I've spent the past 3 weeks pretty solid working out how I want to transform the 3 Fire's I got for $35 for my boys, 10, 8, and 4. I figure I'd post where I've finally landed along with some other things I've tried both with success and failure, and hopefully save some people some effort. I'd suggest reading through this before you use it as a stepbystep guide to make sure this works for you. I apologize if it's a bit jumbled, but everything should be here for you to convert your Fire. Again, I'd suggest reading through the whole thing to come up with a plan of action for you.
Goal: Turn this Fire into a glorified gameboy, used ONLY by kids, not shared with parent(s) and child
On 5.1.1
Assuming you've purchased an SD card, you will want to repartition in preparation for moving files and content.
Pointers for this:
Make two partitions, 1 which is about 70% of the card formatted as Fat32, must be a PRIMARY partition.
Second partition will be the remaining space, make it ext2, must be a PRIMARY partition. (From what I can tell the reason people suggest using ext2, and not 3 or 4, is because with 3 and 4 there is some built in backup and recovery operations which is great for when you're running a full Linux operating system, but for our purposes all it does is cause more writes which in THEORY will shorten the life of your SD card)
I formatted the Fat32 partition as the first partition, and the EXT partition as the 2nd. Not sure if the order matters or not, but I've had no problems doing it this way thus far.
Reference: http://rootmyandroid.org/increase-internal-memory-phone.html/
Reference: http://rootmyandroid.org/how-to-use-link2sd-tutorial-guide.html/
Note:
During initial setup, don't bother with multiple user profiles (reasons explained later).
Using root junky's super tool (Thanks root junky, you made this all possible!!! http://rootjunkysdl.com/?device=Amazon Fire 5th gen&folder=SuperTool) do the following:
Root
Prevent OTA
Install Google Play
Install NovaLauncher (this is important if you're not going to use the built in Kids Mode in FireOS)
In Google Play Store download the following:
Link2SD (This is assuming you've purchased an SD card)
Kids Place - The VERY SIMPLE reason I went with using this app (which essentially becomes an alternative launcher) instead of using the built in FireOS's profiles and kids mode, is because the built in kids mode will ONLY allow you to use apps which you've downloaded FROM the AMAZON app store. I understand why they do it this way, I mean, the whole point of the fire is to keep you inside the Amazon ecosystem after all. But, I have MANY games I've paid full price for on Google Play that are appropriate for my kids. Since I can't put them into the kids profile built into the FireOS (If anyone can link me to a guide which is different, I'd love to hear about it) I couldn't use the built in stuff. In addition, the built in kids mode really is a pretty awesome feature on the fire, but the icons are freaking huge and kind of a waste of space.... going with this alternative method of Kids Place gives you smaller icons therefore you can "shove" more icons on a single view. Icons which take up half the screen are great, but if you're a dad like me who's going a little overboard and putting 100+ games on these things, it'll be a bit of a pain to scroll through them for your kids using the built in profile in the OS.
Note:
You can get Link2SD from the Amazon app store, but the version there is older than what's in Google Play and ultimately didn't work. Once I got the Google Play version, worked like a champ. NOTEx2: For whatever reason (this was frustrating for me to figure out), even though I partitioned 70% of the 64GB Samsung microSD to Fat32, and the other 30% I partitioned to ext2 (BTW I did the Fat32 first and ext2 second... not really sure if it matters the order or not but that's what worked first time for me so I went with it), when I launched Link2SD and it asked me which partition to use, I had to choose ext4 for it to finally work. Choosing both ext2 and Fat32 would both result in basically it saying: "yeah, you chose the wrong one punk" (or whatever it says).
Kids Place - similar to the one above, there is weirdness in the version on Amazon vs Google Play. On Amazon it actually claims the version there is slightly newer than Google Play, but when I'd launch apps on the one I got from Amazon it would kill the WiFi for that app. I realize that this is a built in option into Kids Place, being able to choose WiFi on or off per app (which is really cool), but the one from Amazon seemed to do it when and how it wanted instead of what I was telling it to do. Google Play's version had no such problems.
(( A word of caution using Link2SD's "feature" of being able to "Link Internal Data". DON'T DO IT. I've not been burned HARD CORE by it. The symptom is that if you POWER DOWN, and POWER ON the tablet, Apps go missing. Through reading and troubleshooting, it appears via this forum (http://androidforums.com/threads/link2sd-missing-apps-after-reboot.858565/) that the culprit is when you choose the Link2SD option to "Link Internal Data" to the SD Card. There's even a nifty batch way to enable it on ALL apps. Well, after powering off and powering back on the tablet (after I was COMPLETELY done putting on 150 games), when it came back up I only had like 15 apps on it. Everything else was POOF, gone. I've noticed sometimes after a power cycle like that the apps might take a few moments to 'come alive', but even after 15 minutes of waiting I had nada. Went in search and found I'm not the only one. I've now since completely redone (including reformatting the SD Card) all 3 Fire's and so far after multiple reboots, I've not lost a single app. So for now at least, this does seem to be the problem ))
You will need to spend the $2.35 on Link2SD Plus (striking out due to my caution above, that being said I'm glad I threw this guy $2.35 because my tablet would basically be worthless without the app), and after you install Kids Place, you'll need to upgrade to premium for $4.99. Here's why:
Link2SD - Plus - This is what allows you to automatically move files and content to the SD card when an app is installed. This is mega important to me because that piddly 5.x GB of usable space gets eaten up ridiculously fast otherwise. Dive into the settings once you have plus, and just go turn everything on. Auto move everything. Be sure to go into all menus and sub menus.
Kids Place - The premium features is key for me. For example: A) You can make this app launch upon reboot, thus it basically "forces" this into a kid only/friendly device. If your kids are sneaky, or bored, they'll try to break out of Kids Place. Then they'll delete apps, make folders, sabotage they're brothers devices, etc. B) You can change the name that's displayed on top from "Kids Place", to something else like their name, give them a fun nickname, whatever. For my 10 year old he won't feel like it's just a little kid thing. C) You can do this part without premium, but it's critical for me to mention it: You can change what the home "button" does so that it directs you back to Kids Place instead of the regular home launcher. The reason you need to install NovaLauncher above is because if you still have the stock firelauncher, you can NOT replace the home button with another launcher otherwise. [Word of caution, if you enable the 'background' premium feature, Kids Place is still running, just more in the background. Took me a few minutes to figure out that's what I had done. I kept thing something was wrong and wondering when whenever I launched Kids Place it kept asking me if I want to shut it down or go into settings.... it's because it was running the whole time already)
Once you've done all that, simply download apps (Amazon Underground still seems too good to be true, but I'm hopeful), sideload apps, get apps from Google Play, then go into the Kids Place settings and choose which apps you want (Manage Apps).
Other things worth noting:
SlimRom. So, this is cool. It's fast, and pretty awesome. For me however, at the end of the day, it didn't make sense to introduce something in addition that could go wrong. If you're like me and you have no intention of using this device yourself and you ONLY want this to be a device for your kids, I don't think SlimRom is worth putting in. If it's a shared device, it might be worth it. The only thing I really forgot to test when I had put SlimRom on one of the devices was how the Amazon App store would work, and whether or not the device would be recognized properly with the Amazon Underground portion.
That's it, I hope you find this helpful. I welcome any feedback or suggestions on how to make this a more gooder guide for anyone like myself who's first jump into amazon tablets has been these fires. They truly are AMAZING devices for the price.
hobojester said:
The only thing I really forgot to test when I had put SlimRom on one of the devices was how the Amazon App store would work, and whether or not the device would be recognized properly with the Amazon Underground portion.
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Click to collapse
Seems pretty comprehensive guide for those using it the same way, very nice work
And when I had Slim on it worked fine with my amazon app store and underground apps. And the music and video ones for that matter. I couldn't get the kindle app to show my books but someone solved that by using older apk after I went back to stock.
@hobojester, THANKS so much for posting.
I purchased the $35 Fire Tablet for my 3 girls (9, 7, 5).
I've rooted at 5.0.1 and disabled OTA, disabled ads, Installed GooglePlay store, and loaded Nova launcher. Although I haven't taken it another few steps with Kids Place, I feel that I'll start with just locking down and hiding the apps via Nova Launcher will be enough for now. My kids are pretty savvy at navigating interfaces and even when they touch/exit an app, they know how to get back to it. I know there are holes with settings and NovaLauncher settings so when they figure them out, they can reenable certain functionality.
I'll look into Kids Place though, that might be my next step.
Also, about the whole SD card partitioning, I've installed a 32GB card and the tablet stated that it would start using the card as the default storage device. I'm guessing your method moves EVERYTHING to the card, and the default behavior for the Fire Tablet is to install some things on internal memory and 'other' storage is routed to the card? I've installed quite a bit of applications since I plugged in my SD card and it doesn't seem to be full... although I didn't check the storage stats before I wrapped the tablets.
Also, I've heard some good press on the Circle (with Disney) router, so I did order one for the home as yet another piece of the parenting puzzle:
[edit] sorry, didn't have sufficient permissions to post outside links. Google up: "Circle router with Disney"
Pond-life said:
Seems pretty comprehensive guide for those using it the same way, very nice work
And when I had Slim on it worked fine with my amazon app store and underground apps. And the music and video ones for that matter. I couldn't get the kindle app to show my books but someone solved that by using older apk after I went back to stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to know about Slim and the Amazon store. Again, if I were going to use the tablet in a 'shared' environment where I'm using it AND my kids are using it, I'd totally use Slim. It was awesome. In this particular instance where this $35 device is a glorified gameboy, Slim is just something that is an extra layer of complexity that's really not needed and *could* get in the way. I have no intention of my kids even getting on the internet with this device. Not until there's a real need, and even then, I'd probably go get the K9 browser and use that.
TheTruthKC said:
@hobojester, THANKS so much for posting.
I purchased the $35 Fire Tablet for my 3 girls (9, 7, 5).
I've rooted at 5.0.1 and disabled OTA, disabled ads, Installed GooglePlay store, and loaded Nova launcher. Although I haven't taken it another few steps with Kids Place, I feel that I'll start with just locking down and hiding the apps via Nova Launcher will be enough for now. My kids are pretty savvy at navigating interfaces and even when they touch/exit an app, they know how to get back to it. I know there are holes with settings and NovaLauncher settings so when they figure them out, they can reenable certain functionality.
I'll look into Kids Place though, that might be my next step.
Also, about the whole SD card partitioning, I've installed a 32GB card and the tablet stated that it would start using the card as the default storage device. I'm guessing your method moves EVERYTHING to the card, and the default behavior for the Fire Tablet is to install some things on internal memory and 'other' storage is routed to the card? I've installed quite a bit of applications since I plugged in my SD card and it doesn't seem to be full... although I didn't check the storage stats before I wrapped the tablets.
Also, I've heard some good press on the Circle (with Disney) router, so I did order one for the home as yet another piece of the parenting puzzle:
[edit] sorry, didn't have sufficient permissions to post outside links. Google up: "Circle router with Disney"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you can find this useful.
As far as the storage card piece, you are correct in that "my" method moves EVERYTHING. Some apps are "self contained" as I like to think of it, when you download it. Popular games like Geometry Dash have everything contained in the downloaded app (or the .APK file). That is just the app itself. You can tell the OS to auto put the "app" on the storage card, and that works out great, but it's a little misleading. The problem comes in when you have games like Knights of the Old Republic. That app itself is something like 40 MB or what not, but after you launch the app, it'll download this extra content, which in this particular case is 2 GB. The kicker: it'll ONLY store that "content" (as I call it) into what the device considers "External Storage", which is ACTUALLY on the INTERNAL storage. That whole emulated SDcard business Android does. It's all funky. For fear of sounding like a commercial, Link2SD fixes all of that. Linux (what Android is built off of (oh, and hi iPhone users, so is iOS for the record)) has this thing called "Symbolic Links". You can google it up more about it, but think of it as an uber shortcut. You create a symbolic link on internal storage to the actual physical SD card, and the program THINKS it's writing to internal storage when in fact it's writing to the SD card. The kicker: you can only create symbolic links if you're rooted. The nice thing about Link2SD, is that it'll symbolic link EVERYTHING. The "app", the "content", and all of the saved game data and what not (which take a game like MineCraft, can get pretty big if your kids (like mine) go crazy building worlds). And you can have it to it all automagically. But you will need to pop that SDCard out, put it in your computer, and get it re-partitioned (visit the links I posted in the original guide for more in depth details).
I have heard really cool things about the Disney router. For now, my kids don't really have any need (or business) getting on the internet unsupervised. When they do, I'll probably give them the K9 browser.
Sorry for the questions but I can't figure it out, searching doesn't find it, and I'm trying to get these wrapped.
Do I need to still select Fire OS" install supported apps to sd". Or do I do it all with LInk2DS? I haven't Rom'd these yet and I probably won't until we get back from vacation. They are only rooted with stock rom. I also don't need to do the whole kids place thing as my kids are a little older...Thanks for taking the time to write this all up!
Also I have partitions shown in my Disk usage app that are named "External", "SDcard1", system and "SD Card". I know "SD Card" is the exfat 2 part I made base on the size, but as for the "external" and SDcard1, they are both roughly 5 gb ( my sd was only 8 gigs so I made the FAT 32 5 gigs and the rest the exfat 2. But now I am not sure of the naming and I can't tell based only on size. So, is "External" really the built in amazon storage, and "sdcard1" is my microsd?
Like your thinking.
How are you getting past the "Apps with usage access" request for Kids Place?
howzitnow said:
Sorry for the questions but I can't figure it out, searching doesn't find it, and I'm trying to get these wrapped.
Do I need to still select Fire OS" install supported apps to sd". Or do I do it all with LInk2DS? I haven't Rom'd these yet and I probably won't until we get back from vacation. They are only rooted with stock rom. I also don't need to do the whole kids place thing as my kids are a little older...Thanks for taking the time to write this all up!
Also I have partitions shown in my Disk usage app that are named "External", "SDcard1", system and "SD Card". I know "SD Card" is the exfat 2 part I made base on the size, but as for the "external" and SDcard1, they are both roughly 5 gb ( my sd was only 8 gigs so I made the FAT 32 5 gigs and the rest the exfat 2. But now I am not sure of the naming and I can't tell based only on size. So, is "External" really the built in amazon storage, and "sdcard1" is my microsd?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This will be a good chance for me to point out (I'll edit the guide in a second): DO NOT LINK "INTERNAL" Data via Link2SD. It has caused apps to disappear and never come back. I actually had to start completely over on all there of my devices. That "option" to Link the Internal Data is only available when you purchase the Plus version of Link2SD, DON'T CHOOSE THAT OPTION!!!
Now, with that out of the way, Link2SD is clever in how it works, and I am barely out of the n00b stage on this so I'll give a disclaimer that I may be totally feeding you false information here, but here's how I understand it: First of all, what I did was leave the SD card settings inside the OS all 'defaults', which installs the "App" to the SD Card. Now with that, I believe what happens is Link2SD intercepts that 'transfer' and puts the actual apps on the EXT partition. There is the incredibly critical option in Link2SD to put all other data (except "internal" data of course) on the SD Card. That's what moves the really big parts of those big games and apps. So when the App is relocated, it's put onto that EXT part and the Content on your FAT32 part. To address your question regarding External, SDCard#, and 'where in the heck is the EXT' part.... the EXT partition is mounted and 'located' under the 'local' storage under something like the /data/sdex2 folder. Welcome to the world of Linux... on a computer Linux (if my really old dusty Linux knowledge still works) when you need to access the CD drive you have to MOUNT it, and than LINK that mount to basically a local folder (something like /MNT/CDROM). Your EXT partition is mounted the same way as a folder, and for whatever reason in an app like ES File Explorer you won't see it as another drive, you'll only see the FAT32 drive. Maybe that has something to do with it being FAT32, I'm not sure. ...... the long point here is that Link2SD intercepts or coordinates with the OS's moving of apps to locate the App data to your EXT partition (mounted to that /data/xxxxx folder) and all the other really big stuff to the FAT32 partition. Again, I may be way off here, but hey, makes sense in my brain right now .
Inside of Link2SD there's an option in the menu to see the storage consumption, and THERE it'll actually show you the EXT partition as well as the FAT32 partition.
If my kids were a little older and I truly didn't care about them mucking around in settings, potentially deleting things etc., I'd probably give SlimRom a go for that. I've been messing around with it some more and it is just simply more 'pure' Android OS so it'd give the more 'true' Android experience.... if you really care .
cogito808 said:
Like your thinking.
How are you getting past the "Apps with usage access" request for Kids Place?
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Click to collapse
I'm not, simply because FireOS doesn't have that option. I just have to hit 'Cancel' and move on. If you were to put on SlimRom you'd have that option. From what I can tell the biggest thing we're missing out on by staying on FireOS and not having this option would be limiting time in Kids Place for certain apps and what not. For me personally, I'll just set a timer, but if it's something you want to use, I'd absolutely suggest putting SlimRom on there and then basically following the rest of the guide. Everything still applies.
If anyone cares, I set up SlimLP for my mom who is a bit less technologically advanced than I am and I put smart launcher on the device and just hid the apps I thought would be bad if she were to accidentally open them and not know what she was doing. (I thought his could be useful for some of the people here as well)
How do I avoid using the "Link Internal Data" feature? I do not see this option anywhere in the App.
Edit: OK. found it. I was looking in settings (before moving anything) but once I move an app the options come up.
chemie99 said:
How do I avoid using the "Link Internal Data" feature? I do not see this option anywhere in the App.
Edit: OK. found it. I was looking in settings (before moving anything) but once I move an app the options come up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I found out the hard way how bad this can be.... like... 6pm on the 24th, type of thing, RIGHT when I had finished it all up. I had some kind of heavenly help nudge me into thinking "you should turn these off completely, and simulate Christmas morning, see how long it'll take to fully boot back up".... and you can imagine my stomach drop when I went from having 150 games down to something like 3... it was painful. So, yeah, avoid that setting AT ALL COSTS!
How do you partition the SD card on the tablet? Also is this worth doing when you can install xposed SD card modules and be able to move obb files
Sent from my KFFOWI using Tapatalk
just wondering on the reason for 70/30 FAT32/EXT2. What gets installed in each partition?
tonyt3rry said:
How do you partition the SD card on the tablet? Also is this worth doing when you can install xposed SD card modules and be able to move obb files
Sent from my KFFOWI using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I"m not familiar with the xposed SD card modules so I can't help there. As far as HOW you do it, I linked to some articles in the first post that might help (Reference: http://rootmyandroid.org/increase-in...ry-phone.html/
Reference: http://rootmyandroid.org/how-to-use-...al-guide.html/)
chemie99 said:
just wondering on the reason for 70/30 FAT32/EXT2. What gets installed in each partition?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Basically the "app" gets installed to the 30% EXT2, and allt he "content" goes tot he 70% FAST32. Content will typically be data that gets downloaded after the app is installed. Take Knights Of The Old Republic for example, the "app" is like 50MB, but the "content" which gets downloaded upon the first time launching the actual program, is 2GB.
An Alternative Solution
I also gave my kids 3 Fire tablets for Christmas. My kids are mostly older (12,11,4) and the older two have had other Android devices. I went a different direction from the OP, which I'll discuss here for posterity's sake. This is a bit harder than the OP's method but ends up with a more conventional Android environment.
As background, I used FireOS on the Fire Phone for a few weeks, and ran into many problems. I installed CM11 on the Fire Phone and bought another in the final sale. You can read about that on the Fire Phone forum if you're interested.
Also, I've used Screen Time Parental Control for a couple years now, and while somewhat expensive it's great for monitoring without being too invasive. I can let the kids have a lot of freedom with their devices, without having to be worried about them either being on them all the time, or doing weird things. Screen Time nominally works with FireOS but in the end I did not use the tablets as-is long enough to try installing it.
For these tablets, I decided the easiest path was to install CM12. This avoided waiting for Amazon for security updates, and any FireOS incompatibilities, as I'd experienced with the Fire Phone. Also, the kids are familiar with CM, and frankly any replacement Android device will be easier in the future. After my experience with the zombie Fire Phone from Amazon I'm less concerned about CM/ggow/XDA bugs than I am Amazon's.
I decided to create separate user accounts for each child, as opposed to having both my Google account and the child's Google account** under a single user. I've done this before, but it's awkward to have to switch between accounts when using Gmail/Hangouts/Drive/etc., and sometimes things get mixed up.
Thus, for each of the three tablets I went through this process:
[I don't have the tablets in front of me, so if one of these steps doesn't seem obvious ask and I'll look up the exact names/buttons.]
1) Install CM12 using the well-documented methods
2) Boot into CM
3) Configure for my primary Google account
- Download interesting applications that have been purchased on my account
- Open SuperSU, enable multi-user access
- Open Contacts, select "ME", change name to "Dad" (or whatever)*
- Open File Manager
- Settings / Enable multi user access
- Open main Settings app:
- Set screen lock / PIN
- Users / Add user / OK / Set up now
4) "Switching to new user"
- Google Launcher always
- Log in with the "child's" account** in the wizard
- Open Contacts, change "ME" to the child's name
- Open File Manager
- Settings / Switch to Root access mode
- Browse to /data/app/
- Change into interesting packages and pick the .apk file
- Select "Install"***
- Repeat as necessary
Here I installed Screen Time Parental Control from the Play Store and went through the steps for Child device. Also any customization for the account should go here, then you can switch back to your regular user.
To switch user, drag down the system tray, pick the head image in the top right corner, and then the appropriate name.
Notes:
* This is in a wacky place, but this contact is how CM identifies the user name to display in the switch screen. If you don't see "ME" don't add it, just browse around; it's there somewhere.
** Apparently Google only allows accounts for people >=13. Thus, if you are reading from Google, know that these are my own accounts and my children happen to use them.
*** This will actually not re-download the application, but it makes a temporary copy while installing. Application user data is always separate between users, but for the most part download data is shared. For most applications things work on either user; however, Electronic Arts applications don't work with separate users, and Terraria will print an error (but still worked once the core data was downloaded with my purchasing account). I'm sure there are other apps that roll their own security and will be in this situation, but out of a very large family library these are the only apps with which I've had trouble.
Finally, a last note that Screen Time does not presently block creating new users from the system tray. In theory a youngling could create a user that would not have Screen Time limits, but then they wouldn't be able to delete it without getting in to Settings, which you should block anyway. Depends how devious your children are; for me I'm just waiting until they figure it out to do anything about it... just keep an eye on it if you go this route.
Hopefully this helps someone, eventually!
Best,
Tim
I got two fire tablets for the kids for Xmas, one is the kids edition (with the 1yr of apps,etc) the other is a standard fire. Used root junkies tool on both to block lock screen ads and OTA and hide Apps. They were both running OK, occasionally have the odd situation where you try to open an app and it looks like it is reloading it or redownloading it, not sure if this is because internal space has ran out and its redownloading on the fly but its quite frustrating.
Decided to flash slim LP rom on the standard tablet as there were apps that weren't available(better choice on play store and it wasn't tied into the 1year subscription).
So glad I did, was pretty straight forward to get it up and running and the latest build is so solid, fast and stable, was expecting it to be a bit quicker than fire OS as it had a lot less bloat but it seriously impressed me. So I have kids place set up on it to control apps and play time. I also installed hilocker from the play store to help simplify/lock down the lock screen. For example you can disable the status bar in kids place,but the child is still able to turn the screen off and on, they can then access the pull down toggles and mess with things, but with hilocker you can disable it which is great. Battery life is just as great if not better and your also up to date with all Google's security patches to boot.
It is a very good value tablet, as its just been reduced to just £40 in the UK. One thing that would be a major improvement is I just wished they had put 16GB of storage instead of 8GB. I know it has the sd card option which is great but in reality you only get around 5GB of actual internal storage for apps, a lot of which can't be moved to the sd card or still take up internal space when they are. Again I can't recommend slim rom enough as it really makes a big difference to the tablet (besides providing full play store access) and makes it perfect for consuming media, browsing, or just handier for when you want to use a bigger screen than your phone.
Sent from my InFocus M810t using Tapatalk
gsmyth said:
One thing that would be a major improvement is I just wished they had put 16GB of storage instead of 8GB. I know it has the sd card option which is great but in reality you only get around 5GB of actual internal storage for apps, a lot of which can't be moved to the sd card or still take up internal space when they are.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@gsmyth, look into Link2SD if you haven't already. Between that and a 32GB MicroSD I don't feel especially constrained by the 8GB onboard.
tdcrone said:
@gsmyth, look into Link2SD if you haven't already. Between that and a 32GB MicroSD I don't feel especially constrained by the 8GB onboard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How are you formatting your 2nd partition for links2sd?. I keep getting 'unable to mount' error, trying to setup as ext4, which I thought was the standard on newer hardware. I believe I tried ext 2 as well. Without 2nd partition obb and data stay on internal. Thanks
I wish to thank the OP for this, as I am trying to use, and bought the recommended apps... haven;t had the time to set this all up, and it gets a little confusing having all these other devices, but eventually I'll get it.
Before buying the LEM4 (512mb ram / 4gb storage) i looked at a lot of different "full android" chinese watches. (Thanks to Smartwatch Ticks youtube channel for helping me with the decision).
The 900mAh battery was the primary reason why i bought this one and not a smart watch with higher specs (e.g. 1gb memory and 8gb storagespace). I mean, what good is a faster smartwatch if the battery only lasts for a couple of hours.
The only problem so far that i have is the storage space. The storage space for this watch is strangely split into two parts. It has 601,39 mb of storage space, that's where you can install your apps to (has nothing to do with the 512mb of internal working memory). And then it has 1,97gb of phonestorage (you can compare this with some sort of internal SD card).
You can only install apps to the 601,97 mb of storage space (and a couple of stock apps already take a lot of space). So when you boot this watch the first time, you only get about 150 mb of space available to install extra apps. So you can't install a lot. But there is still about 1,88 gb available on the phonestorage (the internal SD card). I have tried to move the installed apps to this phonestorage, but only one app had the ability to let me do this.
My question : Is there another way (or some sort of app) that lets you us the "phonestorage" to install apps to, even if the app doesn't support moving it to this location?
I just returned that watch to Amazon for that exact reason. I could only install a couple apps before I ran out of space. I liked the watch but the whole reason I bought that type of watch was to install apps on it and more that just two or three. Wish that there was a solution for this.
msavu said:
I just returned that watch to Amazon for that exact reason. I could only install a couple apps before I ran out of space. I liked the watch but the whole reason I bought that type of watch was to install apps on it and more that just two or three. Wish that there was a solution for this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, i managed to get root access, now i'm trying to find an easy way to change the partitions of the storage. But haven't got a clue how to even start doing that...
Potential...
froggerman said:
Well, i managed to get root access, now i'm trying to find an easy way to change the partitions of the storage. But haven't got a clue how to even start doing that...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I pulled the trigger on this watch a few days ago.
First impressions, great build quality. Amazing battery life. I played on the watch half the day yesterday rooting it, installing apps and still had 60% battery life after several hours of constant use on WiFi.
When I first got the watch, before even charging it I immediately opened it up in the hopes that it might have a hidden removable sd like the Neptune Pine. The pc board is pretty tightly packed. There wasn't a sd card on top like I had hoped, but I wanted to look underneath the board to be sure. I disconnected all the ribbon cables and antenna wires, but getting the board out was pretty difficult due to how tightly everything was packed so I gave up for fear of damaging it.
After filling up the internal 600meg memory I moved as much as I could to the 2gb storage partition. Of course not all apps would move so I installed link2sd hoping I could force the other apps to move. The problem I had is the storage memory has to be partitioned with the second "app" partition formatted in ext3. I'm trying to find a way to do this over usb, on my WIn10 laptop, but I don't believe its possible.
I also installed exposed with the XinternalSD mod to swap the internal and storage memory, but no luck so far.
This brings me to another possibility. The Neptune Pine had a similar issue with its memory layout. It was installing the apps to the internal 600mb partition which obviously filled up quick. There was a mod here http://neptuneninja.com/sdcard-software-mount-issue-fix/ that basically swapped the internal with the external sd memory and made the sd card the default install location. We need some mod like this for the LEM4. I was almost going to try this mod on my watch, but realized that the mod is intended for the partition layout of the Pine and backed off for fear of bricking it.
Given these drawbacks this watch has a lot of potential so I'm not ready to give up on it just yet. Hopefully some more people purchase this watch so we can get some development action going.
Best
Awesome man! Good work. Thanks for trying to figure it out. I've just started working with mine.
Mind posting up a link to how you rooted it?
Brave777 said:
Awesome man! Good work. Thanks for trying to figure it out. I've just started working with mine.
Mind posting up a link to how you rooted it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sure,
I just used https://www.kingoapp.com/ Its pretty self explanatory. You can to go the site right on the watch and download the apk. then install it, run it (make sure you are on wifi) and it will download the necessary files then root the watch. I also installed Nova Launcher to give it a more android look and feel. The stock launcher was driving me bonkers.
Best
Dang, thanks man. I'm going to go play now!
supergadgetman said:
I pulled the trigger on this watch a few days ago.
First impressions, great build quality. Amazing battery life. I played on the watch half the day yesterday rooting it, installing apps and still had 60% battery life after several hours of constant use on WiFi.
When I first got the watch, before even charging it I immediately opened it up in the hopes that it might have a hidden removable sd like the Neptune Pine. The pc board is pretty tightly packed. There wasn't a sd card on top like I had hoped, but I wanted to look underneath the board to be sure. I disconnected all the ribbon cables and antenna wires, but getting the board out was pretty difficult due to how tightly everything was packed so I gave up for fear of damaging it.
After filling up the internal 600meg memory I moved as much as I could to the 2gb storage partition. Of course not all apps would move so I installed link2sd hoping I could force the other apps to move. The problem I had is the storage memory has to be partitioned with the second "app" partition formatted in ext3. I'm trying to find a way to do this over usb, on my WIn10 laptop, but I don't believe its possible.
I also installed exposed with the XinternalSD mod to swap the internal and storage memory, but no luck so far.
This brings me to another possibility. The Neptune Pine had a similar issue with its memory layout. It was installing the apps to the internal 600mb partition which obviously filled up quick. There was a mod here http://neptuneninja.com/sdcard-software-mount-issue-fix/ that basically swapped the internal with the external sd memory and made the sd card the default install location. We need some mod like this for the LEM4. I was almost going to try this mod on my watch, but realized that the mod is intended for the partition layout of the Pine and backed off for fear of bricking it.
Given these drawbacks this watch has a lot of potential so I'm not ready to give up on it just yet. Hopefully some more people purchase this watch so we can get some development action going.
Best
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I opened up my LEM4 too, but wasn't as brave as you to take it apart. To try and get it partitioned i wanted to get into recovery mode but with only one button on the phone this seemed impossible. With ROM Manager did get it into Recovery mode but not all of the information is beeing shown. It's like the screen zooms in (or the resolution of the screen is not big enough to show everything). Normally i should see a screen with a "dead" android logo and on top of the screen a choice menu but on the LEM4 only the middle part with the android logo is shown. So you can't see the choice menu. And even if you did, there are no up and down buttons (volume buttons) to make a selection and then enter that selection... I would like to go into the recovery mode but can't seem to find a way with the zoomed in screen and the lack of selection buttons...
I had to let the battery drain out to boot it and het it up and running again.
OK...Jesus. What am I missing? Is the SD card slot the same slot as the sim card slot? Or is there another one somewhere??
Edit: SOB! I just read that it doesn't support TF or SD cards. It must have been listed on a bunch of generic Chinese listings that just list every feature you'd want to see. Sighh. Guess I'll join the struggle of figuring out how to repartition.
lemfo 4
i have this watch, i love this watch but i hate the memory. so far- rooted it, used app2sd, not link to sd to move apps. first of all i clicked on the top right and chose sd card as the default installation . could not get into recovery. had to let the battery die to get out of blank recovery screen. if only we can partition the sd, it will be great. i also use m2d receiver, m2d bluetooth and m2d sender to receive notifications. you can get those from the playstore. this works well when you are using other launchers from the playstore . i also get full inetrnet access 24 hrs by using the bluetooth internet feature which i connected through my phone bluetooth so weather is always up to date and i can surf the net like a mutha**cka
Anyone having issues with using the Lem4 as a standalone device with your sim inserted? I am having issues with the IMEI number being invalid and my carrier (MetroPCS) unable to recognize the IMEI.
hope you are not running on a 4g sim because the watch only supports up to 3g
Succesfully move apps to the 2GB storage partitio!n
froggerman said:
Before buying the LEM4 (512mb ram / 4gb storage) i looked at a lot of different "full android" chinese watches. (Thanks to Smartwatch Ticks youtube channel for helping me with the decision).
The 900mAh battery was the primary reason why i bought this one and not a smart watch with higher specs (e.g. 1gb memory and 8gb storagespace). I mean, what good is a faster smartwatch if the battery only lasts for a couple of hours.
The only problem so far that i have is the storage space. The storage space for this watch is strangely split into two parts. It has 601,39 mb of storage space, that's where you can install your apps to (has nothing to do with the 512mb of internal working memory). And then it has 1,97gb of phonestorage (you can compare this with some sort of internal SD card).
You can only install apps to the 601,97 mb of storage space (and a couple of stock apps already take a lot of space). So when you boot this watch the first time, you only get about 150 mb of space available to install extra apps. So you can't install a lot. But there is still about 1,88 gb available on the phonestorage (the internal SD card). I have tried to move the installed apps to this phonestorage, but only one app had the ability to let me do this.
My question : Is there another way (or some sort of app) that lets you us the "phonestorage" to install apps to, even if the app doesn't support moving it to this location?
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Click to collapse
Hi all,
I made a succesfull move action with "AppMgr III" and the "Kingo Root (including SuperUser)". Set some settings set within AppMgr for all hidden and system application to be shown. After that Kingo will ask to Allow root permissions for the AppMgr. After this it can be easily moved to the 2GB storage. Works flawless!
Any questions, just ask!
Rgds,
Richard Kornson
Original Rom of LEM4 ?
Dear helpfull users,
i hope anyone can help !
I brick my LemfoLEM4 after a root and a launcherupdate. The watch hang on "LEMFO" logo.
YES, I KNOW !!! I am to blame myself...
Can anyone help with a BACKUP of her/his original LEM4 (4.4.4) ROM?
ADB does not work (for update launcher apk) ! only SP_flash_tool works...
Thanks for your time !
Michael
skydope said:
Hi all,
I made a succesfull move action with "AppMgr III" and the "Kingo Root (including SuperUser)". Set some settings set within AppMgr for all hidden and system application to be shown. After that Kingo will ask to Allow root permissions for the AppMgr. After this it can be easily moved to the 2GB storage. Works flawless!
Any questions, just ask!
Rgds,
Richard Kornson
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you elaborate on the settings for showing hidden systems apps to move?could not find setting in App Mgr lll.Thanks.
Lemfo Lem 4 STORAGE FIXED
froggerman said:
before buying the lem4 (512mb ram / 4gb storage) i looked at a lot of different "full android" chinese watches. (thanks to smartwatch ticks youtube channel for helping me with the decision).
The 900mah battery was the primary reason why i bought this one and not a smart watch with higher specs (e.g. 1gb memory and 8gb storagespace). I mean, what good is a faster smartwatch if the battery only lasts for a couple of hours.
The only problem so far that i have is the storage space. The storage space for this watch is strangely split into two parts. It has 601,39 mb of storage space, that's where you can install your apps to (has nothing to do with the 512mb of internal working memory). And then it has 1,97gb of phonestorage (you can compare this with some sort of internal sd card).
You can only install apps to the 601,97 mb of storage space (and a couple of stock apps already take a lot of space). So when you boot this watch the first time, you only get about 150 mb of space available to install extra apps. So you can't install a lot. But there is still about 1,88 gb available on the phonestorage (the internal sd card). I have tried to move the installed apps to this phonestorage, but only one app had the ability to let me do this.
My question : Is there another way (or some sort of app) that lets you us the "phonestorage" to install apps to, even if the app doesn't support moving it to this location?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes i just got the LEMFO today dec 12, 2017 just USE usb charger that came with the phone & plug it into your pc and drag all of your extra movies,music,pictures & apk's just tried it worked like a charm.
BY: Movieman365 awesome watch/smartphone
supergadgetman said:
sure,
I just used ***CENSORED*** Its pretty self explanatory. You can to go the site right on the watch and download the apk. then install it, run it (make sure you are on wifi) and it will download the necessary files then root the watch. I also installed Nova Launcher to give it a more android look and feel. The stock launcher was driving me bonkers.
Best
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Note: this will not work with an updated Google Play with its Play Protect system, which happens if you added your account. Uninstall that with ES File Explorer Pro sideloaded. THEN root.
I know this is far late but this watch phone was $70 at the time, and I wanted to wear the app "com_alarmclock_xtreme" with its math-solving disabling system. that makes sure you are quite awake to turn it off. (it gives you a half second to read and memorize the puzzle to solve, it changes if you back out. Quite extreme, eh?) I used root to remove some bloatware, and apps that I know would just eat up space, like Maps.. I put in some music and videos, but there were no volume controls, so off they went.