource types, but a typical application’s resources would consist of UI strings, UI layout components, graphics or other media files, and so on. An application uses resources to efficiently support localization and varied device profiles and states. For example, an application would include a separate set of resources for each supported local or device type, and it could include layout resources that are specific to the current screen orientation (landscape or portrait). The resources of an application are always stored in the res/* subfolders of the project.
Service:An object of class Service that runs in the background (without any UI presence) to perform various persistent actions, such as playing music or monitoring network activity.
SPL:The Secondary Program Loader is a piece of bootcode that initiates the startup of the phone, displaying the initial splash screen for the device, and loading the initial files from ROM.
It checks to see if a button combination is pressed on bootup (such as that to enter Recovery Mode or the bootloader), and loads the relevant system software. If no special instruction is given by holding keys, the bootloader loads the normal system software by initializing the boot process from the boot partition.
Flashing your SPL is risky, as the process failing will probably result in a broken, or bricked phone, since the SPL is executed very early on in the boot process, and any error here will prevent access to the recovery or bootloader features.
If you do flash the SPL though, it unlocks the Carrier-ID CID from the device, essentially allowing any RUU to be installed to the device, and allows flashing alternative or custom bootscreens.
Surface:An object of type Surface representing a block of memory that gets composited to the screen. A Surface holds a Canvas object for drawing, and provides various helper methods to draw layers and resize the surface. You should not use this class directly; use SurfaceView instead.
SurfaceView:A View object that wraps a Surface for drawing, and exposes methods to specify its size and format dynamically. A SurfaceView provides a way to draw independently of the UI thread for resource-intensive operations (such as games or camera previews), but it uses extra memory as a result. SurfaceView supports both Canvas and OpenGL ES graphics. The base class is SurfaceView.
System:The /system directory on your device is where the main operational software for the Android OS is stored. It has a number of sub-directories of which /system/apps (where application apk’s are stored) is probably the only one users would have need to access. The /system folder is read-only by default and needs remounted via ‘adb’ to allow write access.
Theme:A set of properties (text size, background color, and so on) bundled together to define various default display settings. Android provides a few standard themes, listed in R.style (starting with “Theme_”).
Update.zip:An update.zip (does not have to actually be called update.zip if you have a patched Recovery image) is a file containing some files which will be copied to the phone’s internal memory. Normally, a new system update or ROM is stored in the file, but update.zip files are commonly used to install modifications such as themes or applications that are installed on the System partition to prevent uninstallation.
To flash one of these files, which commonly would contain a custom ROM for your phone, you would boot your phone to a patched recovery image (whether using Fastboot, or the home+power method if you have a patched Recovery image flashed on your phone)
Update.zip files are cryptographically signed, and more information on how to sign your own files can be found online.
URI's:Android uses URI strings as the basis for requesting data in a content provider (such as to retrieve a list of contacts) and for requesting actions in an Intent (such as opening a Web page in a browser). The URI scheme and format is specialized according to the type of use, and an application can handle specific URI schemes and strings in any way it wants. Some URI schemes are reserved by system components. For example, requests for data from a content provider must use the content://. In an Intent, a URI using an http:// scheme will be handled by the browser.
View:An object that draws to a rectangular area on the screen and handles click, keystroke, and other interaction events. A View is a base class for most layout components of an Activity or Dialog screen (text boxes, windows, and so on). It receives calls from its parent object (see viewgroup, below)to draw itself, and informs its parent object about where and how big it would like to be (which may or may not be respected by the parent).
ViewGroup:A container object that groups a set of child Views. The viewgroup is responsible for deciding where child views are positioned and how large they can be, as well as for calling each to draw itself when appropriate. Some viewgroups are invisible and are for layout only, while others have an intrinsic UI (for instance, a scrolling list box). Viewgroups are all in the widget package, but extend ViewGroup.
Widget: One of a set of fully implemented View subclasses that render form elements and other UI components, such as a text box or popup menu. Because a widget is fully implemented, it handles measuring and drawing itself and responding to screen events. Widgets are all in the android.widget package.
Window:In an Android application, an object derived from the abstract class Window that specifies the elements of a generic window, such as the look and feel (title bar text, location and content of menus, and so on). Dialog and Activity use an implementation of this class to render a window. You do not need to implement this class or use windows in your application.
Credits
Diablo67 for great information
Android:A Linux-based operating system for mobile devices such as HTC EVO.Versions are alphabetically codenamed after snacks: Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Donut.
correct that...jellybean
Dual Core:A dual core processor is a central processing unit (CPU) that has two separate cores on the same die, each with its own cache
time
and in these following lines....you forgot to put a space b/w : and (...so they turned into smily ...correct that part too
WiiMaxWorldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access)
RamRandom Access Memory)
SBCthe ability to charge your battery bey
Superuser/SUn many computer operating systems,
DKSDK or "devkit") is typically a set of software development tools
Radiosn the HTC side of things,the radios persist of:
i look a glance at it..seems great info....will read the whole guide properly when i get some free time.. :good::good::good:
ask for sticky to this thread
awesome thread:laugh:
it should be sticky
i wrote material for a similar guide some time ago.. but never made the thread.. so sharing some additional info you can add..
Bootloader: The bootloader is code that is executed before any Operating System starts to run. Bootloaders basically package the instructions to boot operating system kernel and most of them also have their own debugging or modification environment.As the bootloader starts before any piece of software on your device, it makes it extremely processor specific and so there is a wide range of ROMs available because of presence of different hardwares. Every manufacturer has their own version of bootloader.
Kernel: The kernel is the main component of most computer operating systems; it is a bridge between applications and the actual data processing done at the hardware level. Kernels have different types but for android users we talk only about monolithic kernels or simply modified linux kernels. Monolithic kernels execute all the operating system code in the same address space to increase the performance of the system.
ClockwordMod: Also called as CWM is a popular custom recovery for Android phones and tablets developed by Koushik Dutta (Koush), a well*known name in the Android dev community. ClockworkMod recovery allows you to perform several advanced recovery, restoration, installation and maintenance operations on your Android device. It allows user to install custom ROMs, kernels, themes, mods and more however, installing custom kernel from CWM is not yet available to Xperia family.
if need more info on any topic drop me a PM...
Thanks Cnc_Rocks for finding mistakes
Bootoader & kernel info is written already will add clockworkmod info only
Sent from my SONY WALKMAN using JellySony Rom
A summary of important terms regarding our phone, xperia x8, would be better. This is x8 general forum, anyone interested in general android knowledge should go to android general forum...
As mentioned in this thread, here is original post by Diablo67, the only thing I see here is Ctrl C + Ctrl V.
I just want to post because most off them are unaware & dint read that forum & I already gave credits to diablo67
Sent from my SONY WALKMAN using JellySony Rom
darkfrmr said:
A summary of important terms regarding our phone, xperia x8, would be better. This is x8 general forum, anyone interested in general android knowledge should go to android general forum...
As mentioned in this thread, here is original post by Diablo67, the only thing I see here is Ctrl C + Ctrl V.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well.. he gave proper credit to that guy.. and there is nothing wrong in copy paste.. it wasnt any development stuff.. and it is always better to have such a thread posted.. it benefits new comers and some lazy members :good:
Summary of important terms regarding our phone and any other phone is basically the same......because they all run android.. only differences are the cwm/kernel/flashtool and the unlocking method
CnC-ROCK said:
well.. he gave proper credit to that guy.. and there is nothing wrong in copy paste.. it wasnt any development stuff.. and it is always better to have such a thread posted.. it benefits new comers and some lazy members :good:
Summary of important terms regarding our phone and any other phone is basically the same......because they all run android.. only differences are the cwm/kernel/flashtool and the unlocking method
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Xactly what i mean
:thumbup:Cnc_Rock
Sent from my SONY WALKMAN using JellySony Rom
here is idea...if you want it to be more readable
use this code for titles (Apps2SD,ADB,Android....) just replace "put title here" with title
HTML:
[B][SIZE="3"][COLOR="SeaGreen"][U]put title here[/U][/COLOR][/SIZE][/B]
Thanks taj..
Great thread here....
sent from my phone using hands and brain...
---------- Post added at 12:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:48 PM ----------
Hey taj.
Correct your op, some words look like. " "
sent from my phone using hands and brain...
it's f___ing awesome! Very good!
very nice
minimum edition
Thread updated with xda info
Sent from my SONY WALKMAN using JellySony Rom
You forgot Android 1.6 - Donut.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Royal Eagle said:
You forgot Android 1.6 - Donut.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its already there dude
Watchout carefully
Sent from my SONY WALKMAN using JellySony Rom
THREAD UPDATED WITH MOST INFO ON 4th POST
HAVE A LOOK
ENJOY
~>TAJ<~
Below are the entries for the Tablet Z Development Contest (in random order). The subsequent posts in this thread have more details of each project including the developer's most recent information on the project. Before casting your vote, read through each of the projects in full - you can't change your vote after you've made it!
lilstevie - Open Source LK (LittleKernel) Bootloader + Recovery
Apache14 - Open Source Infrared Receiver & Transmitter Library
zacthespack - LinuxOnAndroid Project (Standard/ROM/Native)
sailnw - App for Sailors and Cruisers Using Waterproof Tablet (no link)
rayman - Tablet Multiboot Manager
anthonycr - Lightning Browser (Open Source Web browser)
bluefa1con - PAC All-In-One ROM
mamenyaka - Ubuntu Touch Porting
rydo88 - Tablet Z Smart House System
lilstevie - Open Source LK (LittleKernel) Bootloader + Recovery
What is LittleKernel?
LittleKernel is an opensource bootloader for qualcomm devices available from codeaurora.
Why LK?
TL;DR Version
LK allows running separate boot and recovery that are fully independant of eachother.
Sony use a special method of booting into recovery for their updates, this is not available when you are unlocked, and there is no button combination to enter this mode. As a result the common method to get recovery on Xperia devices has been to use an initrd that has a script to load either normal boot or recovery boot based on a button press. This is a far from ideal solution as when you update your kernel it also updates your recovery. If something goes wrong you are stuck needing a computer to reflash the kernel partition.
With the recent addition of TWRP support for the latest devices there have been advances made in this technique making recovery updatable it still requires the flashed boot image to support that method. This is less than ideal still as it reduces choice in what you want on your device, giving the decision to the dev of the rom you have flashed. This also leaves you in the position of needing your computer if a kernel update fails for any reason.
LK solves these problems by separating out boot and recovery to their own kernels with their own ramdisks like every other device, if you flash the boot kernel, recovery isn't touched and will be there for you as a failsafe in case anything goes wrong. This removes the need to have a computer near by in case of breakage occuring.
What progress has been made?
LK is operational, small bugs still need work and driver porting for lcd and notification led are underway.
Click here for the project thread
Apache14 - Open Source Infrared Receiver & Transmitter Library
I have been working on the open source library for allowing the use of the IR transmitter and receiver on the Tablet Z, At the beginning of this project I believe there was no other project looking into IR functionality in community driven roms (so this project was started from scratch).
As this project was started from almost no information about the IR device / protocol ect. there have been many stages of the development, this was split into 3 very distinct stages, please see below a lost of these stages and the progress made.
Stage 1 (Analysing communications)
This stage was mainly finding how the information was sent to the IR device and in what form. It was found that the IR device was connected to a tty serial port on the qcom main processor (ttyHSL2 in user space), from this I was able to "sniff" out the data sent and received by the application on the sony stock rom. This data was analysed and all possible commands where extracted (Get raw data, Send raw data, send specific key, get version).
Stage 2 (Create native library)
After the commands where known a library was created (in C) to enable the use of the IR blaster chip, this was a lot of trial and error as it was very timing specific (sleeps / poll ftw ). This part was surprisingly easy and i was able to get a working library that enabled learn and send command within a few days
Stage 3 (Create a application for everyone to use)
Once the library was completed to a point where it was usable, an application was created making use of the library as a JNI library. As I have little android java experience this is probably the weakest aspect of the project to date. This app went through a number of revisions and started off as 2/3 buttons for testing (this is illustrated below in the picture / video section. The xda member isimobile took one of the revisions and made improvements to the UI as well as using an SQL database to store the keys.
One aspect of the original plan that has not been explored is the robotics aspect, however this is mainly due to the amount of work required being much more than i first planned on.
Please find the links to source code (for library and app) as well as some videos and pictures to illustrate the projects timeline.
Library Src
APP Src
Early Application
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Current Application
Initial Test Video (day 1)
Initial App Test
I would like to finish by extending thanks to all at XDA and Sony who have made this competition happen and giving me this opportunity to develop a fun project.
Click here for the project thread
zacthespack - LinuxOnAndroid Project (Standard/ROM/Native)
As it stands below is the current placement with the three parts of the project:
Standard LoA - I have completed testing of all current images and everything works as it should, when running stock you must make the system partition r/w but this has all be added to my thread. In fact, this is the best device so far in terms of smoothness and actually usability over VNC.
However I have also made good progress with getting rid of VNC and using the Android frame buffer for graphics out put, so it takes more to switch between Android and Linux BUT you get a much better linux experience. I hope to release this in the coming few days once a few graphics glitch with Unity have been fixed.
LoA ROM - I have also started work on the ROM, getting my read around the ROM git structure has been the first port of call and actually getting my mods integrated into a repo so others could build is what I am working on at the moment. As it stands I have pretty much finished integrating the required code to launch and boot the images within the ROM so no need for a stand along app, just pull down the status bar and hit boot linux. Also added the settings for it all into the ROMs settings menu to make it all feel nice and one. I have plans then to integrate Linux and Android more, with the final result being a free version of everything Ubuntu edge can do but on hardware that you can actually buy
Native Linux - Only just started on this now as personal I prefer the other two parts of the project as I like to still have android at my finger tips when needed
So in all while I may have not completed as much as other projects I do think my project has a lot more to do and is certainly not something I will be stopping any time soon. Users already have access the standard LoA and I have started to see more Tablet Z popping up as installing the app, we also hope to push a 'alpha' of the ROM to the tablet Z very soon once the git is all sorted so people could integrate LoA into other base ROMs if they so please.
Click here for the project thread
sailnw - App for Sailors and Cruisers Using Waterproof Tablet
As I mentioned in the contest entry, the app I am working on is for active sailors and cruisers which would utilize Xperia Z's waterproof features and excellent form factor for use in salt water environments under way. At this stage I am collecting input from active sailors and cruisers regarding features and design of the app. Planning to have app flow and some screen designs in September. Also actively looking for project participants on the development side.
No forum thread is available for this entry.
rayman - Tablet Multiboot Manager
Goal: Create a multiboot solution for the Tablet Z.
The goal consists of two parts:
1) Ability to dynamically boot images without flashing them
2) A solution for picking the boot image to run.
Step 1 was completed within the first week after receiving the tablet,
and sources are available on my github.
Step 2 was much more complex. I first evaluated the solutions
currently available, primarily kexecboot(.org), MultiRom (TWRP-based
for N7) and petitboot. Common to all those solutions is that they are
overcomplicated. Some automatically scan for things that looks like
roms and some requires special made update.zip's. On top of that most
solutions are less than good looking.
With that in mind, I set out to create something extremely simplistic - the result is Hydra.
There are some minor features missing before it's ready for release, but the GUI and boot setup works.
Features:
* Auto-aligning grid of large, good looking icons for selecting image - currently a maximum of 10 images.
* Flashy buttons automatically created based on a target-specific image
* Optimized graphics display to ensure smooth rendering
* Automatically append required commandline arguments
* Read boot configuration from a simple boot.ini format - supports boot.img's and raw kernel + ramdisk + cmdline setup.
* Auto-boot a default image after a configurable timeout
Planned Features:
* Per-boot.img runtime settings - planned but that's for version 2.0
* Scrollable grid - allowing for more than 10 images.
* Automatically locate boot.ini's in a boot subdir on all storage units that are mountable. This means autodetecting available images on microsd or usb harddisk.
Some Images:
Click here for the project thread
anthonycr - Lightning Browser (Open Source Web browser)
I've kept the source code updated on github (https://github.com/anthonycr/Lightning-Browser). A direct download to the latest beta is here (https://github.com/anthonycr/Lightni...s.apk?raw=true), and a description can be found on the main project page.
What I've accomplished:
- added a History page
- added better bookmark layout (fixed bug in full-screen mode)
- better full screen URL handling
- added some more animations
- incognito mode (does not record URLs visited or searched, and runs without cookies for extra protection)
- notify user of SSL certificate errors
- popup tabs now work
- fixed bug where certain sites wouldn't display until touched
- better full-screen video (flash is still partially broken… it’s Adobe's problem)
- memory management
- HTTP authentication
- multiple search engines
- ability to change download location
- text re-flow
- ability to import bookmarks from either the stock browser or Chrome if you are signed in
- text size
Current Screenshots
I haven't had much feedback in the Tablet Z forum, so I've mostly been working off the feedback I've been receiving in my main thread in the application forum. It's a lot more lively there.
Thanks! I've had wonderful time developing with the Xperia Tablet Z.
Click here for the project thread
bluefa1con - PAC All-In-One ROM
Information about this project is available in this PDF document: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20579840/PAC/PACmanTabletZ.pdf
Click here for the project thread
mamenyaka - Ubuntu Touch Porting
I am mamenyaka from XDA. My project is about porting Ubuntu Touch to the Tablet Z.
My thread is located here, and you can also check out the Ubuntu wiki page of the device.
Ubuntu Touch is running in a separated container on top of an Android kernel, so it is made out of two images: the device image and the ubuntu image.
The ubuntu image is provided by ubuntu in the form of a .zip file.
The device image is built by me, and it is based on CM.
To install Ubuntu Touch, you just need to flash the two .zips in recovery.
The journey
The first step was to build the device image and remove unnecessary Android components. Some hacks were needed, because some components relied on external parts of CM that were excluded from Ubuntu Touch and some proprietary blobs were missing too. And there were some modifications needed by Ubuntu Touch, documented in their porting guide.
After successfully building the image, it turned out that WiFi and the Camera didn't work.
The WiFi needed some extra binaries and the kernel module itself needed to be loaded manually at init (insmod). But the WiFi is now working, and that is the most important part. Without it no development can be done with the Ubuntu SDK, because it downloads and installs a lot of packages on the device that are necessary to deploy your QT/QML apps.
The camera was fixed partially by acquiring the right blobs, but the Camera app itself is buggy, I think. Maybe it will be fixed in future releases.
All my work can be found and reproduced by using my github repos (the ones for Sony) and by following the porting guide.
The future
As Ubuntu Touch is making the switch from being "just another Android shell":
Instead of booting into android and firing up the Ubuntu system after
android has booted, the new images now boot into Ubuntu and initialize
android inside an LXC container during boot.
the development will continue. Sadly, from 07-12 until now there has been no new porting guide, so the ports do not work with the new image (yet) and the development of the old format has stopped. Until then I am releasing updated images and experimenting with dual boot. In the xda thread I wrote a little tutorial on how to do dual booting with Ubuntu Touch and CM based Android ROMs, but it's not the real thing, but it works without the need of a PC (no need to flash boot.img via fastboot).
Click here for the project thread
Click here to make your vote in the contest - the password is 'xdasonycontest852'
rydo88 - Tablet Z Smart House System
No response received asking for project update. Information below taken from project thread:
As for the hint, I’m going to start with two of them, as I didn’t add one last week. This project originally began as part of this prescient home and then I decided I could adapt part of it to be more fun than practical.
1. A great place to set down one’s drink.
2. Tabletop gaming.
What I’m calling the proof of concept project was put together while moving. It starts with a secret… I’m a bathroom reader. Okay, so maybe that’s not a huge secret (books and magazines strewn around the bathroom is a bit of a giveaway), but it’s not exactly a polite conversation topic. It was conceived while describing the project to a friend who pointed out that he doesn’t cook, but there was an alternate use he found noteworthy (i.e. reading the royal reports on the porcelain throne). Henceforth this will just be described as the book preparation device (or BPD to save some typing). The materials needed are superglue, a sharp knife (preferably something like an Exacto), an NFC tag, and a magazine that you don’t want to read anymore. Use the superglue to laminate a block of pages together, either the whole magazine or just a section large enough to house the NFC tag. The one I did was about a 3 inch square through the whole magazine, excluding the cover. This also left the edges loose, providing a more authentic magazine look, rather than a big mess of superglue. Once this is set and dried, outline the NFC tag on the block for the pattern to cut. Cut and remove layers until you’ve made a cavity large enough for the tag to fit. Snugness is a personal preference, I left mine so that the tag was removable, but a tight fit and some glue could make this more permanent. Sony’s native Smarttag software works well for this application. Just customize the options so that the tag (blue in this case) triggers the tablet to open Play Books. A nice feature of Sony’s application is that there are ‘end’ actions, so a second contact with the tag causes a second set of actions to occur. I set this option to return to the home screen and read the time aloud (so that I know how late I am to wherever I’m headed). Once this is set up, leave the magazine near your reading chair. Place the tablet on the BPD as you sit down and presto! Your book is opened, as if by magic. When you’re done reading, set the tablet down again, stand, stretch, and poof! Your tablet has closed the book, told you how long you were lost in it, and is ready to travel to the next project.
I’ll add some pictures and a video here before too long. Maybe even a witty/catchy acronym to rename the project.
Concept:
To utilize NFC and other features of the Tablet Z in order to produce a system which causes the tablet to perform actions in a semi-predictive matter.
Methodology:
I intend to modify items to produce convenient and unobtrusive ways of integrating NFC tags. This will provide the infrastructure for the system. On the device, software will be used to carry out instructions specific to the tag and other variables.
To put my sciencey talk into a more tangible example, take for instance the kitchen. What function would be handy for a tablet to perform by itself? The most obvious answer to me, is for it to open up a recipe. In order to accomplish this, I intend to create a stand with an integrated NFC tag, which would trigger the tablet to open a recipe app. Depending on the software side (which I plan on mostly using existing apps, as I'm not much of a coder), I would ideally have the system cross reference a menu that's been planned out (i.e. that you had planned for meatloaf on Monday night, the tablet would open directly to a meatloaf recipe). As a starting point, it will likely open to a random recipe. For anyone following along at home, the action should be easily modified on the software side. Perhaps some people prefer to catch up with HBO or listen to some Sinatra while cooking. The idea is in the same vein as the whole home-of-the-future concept.
This concept will be extrapolated to several rooms.Other planned functionality would be to automatically turn on the TV in the living room, play music in the den, set alarms in the bedroom, and perhaps a few other tricks along the way.
Before I wrap this post up, I'd like to say thanks to XDA and Sony for holding this competition and giving me the opportunity to create this project. I'd also like to say thanks to everyone who takes the time to follow the projects in this contest and hope that everyone has a bit of fun.
Click here for the project thread