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.
Click to expand...
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?
Click to expand...
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.
Related
Sorry for the loing post, bare with me
I have installed FRF50 when it came out, after a few day when doing an update of a few app in the market I had one stuck at installation, even after reboot when I tried to update it again it did the same, after a few cleanup of my download folder and retry all the app that where encrypted in the app2sd folder (not sure of the exact folder name) where not properly decrypted by the OS, at the time I taught nothing of it and reinstalled everything (froyo image + reconfig) to do a fresh start with froyo, I also reformatted my SD card to be on the safe side... and had no issue since then...
Then came FRF72, did the exact same problem yesterday and I was able to restart the SD (if I can say so) after a few reboot.
Today same issue is back, but no go so far, all app that belong to flash are there with a generic icon, they appear on the list of app in the SD section but without their icon, it really look like if the OS is not able to decrypt them (If I understand correctly that was the stupid way google decided to implement some kind of DRM on the flash memory)
I am seriously thinkiing about going back to CM and the old way of EXT4 app2sd, it was working ok...
I've had this occur after upgrading to FRF72, it's probably because the OS didn't manage to detect the apps correctly. To solve it, I just plugged in my USB cable, mounted the SD card and then unmounting it after it showed up correctly as a removable drive on my laptop. After waiting a while for the OS to scan the card (check logcat to verify that apps are indeed being scanned one by one), my apps were back.
Another test...
Rebooted the phone without the SD, then shutdown and reboot with the SD, no change but...
If I connect the USB cable, the computer see the new drive right away (it use to take a few second after enabling the USB sharing) but is is not usable and I see no notification of the USB, that's a really weird bug...
if anybody have some idea, I know from my first encounter with this issue that changing the SD card will not fix this either...
@ Zanglang
Thanks for the sugestion, but the PC doesn't see the card, my terminal was on the flash mem and I can not install new app from market
trying a nandroid from the Recovery now... BAD DROID...
I had a problem on Frf50 with app icons turning generic and disappearing from 3d app rolodex. They were still accessible from the generic icons.
Now on Frf72 and issue seems to have subsided. Everything is where it should be. This time around i only added apps to sd they were allowable to move, i didnt force anything. When i first talked about it a while back i heard it was a bug as well as learned that certain things shouldnt go on the SD altogether. Now that i got that straightened out im good and feel like i learned something. lol
crap, no recovery
SBERG117 said:
I had a problem on Frf50 with app icons turning generic and disappearing from 3d app rolodex. They were still accessible from the generic icons.
Now on Frf72 and issue seems to have subsided. Everything is where it should be. This time around i only added apps to sd they were allowable to move, i didnt force anything. When i first talked about it a while back i heard it was a bug as well as learned that certain things shouldnt go on the SD altogether. Now that i got that straightened out im good and feel like i learned something. lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, the funny part is that I did not move rom manager and I did not move anything like widget etc, I am frustrated by Google stupid way of handling memory extension tho... as for not forcing any app i am fine with the idea however too many app are not updated and it piss me off to go thru all app to move them by hand...
What's the point of encrypting the app moved to SD anyway... I can't believe how stupid this is, I hope Cyanogen will find a way to disable this altogether...
P00r said:
Yeah, the funny part is that I did not move rom manager and I did not move anything like widget etc, I am frustrated by Google stupid way of handling memory extension tho... as for not forcing any app i am fine with the idea however too many app are not updated and it piss me off to go thru all app to move them by hand...
What's the point of encrypting the app moved to SD anyway... I can't believe how stupid this is, I hope Cyanogen will find a way to disable this altogether...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well now some of the icons have disappeared again. LOL.
These were all allowable by FRF72. Only one that hasnt changed yet is titanium backup. I tried, thought it was gonna hold.
I managed to do a recovery, I swapped the SD with another one and moved everything from the protected dir of the old card to the new one and all the icon came back.
When checking in the app manager, I noticed a few file marked as flash, I deleted a few and it seem ok but the one in the SD section are still not all there, and some display calculating as in the properties field forever...
So far
Froyo = 7/10 (3 total crash so far all related to the new memory management) since I used the PM setInstallLocation 2 I am not putting 0...
Cyanogen = 9/10
I am really curious to see what he will do with flash memory management!
Now running FRF83 with the first SD untouched, I recovered my nandroid then directly flashed to FRF83 from Paul, all app are there... I am also reverting to setIntallLocation 0 to see if there's improvement...
Having similar issues right now on the latest update with setinstalllocation 2. I guess I have to f around with it to get this to work again. What a pain.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
adb setinstalllocation 2 doesn't seem to do much but make it seem like many apps are actually being installed on the sd card when they are in fact not.
I decided to investigate when I noticed my phone storage at 32mb of internal storage free. Installed flash player. I went to manage applications, installed on sd tab had all 7.7 megs on the sd card. I went to uninstall, the application freed up internal phone storage, all 7.7 megs on uninstall.
I don't believe this method actually does anything useful unless its an app that already allows store to sd.. which is few and far between. Furthermore you don't know what's really an app that supports that now and what isn't because most of the apps now show up in the "on sd" tab of managed applications.
I could be wrong, plan on testing some more soon.. busy for the rest of the day. Will report back
blisk said:
adb setinstalllocation 2 doesn't seem to do much but make it seem like many apps are actually being installed on the sd card when they are in fact not.
I decided to investigate when I noticed my phone storage at 32mb of internal storage free. Installed flash player. I went to manage applications, installed on sd tab had all 7.7 megs on the sd card. I went to uninstall, the application freed up internal phone storage, all 7.7 megs on uninstall.
I don't believe this method actually does anything useful unless its an app that already allows store to sd.. which is few and far between. Furthermore you don't know what's really an app that supports that now and what isn't because most of the apps now show up in the "on sd" tab of managed applications.
I could be wrong, plan on testing some more soon.. busy for the rest of the day. Will report back
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The files are encrypted and placed in .android_secure in the root of the SD card (when I crashed that dir had 350MB size...)
so they are there, but I agree that phone memory still didn't get freed as much as it should as well, I suspect it's the way the OS had to place thumbstone so that they appear in the app manager
Also I noticed that they seem to have some kind of naming convention {com.dooblou.WiFiFileExplorerPRO-2} vs {cn.mobgo.filego-1} where some have -2 and other are -1
either way I reformatted and started again from scratch (well partially, titanium backup is very usefull) this time without forcing usage of the SD card I already feel the pain of having to go thru each and every app to toggle the move to sd and this is when it simply doesn't support the feature yet...
I really think that this app 2 sd implementation sucks big time, oh did I mention that the way google implemented it's memory expansion sucks... Also the way they implemented encryption mean that you could end up with a backup from a broken phone not working on a new phone which is quite something, almost sound like an Apple Feature...
They could have to the very least added a tab in the app manager so that we can easily manage the said so option... and made an external app that could decrypt the app moved to flash for backup purpose
P00r said:
I really think that this app 2 sd implementation sucks big time, oh did I mention that the way google implemented it's memory expansion sucks... Also the way they implemented encryption mean that you could end up with a backup from a broken phone not working on a new phone which is quite something, almost sound like an Apple Feature...
They could have to the very least added a tab in the app manager so that we can easily manage the said so option... and made an external app that could decrypt the app moved to flash for backup purpose
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah it's a pretty terrible implementation. I think eventually it'll be some sort of transparent thing that the user will never see if the app developer enables it but for the time being it blows big time.
Maybe this is why Froyo hasn't yet released.... Wider audience and feedback on A2SD.
I suspect it'll either get fixed or yanked for 2.2.
I had to reinstall all the apps I moved to the SD card.
Had the same problem with FRF76..all of a sudden I couldn't install new apps from the market...soooo, what I did was:
- downgrade to CM5.0.8
- save all of my apps to apps2sd
- deleted app secure folder
- upgrade to rodrigurez r19 rom with older style apps2sd.
- now, I have all my apps n new ones my sd card n yeap..even widgets are working..
khaytsus said:
Maybe this is why Froyo hasn't yet released.... Wider audience and feedback on A2SD.
I suspect it'll either get fixed or yanked for 2.2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope so, A guy has made a great program to move the app to SD, however on my phone I can move like 10% of all I have installed, I just had to delete co-pilot to be able to install swype
What's weird is that their protected folder system even compress the app, but as far as I am concerned I do not need more space on my SD since almost nothing can be moved there anyway... and even if, I could update my SD as needed...
So, apparently, it is still not supported and Google has no solution yet.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2275..._details_emerge_the_little_things_add_up.html
This detail, which came out in conversations I had with Google engineers today, explains why the Android file system organization is, well, a mess, and why I’ve had such inconsistent experiences with Android and removable storage across the various Honeycomb tablets I’ve tried (and I’ve tried all of them that are available so far).
“We don’t want to expose the user to file locations,” explained Hiroshi Lockheimer, director of engineering at Google. “How do you manage that as a user? The not-good answer is with the file browser.” Lockheimer says that many of the experiences I’ve seen so far are what individual hardware manufacturers have enabled, as opposed to what Google has provided natively. The good thing is that Lockheimer says Google is looking at ways to do this; but the problem hasn’t been solved yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it me or does that say nothing still?
Google says they don't want to give you a file browser / file explorer / file manager.
Fine - there's plenty of third party apps to that on the market - but why not fix the SD card slot support?
Although I agree that some of the structure stuff is a bit of a mess - there's lots of random folders created on the SD card, like .android_secure, .bookmark_thumb etc. that you probably don't want end users seeing.
At least now it's clear that it's Google who has to fix the SD Card issue and not Motorola.
poisike said:
At least now it's clear that it's Google who has to fix the SD Card issue and not Motorola.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I honestly didn't read that at all...?
I read that google were working on some sort of file manager, not SD card? am I misreading it? as far as I can see file manager, and SD card are separate issues?
also the transformer, and custom kernels have the sd card slot working, so not sure who is at fault for the xoom
Why is there a difference between the tablet and the phones?
I have access to the SD Card and file system there.
Not like every Windows user on the planet has never seen "My Computer". Organizing files is not some obscure concept that is to high level for users.
From what I can understand:
USB file system means the OS access the usb disk in block level which the app (file browser) will have access to the full path of the file.
The one that is supported by Honeycomb right now is MTP. This is totally different compared to USB. The actual file system is implemented by the device, not by the computer's operating system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Transfer_Protocol
My prediction, this USB thing will be solved by the upcoming ICE CREAM SANDWICH.
Because by then, phone and tablet are merged ... everything which is supported by phone (like SD card) must be supported by tablet.
So, yeah, we must wait till end of this year or early next year (worse case).
Still, it is too long for Motorola with their "promise", no?
@Kcarpenter
Very true - but I think the problem may lie with the Xoom using the MTP instead?
or is that a load of rubbish?
Eitherway, I guess from the Google point of view - they want it simple and try and hide the stuff they don't want n00bs messing with (a bit like Apple hide everything too so all their iOS are n00b proof!)
Also Phones open up to mass storage straight to the card - you don't get access to the internal memory at all. Whereas with the Xoom you would want access to that because there's loads of space there
gogol said:
My prediction, this USB thing will be solved by the upcoming ICE CREAM SANDWICH.
Because by then, phone and tablet are merged ... everything which is supported by phone (like SD card) must be supported by tablet.
So, yeah, we must wait till end of this year or early next year (worse case).
Still, it is too long for Motorola with their "promise", no?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What about just fixing the kernel like timat's - that'd do the same job for now
Still don't understand why they would slack on getting the SD card implemented. They have so much riding on honeycomb success. And the LTE radio needs to get installed too. Time to ramp it up.
I agree they should be able to enable it considering one of our own has already done so with a custom a kernel, I still love my xoom though!
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
mwaychoff said:
I agree they should be able to enable it considering one of our own has already done so with a custom a kernel, I still love my xoom though!
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agree completely.
and the LTE thing is running on awhile now - didnt someone say that the samsung tab 10.1 might beat Xoom to be the first LTE HC tab if Moto don't buck up?
Who needs google when you have bigrushdog?
Just did the 3.1 update and SD card slot still doesn't work. I thought it would've fixed this.
Yea, I read that article yesterday. It has NOTHING to do with the sdcard support.
Google was explaining why android in general has a fairly chaotic/unintuitive filesystem structure... NOT why they haven't biuld in support for SD.
it was well known this update was not addressing the sd slot. No wjere not one single ppace has google or moto saidnthe sd lotbwil not be active by the deadline they stated. They could give us slot access right now but the issue is as has been aluded to they would either have to give full file sys access or no file access like the phones. For those that will say it doesn't matter give us access. It matters to them as they will be creating huge issues with tech support by the much larger majority of users that would delete things that would kill or hamper the device. I mean even on here you have tons of people that can't follow clear simple directons to flash an update without screwing it up some how. Can you imagine Suzzy home maker or joe the guy who can not figure out how to do a windows update would do with full access. My guess is they will be doing a update with a file manager and permision set so nothing past the sdcard parent folder can be accessed and programs installed will have premissions set to prevent accidental delete without going into the file manger settings to change them to allow change of permisions.
This will solve both the issues and allow both sd card and internal storage access without opening up the core files to tinkering by BDUs
OK, just picked up the Nook Color last night. It's v1.2.0 in its settings, and apparently a blue-dot version (since it only has 1.0 GB free space in its settings panel).
I picked this up because I wanted to make it a low-end cost-effective android tablet.
I'm already getting a bit confused with all the stuff flying around - I read some post that says you don't need to root these things, that you just format/flash right over the existing - more posts talking about how its next to impossible to brick these, other posts talking about bootable SDs, and some other posts talking about ManualNooter for rooting. THen I happened to stumble onto the whole "blue-dot" business.
My questions are fairly simple. I want a low-end android tablet that I can get stuff from the Market (or side-load) and play Netflix videos. I have a 4GB SD card in it now, that's free and empty that I can use to make flashable bootable whatnots.
Do I root? Do I repartition this blue-dot business first? Can some people chime in with exactly what I should be doing? I see things about rooting, I see things about bootable CWM SD cards, (different sizes for different SD cards, but golly if you're blue-dot, get the 1GB eyeballer somethingorother) and it's getting a bit much.
I have an Evo 4G that I've rooted and flashed ROMs, and know my way around CWM for that. I'm not a total noob to this.
I just want to make sure I have my ducks in a row. If I don't need to root, why is there manualNooter? I guess I'd just like to get an android OS going on there (CM7?) that will let me play netflix and get market apps and such. What's the shortest/easiest path to this, and should I repartition first?
edit: as a follow up - can I just install CM7 onto an SD card and always boot from that? Do I have to mess at all with NC's internal business? That would be handier, I think - if possible. I just read that it looks possible in the comments here:
http://www.linux-mag.com/id/8553/
In reading this:
http://quinxy.com/guides/how-to-pick-your-nook-color-operating-system-and-install-options/
I think I want to go the OS on SD-Card option. It protects the warranty, and I can keep it "safe" for now.
Wifflepig said:
In reading this:
http://quinxy.com/guides/how-to-pick-your-nook-color-operating-system-and-install-options/
I think I want to go the OS on SD-Card option. It protects the warranty, and I can keep it "safe" for now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If that's your decision, which is the same one I made, this is what I learned here:
-The MicroSD card itself can make running android a wonderful experience, or a torurous nightmare of force close issues on everything. All cards are not made equal. You probably want a SanDisk brand card, test your card with Crystal Disk Mark, and read Here and Here for more information on that part of it.
-I am running this Phiremod 6.2 image, dualboot between phiremod and honeycomb. You can just run it by default on the more stable phiremod without ever going into honeycomb if you want. I haven't updated it to phiremod 6.3 yet as the thread gives you the option for, 6.2 runs very well.
A rock solid package that works fantastically well, make sure to thank the people who made it if you like it - you can tell it's a labor of love by how nice it is.
Also, make sure that the battery is charged all the way to full the first time you put your custom SD card in.
To make the custom card:
-put it in your computer, fresh format if possible/necessary
-use WinImage to burn the image to the MicroSD card.
-use EASEUS partition software to extend the /sdcard partition to use the rest of the unallocated space on your MicroSD card.
...and that's really all there is to it. It can get confusing out there with so many options and configuration choices.
You may end up deciding that you like something better, but for a "no strings attached" look at android on the Nook color the image and tools I just linked are a good place to start.
Besides preserving your stock Nook color as-is, running from the sdcard lets you have a couple of different cards with different installs, and swapping between them is as easy as turning the Nook off and then back on again.
While the Nook is booted to it's stock configuration, you can plug it into your computer and transfer whatever you want drag and drop style into the internal memory of the device. When you reboot the Nook into your android sdcard install, you can use a file manager to browse to it and use it. No hassle pictures, music and etc... transfer to your android device.
The google market app "dual file manager" by medieval software is free and great for running back and forth between the internal and sdcard memory.
Also, for an sdcard install, get the google market app "sd speed increase" by diego stamigni. It absolutely makes a noticable difference in running android from the sdcard.
Two last app recommendations are both paid google market apps, but:
The "nook color power button" by otis8 provides you with an on-screen icon that emulates the hardware power button on the side of your nook. I have a case that covers mine, and a lot of searching led to this answer. You may or may not need it, but if you do this is the right answer.
"thumb keyboard" by beansoft, has completely changed my Nook experience in ways I didn't realize needed changing until I used it. The split keyboard makes thumb typing so much easier. The arrow keys I always seem to need were why I wanted a new keyboard, but with the customizable buttons and layout options available through this app...it was worth every last penny spent on it.
Every time I type something on the Nook, I am so glad I got this keyboard.
That should be enough to get you started, just make sure that if you install the image I reference above:
-After it boots into android the first time, let it sit and don't touch it for about 5 minutes. The first time it runs, it has to configure itself on the sdcard, which you don't see happening on the screen. A little bit fo patience this one time can eliminate some possible problems in the future.
-Log into and activate the google market from the app icon on the home screen first. If you delete this icon from the home screen, you may lose market on this install and have to either do something funky to get it back, or re-image the sdcard.
There is so much great information here, I was amazed and overwhelmed when I first started looking into it. This place has taught me so much in so little time - I love it here.
ETA:
One last thing is, I don't know anything about blue dot, i've only seen it in passing. My nook is updated to 1.2 stock. You should be ok, but make sure to read the thread of the image you download to make sure.
...and... by keeping your stock nook, you don't have a problem that others might. If using windows, an imaged sdcard can't be just formatted back to it's full capacity. Windows only reads the first small partition as the whole card.
If you boot the nook into it's stock software, and then insert the sdcard, the stock nook will let you format it right back to it's standard capacity and remove all the custom partitions on it.
Then all you have to do is pop the card out, put it in your computer, and burn a new image to 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?
Click to expand...
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.
I pulled out my old Tab A 10.1 (2016) and forget just how ridiculously limited this thing is with space. I did some searching and found out that I should be able to use the "Format as Internal" feature, but the feature is nowhere to be found. The android version is at 8.1 Oreo, so it should at least be capable, but I can't tell why the actual button/feature is missing. Another method I'm seeing is by using ADB from the PC. the idea is fairly straight forward, and yet, not. I opened adb through cmd line. But the next step I'm supposed to do is enter sm list-disks to list my USB connected devices. But when I enter it, nothing happens. The command isn't among the list of commands brought up when you enter adb. So... I have no clue where to go next.
I just want my 256gb micro sd card to become the main/"internal" drive for my galaxy Tab A, so that all updates, apps, images, et, are saved, downloaded and installed on the SD card by default.
Not recommended. It will slow it down and may end up crashing it, losing data in the process.
Use the SD card as the data drive.
Internal memory is for the OS, loaded apps, the temporary download folder. The DCIM folder can go on either drive preferably the data. There can only be ONE DCIM folder on the device!
Always redundantly backup critical data to at least two hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC.
blackhawk said:
Not recommended. It will slow it down and may end up crashing it, losing data in the process.
Use the SD card as the data drive.
Internal memory is for the OS, loaded apps, the temporary download folder. The DCIM folder can go on either drive preferably the data. There can only be ONE DCIM folder on the device!
Always redundantly backup critical data to at least two hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate it. I didn't realize it'd affect speed. But ... the issue is that the tablets only has 16gb internal. Half the apps I install cannot by move to SD card. Some streaming apps can while others can't. And before I even know whether or an app can be moved, there isn't enough room to install to internal. Ive search everywhere and can't find anything to install apps from play store directly to SD card. This is a major issue with updates too. I have absolutely no intension of installing games. But the majority of the following apps I do need for business purposes. I need to have social (Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Discord, Reddit, and Tik tok) for business purposes, as well as Etsy to shop and maintain my shop. Store apps I frequent for business materials (Amazon, Walmart, Target, Costco, Home Depot, and a few others). Utility apps for notes, docs, and calculating, among other things. Art apps for sketching and designing. And lastly some entertainment apps including Hulu, Vudu, Netflix, Disney+ Amazon Prime, and Kindle.
I know it seems like a lot, but please try not to criticize. I don't think it's too unreasonable being that I have all these apps and much much more just on my phone. I know it's a bit older, but I feel it's odd that my phone can hold this much without hinderance for updates, but a tablet can't.
I do truly appreciate your warning. I really do. But if you know the process (legitimacy), would you allow me to try it and I will take responsibility for the risk knowing full well you warned me? Please? Besides, the SD card was on sell, so it's not a big loss lol.
Take note that apps can only be placed on adopted storage media if the developer has specified support via the android:installLocation attribute.
jwoegerbauer said:
Take note that apps can only be placed on adopted storage media if the developer has specified support via the android:installLocation attribute.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As simple as that statement may have been, that went over my head a bit. "developer" being Samsung? How do I confirm this? or are you saying that Samsung does not support it?
And is "adopted storage" the termed used for describing the adb approach?
varxtis said:
As simple as that statement may have been, that went over my head a bit. "developer" being Samsung? How do I confirm this? or are you saying that Samsung does not support it?
And is "adopted storage" the termed used for describing the adb approach?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The 3rd party app doesn't is what jwoegerbauer
said.
This isn't the device for this job. Repurpose it for something else.
With those kind of apps you better get something with a huge internal memory.
Don't mix business with pleasure on a device; remember what pays the bills.
That said those apps you use for business are an open invitation for malware, phishing, hackers, etc.
blackhawk said:
The 3rd party app doesn't is what jwoegerbauer
said.
This isn't the device for this job. Repurpose it for something else.
With those kind of apps you better get something with a huge internal memory.
Don't mix business with pleasure on a device; remember what pays the bills.
That said those apps you use for business are an open invitation for malware, phishing, hackers, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fair enough. Thank you both! Ironically I had it as our over glorified house remote to control Home Theater PC (unified remote), XBox, Lights, Smart devices, etc... but everything is available on streaming, so we got rid of HTPC, and everything else we've been using through our phones. It does however make a very sleek looking $15 paper weight ^_^ (It's value is apparently only $15 lol) Ugh, I refuse to go to apple... I wonder what device would meet my needs. I'm about to wear out Google lol. Anyway, thank you both again.
varxtis said:
Fair enough. Thank you both! Ironically I had it as our over glorified house remote to control Home Theater PC (unified remote), XBox, Lights, Smart devices, etc... but everything is available on streaming, so we got rid of HTPC, and everything else we've been using through our phones. It does however make a very sleek looking $15 paper weight ^_^ (It's value is apparently only $15 lol) Ugh, I refuse to go to apple... I wonder what device would meet my needs. I'm about to wear out Google lol. Anyway, thank you both again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're welcome.
You can find something for it to do... google repurposing old phones etc.
I have stock Samsung's only. They have a learning curve meaning they should be optimized before use. A model running on Android 9 or 10 would work nicely, disable firmware updates so it can't upgrade to 11 as that will break it. You want 256gb of internal memory, at least 6gb of ram and a SD card* slot is preferable.
If you use it for business consider getting 2 so you have a backup.
* all critical data goes here including everything you need for a complete reload.
Always backup critical data redundantly to at least 2 hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC. At the very least use a OTG flashstick to back the data up. Verify the data is readable and all there.
Never encrypt backup drives! Put them in a safe or deposit box if you must.
Develope a backup plan or eventually you will lose data.
blackhawk said:
You're welcome.
You can find something for it to do... google repurposing old phones etc.
I have stock Samsung's only. They have a learning curve meaning they should be optimized before use. A model running on Android 9 or 10 would work nicely, disable firmware updates so it can't upgrade to 11 as that will break it. You want 256gb of internal memory, at least 6gb of ram and a SD card* slot is preferable.
If you use it for business consider getting 2 so you have a backup.
* all critical data goes here including everything you need for a complete reload.
Always backup critical data redundantly to at least 2 hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC. At the very least use a OTG flashstick to back the data up. Verify the data is readable and all there.
Never encrypt backup drives! Put them in a safe or deposit box if you must.
Develope a backup plan or eventually you will lose data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@[email protected] Thats a "lot" to take in. The information is straight forward enough, but when I feel like a monkey banging against an obelisk ... lol. I do get it, I promise. I'll have to figure out a plan. I just went and picked up an S7. Shame on me tho: I asked for 256gb and after halfway done setting it up (at home) it occurs to me its a 128gb. That WAS my bad. Not the sales rep. I should have been paying attention to price difference, but I got the protection pla, and had rewards points and there was a Sale, so the price balanced out, and ya. . . I have the attention span of a 2yo. But not gonna take it back. It runs very smooth and stores what I need/want. Work tablet anyway, so aside from nes/snes/genesis/n64 emus and Lemmings game from app store, won't be loading anything heavy (*head drift slowly up and to the right as I get lost in dreams of VR*) Plenty of free space. Just really really disappointed that the Device still have the Phone and Messages app even though Call & Text feature is disabled in the US. Anyway, Thank you!I really really appreciate the emphasis on backup. New to business, so have to keep in mind how important info is. Thank you again for everything!
It is a lot to take in.
It's a evolutionary process of learning and adapting... not all done at once.
Depending on your device and needs you will modify what I said to fit your goals.
If you load a lot of apps 256gb is probably better.
I don't like creating open box specials but do what you need to do...
You need at least 50gb of headroom after you're done loading everything.
You can get by with a lot less but personally I want at least 100gb of headroom after loading on the internal memory.
No such thing as too much... it comes in handy.
blackhawk said:
It is a lot to take in.
It's a evolutionary process of learning and adapting... not all done at once.
Depending on your device and needs you will modify what I said to fit your goals.
If you load a lot of apps 256gb is probably better.
I don't like creating open box specials but do what you need to do...
You need at least 50gb of headroom after you're done loading everything.
You can get by with a lot less but personally I want at least 100gb of headroom after loading on the internal memory.
No such thing as too much... it comes in handy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ooooooh ya, I am right there with ya on Open box stuff. There are very few things I trust open box, but phones and tablets are not among them. So, I have everything installed and I'm at 27% used on internal. So I feel pretty confident so far.
varxtis said:
Ooooooh ya, I am right there with ya on Open box stuff. There are very few things I trust open box, but phones and tablets are not among them. So, I have everything installed and I'm at 27% used on internal. So I feel pretty confident so far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I buy new phones only and so far its worked out well.
Sounds like you have enough internal memory
Get a V30 rated SD card like the Sandisk extreme. These run well. Format it in the device before using.
A .5tb one goes for about $75.