I see in Google there is a lot of chat through 2012 of the unofficial and official updates of 4.0.3 for Iconia A500 and dealing with memory leaks and an issue of no longer being able to move Apps to external SD.
Now before you burn me up, keep in mind I no NOTHING about these devices except how they come from the store. I haven't rooted one, never considered putting a custom ROM on, and every time I try to read what you guys write on here I find I have more questions than answers and chicken out from doing anything "off the reservation".
That said... I have received the official ACER email on how to fix the GPS memory leak of sorts, I hope it works. I am still disturbed to find that there is no way to move my Apps from internal to external SD.
SO, my question is, as I gather ACER has no desire to update the OS, Would I be able to fix the issues above by rooting and installing one of the Custom Roms? If so, which one would I need for this? Finally, if I am to learn this, where are the absolutely simplest, speaking like Im a two year old directions for doing this step by step with everything I need?
Thanks all!
TJ
Related
Reading through these forums has been a real education; much thanks to everyone for posting and sharing!
I was given a reconditioned A500 by a friend (obviously a very good friend!), stock Acer_A500_1.104.02_COM_GEN1 with Android v3.0.1. Rooted with Gingerbreak, everything running fine. Really love the tablet.
Anyway, been looking over all of the choices for upgraded ROMS so graciously provided by members of the community, and hit a little analysis-paralysis. What are the major advantages (other than the "latest-and-greatest" factor) to upgrading to 3.1, 3.2, or 3.2.1? Is there any "must-have" advantage to the upgrade? And will my GEN1 have issues with some of the ROMs developed from GEN2 packages?
Thanks for being patient with an old dog trying desperately to learn some new tricks...
The later the version of Honeycomb generally the more stable and quicker it runs. You probably notice with 3.0 and 3.0.1 there are a lot of force closes on apps. There are other benefits to newer versions, such as ability to plug in USB peripherals etc, but I don't know all of them off the top of my head.
One problem that many people learned (myself included) was that when we got the upgrade to 3.2, those who had root lost it and nobody could figure out how to root it because Acer changed their boot loader. Since then people have found ways around it. Custom ROMs that the devs had created here usually make the tablet run better (of course there are risks to doing this and the occasional bug!). Some people run custom ROMS to overclock, some load them to remove Acer Bloatware and some just have the urge to try new and great things.
In terms of having issues with GEN1 and GEN2 packages, when you are installing custom ROMS made by the DEVs on XDA you won't have to worry. I think the GEN1 and GEN2 are just for ACER to distinguish things like the country that the device is from, or to determine when they should be receiving OTA updates.
CharlieSummers said:
Reading through these forums has been a real education; much thanks to everyone for posting and sharing!
I was given a reconditioned A500 by7 a friend (obviously a very good friend!), stock Acer_A500_1.104.02_COM_GEN1 with Android v3.0.1. Rooted with Gingerbreak, everything running fine. Really love the tablet.
Anyway, been looking over all of the choices for upgraded ROMS so graciously provided by members of the community, and hit a little analysis-paralysis. What are the major advantages (other than the "latest-and-greatest" factor) to upgrading to 3.1, 3.2, or 3.2.1? Is there any "must-have" advantage to the upgrade? And will my GEN1 have issues with some of the ROMs developed from GEN2 packages?
Thanks for being patient with an old dog trying desperately to learn some new tricks...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Early HC versions have issues with Netflex, video, voice, GPS, etc. Alot of the drivers have been patched since 3.0.1.
TD
If you want a mostly stock rom with just Root and busybox I suggest this one:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1429199
It is very fast and very smooth. haven't run into any problems or force closes yet.
I found that the full screen feature of 3.2 and 3.2.1 was a great reason to upgrade. My iconia came with 3.1 on it and i was content with that rooted until i learned that my apps that didnt fill the screen (guitar hero 5) and some that just didnt run (dance dance revolution s) worked great in full screen on 3.2+.
Greatly appreciate all of the responses. It's pretty clear I need to read the threads here and learn how to upgrade the Android in this tablet. (I especially appreciate starkiller86's pointer to the 3.2.1 sorta-stock image...that looks like the most sensible direction for me to go.)
Thanks again!
I updated my Transformer pad tf300t to android 4.2 and it lags a lot right now. I want to go back to Android 4.1 or 4.0. I know how to do this but i cannot find a 4.1 or 4.0 firmware file for the 'US' sku version. I have searched everywhere but have found nothing. Please can anyone provide me with a link to the downloadable firmware file.
Everywhere, you say? Well, that doesn't sound correct. The firmware (full rom, really) for 4.1 is listed on http://support.asus.com.
To downgrade, it will wipe EVERYTHING except your external SD, if you have one. For good measure, take it out. But a word of caution, I wouldn't try downgrading to 4.0. To my knowledge, we are only able to downgrade to 4.1, but I would LOVE if someone tells me otherwise before you end up with yet another brick added to the long list.
And yes, 4.2 didn't fix much of the lag problems. It merely moved them, in my opinion. There is much less lag when installing apps (still very present), while there is a bit of lag when opening the quick settings and notification bars, which wasn't present in 4.1.
______________________________
HTC Evo 4G LTE
aarsyl said:
Everywhere, you say? Well, that doesn't sound correct. The firmware (full rom, really) for 4.1 is listed on http://support.asus.com.
To downgrade, it will wipe EVERYTHING except your external SD, if you have one. For good measure, take it out. But a word of caution, I wouldn't try downgrading to 4.0. To my knowledge, we are only able to downgrade to 4.1, but I would LOVE if someone tells me otherwise before you end up with yet another brick added to the long list.
And yes, 4.2 didn't fix much of the lag problems. It merely moved them, in my opinion. There is much less lag when installing apps (still very present), while there is a bit of lag when opening the quick settings and notification bars, which wasn't present in 4.1.
______________________________
HTC Evo 4G LTE
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fully agreed with this, after installing 4.2 it was laggy as hell then I went on to remove even more bloatware and cleanup the start-process, things got better but nowhere near as smooth as 4.1
My recommendation:
Backup your whole system on an external storage and wipe the whole thing, don't downgrade to 4.0 unless you are very sure (!) it works. I would only go down 1 number if that doesn't work use a custom ROM like Cyanogenmod, AOSPA or Paranoid.
Hello. I just got hold of an acer iconia a501 which is running 4.0.3 If it's cool I just have a couple of questions: 1. Should I just leave it as is or are there many benefits to modifying and upgrading the os? 2. If so, I can't quite figure out which process to do in the right order ie rooting, flashing a rom etc. If I could just get the information as to what steps I need to take, I'll be able to find the how to on this forum. I appreciate your help.
Ryan.
Big Upgrade benifit
yurtal said:
Hello. I just got hold of an acer iconia a501 which is running 4.0.3 If it's cool I just have a couple of questions: 1. Should I just leave it as is or are there many benefits to modifying and upgrading the os? 2. If so, I can't quite figure out which process to do in the right order ie rooting, flashing a rom etc. If I could just get the information as to what steps I need to take, I'll be able to find the how to on this forum. I appreciate your help.
Ryan.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello, I used to be stock ICS. got ok battery life and performance. I flashed TegraOwners Lollipop rom and it was so much better. Yes its in its early stages but screen on time went from barely 3 hours to 5 1/2-6. With no under clocking. Pretty amazing.
bacu12 said:
I flashed TegraOwners Lollipop rom and it was so much better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is the Lollipop ROM you flashed for the Acer 501 only?
BOTH
ransom147 said:
Is the Lollipop ROM you flashed for the Acer 501 only?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The rom I flashed is made for both a501 and a500. I personally use a500. They also have cm12 rom for a500 and a501
noob needs opinion 3.2.1, on upgrading acer a500
(Sorry for invading your thread, but I did not know where to start asking.)
Hi I feel like I am out of luck. If that is the case, please just treat the backstory as a bit of entertainment.
To upgrade the Acer A500 Iconia Tablet from Honeycomb 3.2.1(oem) to something more current, perhaps IceCreamSandwich 4.0, can I download a file to a microSD card, plug the card into
the tablet, and get the upgrade? I read somewhere about a file called update.zip. Is the process just this simple/easy?
BackStory:
This tablet is hard to love as it doesn't come with any sample media, or even any file-manager. Once in a while it crashes to the home screen. But another feature I really want is to take screenshots. That is why I want to root the A500.(Problem0 Recently, the lockscreen failed. (My password is made of letters, whereas the A500 would no longer display the virtual keyboard, only the virtual numeric keypad!). therefore I did a cleanWipe reset of the tablet. 'Android version 3.2.1; Build number Acer_A500_7.014.02_COM_GEN2'. Problem0 fixed.) Problem1: I am a newbie w poor computer skills. Problem2: I am a newbie w poor computer skills.
I register the tablet w Acer, and then install ICS A500 Update from Google Play Store. (ICONIA TAB Update Enhancement, Acer Inc. - March 18, 2012: Application_Acer_2.2. 120307.3_A32H_A.apk)
Next I go to settings... and click on Acer System Update "check now" button. But the only message popup is 'Network coverage is currently poor. Please move to a location with better coverage to continue.' Funny as the wifi indicator indicates the signal as very strong. I try signing into Acer.com support, but it says 'your email (id) is not recognized'.
Questions:
1. Should I upgrade to something newer than the built-in Android 3.2.1? and if so which version?
2. Should I root? (How do I root? Is a PC required to do this?)
(3. Do I first need to get Acer software/drivers for PC?)
(4. What is a good app to use to backup Acer A500 to PC?)
Thank you for your attention; a frustrated A500 user,
J.
Hi there helpful bunch out there its me with maybe and somehow a boring question for most of you but for me much guidance is needed. Here is what I have and then what I would like to accomplish.
I bought originally a packerd bell liberty tab g100 with stock android 3.something installed. As soon as Acer came with the ICS upgrade for the iconia a500, which is the same tab as you all ofc know, I installed that update with a very simple guide. Now year(s) later, and yes this brick isn't the best around but can't afford anything else so first would like a fresh install and second a upgrade while at it.
Now, I looked much on XDA and found a lot of text that made my head hurt and which I bravely tried to follow that guide but somehow it didn't work.
So now I have android 4.0.1 rooted and I would like to go to android 5 if that's even possible ofc.
Hope you smart people can help me to overcome this hurdle. Tnx
Hi all,
I have not been here in yonks but I know this forum is always helpful. I am trying to flash a slim updated rom on my old android galaxy note. Out of no where, so many of my apps on that phone stopped working and it kept saying, this device is not compatible etc. I tried all the tricks and still a lot of apps will not work.
I have Odin pro installed on the phone but I forgot how to use it lol so may require direct instructions. But can someone recommend a fast but small in size build to flash which is updated. It says on my galaxy note that it’s running 4.1.2 which is jelly bean. If I recall it’s probably a custom rom but it’s been so long.
Thanks I advance if anyone can help me with instructions, I know it’s easy to do, but it’s been ages.
Cheers [emoji106][emoji106]
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