BeatificaBytes

The Joys of Computing

Tag: Android

  • Play a movie on multiple devices via WiFi-Direct

    When going to travel for hours by car with my kids, I usually copy some cartoons on their tablets before leaving. A question which arose recently was: how to play a movie from one tablet on the others, while there is no network in the car. Answer: using BubbleUPnP and Wifi-Direct.

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    The question arose as I forgot once to copy cartoons on one of the tablets. Being in the car, I had no Wi-Fi network to connect the devices (no wireless router). And I didn’t want to use a mobile data connection as, being in a foreign country, the cost would have been excessive. So I had to find another solution.

    Looking on internet how to share media or files between two devices without Wi-Fi access point, I found that the modern way to go was: wifi-direct.

    Connecting devices via wifi-direct was easy as natively supported by Android, as well as iOS (one can find many how-to on internet). But next, how to access the media on other devices was more tricky.

    Usually, on mobile devices, I am using:

    • Plex connected via internet to play media from my NAS.
    • Plex to play media synced locally on the device.
    • Plex to play media synced on another device with Plex «advertised» on the LAN, by that device, as a server (see settings of Plex on the mobile device).
    • Archos Video to play media available locally (internal or external strorage) or via FTP, SMB shares or UPnP.
    • Possibly MX Player to play media while directly browsing the storage of the device.

    I also used to play media via UPnP with MediaHouse as, just like Plex and Archos Video, it is managing libraries of movies with metadata automatically fetched from internet. But that was before getting support for UPnP within Archos Video.

    As Archos Video and Plex are IMO, the very best apps to manage libraries of movies, my hope was to use them. Unfortunately, none of them was able to access media on the other devices using Wi-Fi direct… Plex didn’t see the Plex servers running on the other devices, and Archos Video didn’t even display any menu to access media via network. I think that none of them was aware there was actually a network (WLAN Direct).

    As I read that UPnP over Wi-Fi direct was very well supported (it’s now a standard), I thought that a solution could be to use an upnp server/client. My favorite being BubbleUPnP, I gave it a try. And good news, it works like a charm. I was able to play the same cartoon simultaneously on three devices without any hiccup (with MX Video as a player).

    That being said, I wrote to the developer of Archos Video and on the Plex forum to ask if playing video with their app via wifi Direct was actually supported (with a trick) or would be soon or later…

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  • Nabi 2 bricked

    I wanted to play with the Recovery and the Rom of my Nabi 2 and I ended with a bricked tablet. Trying to boot the OS, I was stuck for ever on the screen with a freezed Nabi logo. Trying to boot the Recovery, I was stuck on a screen with a dead android and an exclamation mark. Here is how to solve that situation.

    Click to Read More

    Prerequisites

    First, be sure that the “Universal ADB Drivers” are installed. To be found here or here. the ADB command is available here. ADB documentation exists here. ADB won’t work if “USB debugging” was not enabled on the device. But it was, for sure, if as me your bricked it…

    Then, get a TWRP Recovery image from here that can be installed without the need for a previous version. I took the TWRP 2.2.2.1 which is the only one that works fine with my Nabi 2 due to a Calibration issue with the other versions. As not available anymore from the page mentioned above (with all versions for Nabi 2), I had to take it from the Auto-Installer mentioned here (from the subfolder twrp/old).

    Restore a Recovery

    Now, connect the Nabi 2 on the PC and reboot the Nabi 2 in “Fastboot” mode:

    • Press volume + and hold it while pressing also Power.
    • Use Volume – to select “Fastboot” and select it with Volume +

    Next, open a command prompt as admin on the PC and type:

    fastboot flash recovery.img

    Wait for the image to be loaded and reboot the device by pressing Volume + (to Select Bootloader) and next twice Volume – and once Volume + (to Select “Recovery Kernel”). The “Recovery” should now load (not be blocked anymore with a dead android) !

    Upgrade to the most recent Recovery

    One can now upgrade TWRP to a version which may only be installed on top of an existing one, such as the TWRP 2.8.5.0. I took the TWRP 2.8.5.0 v2 for KitKat here.

    I went again into the “FastBoot” mode and uploaded the new Recovery image (TWRP 2.8.5.0) before restarting to enter the new Recovery Kernel.

    Flash a stock Rom

    And once in TWRP, I did “Backup” it on the SD card!

    I moved next the SD card into my PC, I went to the folder \TWRP\BACKUPS\<id of my table>\<current date> and delete all the files in there.

    Then, I downloaded the stock Rom 3.0.13 for KitKat (3013stock.zip) here and did unzip it in the backup folder before moving the SD back into the tablet.

    I did reboot again the tablet in the Recovery and once there I did a “Restore” (keeping all items selected).

    Once flashed, I did reboot the System (without installing SuperSU). After ~1 minute, the Logo started to spin and after ~2 other minutes the system started to initialize. After ~5 minutes, it was asking me to pick a language and configure the Wifi.

    Et voilà FIXED !!!

    Android is now 4.4.2, Build Bumber KOT49H, Product Version 3.0-release-keys.

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  • TWRP v2.8.5.0 works fine on Nabi 2

    The only version of TWRP that was previously compatible with my tablet Fuhu Nabi 2 was TWRP 2.2.2.1 due to a calibration bug (See Here). But I just found that TWRP 2.8.5.0 works fine!

    Click to Read More

    My tablet was running:

    • Fuhu Nabi 2-NV7A-US
    • Version Android 4.1.1
    • Kernel 3.1.10-g160ecc9-dirty
    • Build JRO03C
    • Product Version 2.3-release-keys

    As I still have Android 4.1.1 (Jelly Bean) on my Nabi 2, I did get the Jelly Bean version of TWRP 2.8.5.0 mentioned here as I still have Android 4.1.1 on my Nabi 2.

    Next, I took the Auto-Installer to be found here.

    Then, I did unzip the “Twrp-recovery-JBNV7AUS-285.zip” into the Auto-Installer’s subfolder “twrp\new” and renamed it from “twrp-recovery.img” into “recovery.img” (replacing the existing img file).

    Finally, I run RecoveryUpdater.bat and pick the option 1: “1. Install TWRP 2.3.3.0 for Nabi versions 1.9.37 (recommended)“.

    It pushed the image I just copied into the subfolder “twrp/new” on my Nabi 2 and Bingo 😉

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  • Root Access for Fuhu Nabi 2

    “KingoRoot” also worked fine too root my Fuhu Nabi 2!

    See here how I previously used it to root my two Lenovo A5500-F.

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  • Root Access for Lenovo A5500-F

    I tried several tools to root my two tablets Lenovo A5500-F. I only succeeded “easily” with the free “KingoRoot“. Highly recommended 😉

    Lenovo A5500-F
    Lenovo A5500-F

    Click to Read More

    My tablets are both:

    • Lenovo A5500-F
    • Version Android 4.4.2
    • Version Kernel 3.4.67
    • One with Build Number A5500F_A442_000_027_141207_ROW
    • One with Build Number A5500F_A442_000_029_150408_ROW

    Here is the procedure (described with images and further details everywhere on the web)

    First, configure the tablet to be able to connect onto it from the PC:

    • Enter the “Settings”
    • Select “About phone” (at the very bottom)
    • And press 7  times “Build number” to enable the developer mode
    • Go back to the “Settings”
    • Select “Developer Options” (now above “About phone”)
    • In the part titled “Debugging”, tick the option ‘USB Debugging’ and answer OK if prompted to confirm

    Now Plug the tablet into the PC and Run “Kingo Root” on the PC:

    • Kingo Root starts with the message “Not Connected”.
    • Then it immediately continues with “connecting…”
    • And finally it displays the name of the connected device “LENOVO A5500-F” with the messages “Mode Normal”, “Root Status : No”
    • On the tablet, you see a picture with “Kingo Root” and the message “USB connected”
    • If you have a prompt from the tablet to authorize the PC to connect on the tablet, accept it 😉

    You are ready to start rooting the tablet!

    • Press the Button “Root” in “Kingo Root”.
    • It starts to root the device. On the tablet, you see the message “Rooting…”
    • After a few minutes, the tablet will reboot automatically a first time (you will hear the sound of disconnection/re-connection on the PC). Wait until “Kingo Root” redetect the tablet. As soon as rededected, it will check that it’s well rooted. During that operation, the picture with “Kingo Root” reappears on the tablet.

    If you see a prompt from Google on the tablet, to check that the device has no security issue, just refuse it.

    After the first reboot, “Kingo Root” saw that my device was not yet rooted and it continued with installing more stuff… Soon later, the tablet rebooted again automatically and “Kingo Root” restarted the same process. Concretely, it did the same routine 5 times (I.e. it rebooted five times) before announcing that the device was successfully rooted.

    Something weird however… Although Kingo Root” pretended that the device was rooted, “Root Checker” told me it’s not the case ?!

    I did restart “Kingo Root” and pressed “Root Again”. It did some updates but didn’t reboot automatic and Bingo ! “Root Checker” now confirmed that it was rooted.

    NB.: you should be prompted to confirm that “Root Checker” may be granted Root Access by KingoUser.

    It took me a bit more than 30 minutes.

    NB.: Later, I did update the device with Build Number A5500F_A442_000_027_141207_ROW to Build Number A5500F_A442_000_029_150408_ROW and I had to re-root the device! It went fast and without any reboot. (NB.: I had to accept again to grant Root Access to Root Checker for KingoUser).

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  • Torch switching on auto-magically on One Plus One

    From time to time, the torch of my One Plus One (running Cyanogen) was turning on “by itself”, although the screen was switched off. I finally figured out why and how: it was due to a “Gesture shortcut” that was enabled…

    Click to Read More

    I never enabled this Gesture feature explicitly, so I presume it was on by default. But when enabled, drawing a V on the screen, even if this one is turned off, switches the torch on (or off is already on)…

    This gesture (as well as other gestures) can be disabled via: Settings > Gestures

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  • One Plus One: rotate not working although enabled

    I recently noticed that chrome was not rotating anymore when I was turning my mobile, a One Plus One (running Cyanogen). I tried to disable and re-enable the feature “rotate” via the upper Menu Bar, without success. The trick is to authorize all the rotation angles: only 0° was enabled…

    Click to Read More

    No idea how 90°, 180° and 270° were disabled, but that was my issue. Clearly, enabling the feature “rotate” with only the angle 0° is totally useless…

    To authorize various rotation angles, go to: Settings > Display and lights > Rotation. And there, enable the various mode.

    Et voila!

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  • Increase internal storage memory for Apps on Galaxy SII

    I had two main reasons to replace my good old Galaxy SII (GT-I9100): I wanted a larger screen and much more space for the Apps. But since yesterday, only one reason remains: a larger screen. I ave indeed successfully increased the storage for the Apps from 2GB to 6GB thanks to a tutorial from “Techotv“.

    Click to Read More

    Samsung Galaxy S2 has 16GB of internal storage out of which 14GB space is available, but not the entire available capacity is usable for apps installation. Unlike modern smartphones like Galaxy S4, our galaxy S2 has two internal partition, known as Device Memory (about 2GB) and USB Storage (the rest i.e. about 12GB). Device memory is the location where apps are usually installed. USB Storage is the location where data (apps data like those of games), user files are stored. So, even though you might have lots of internal storage space available, you might face storage issues during apps installation because you’ve just about 2GB available for apps. In this tutorial, we’ll see how we can increase device memory partition and decrease usb storage partition to accommodate as many apps as we want on our beloved Galaxy s2 smartphone.

    Posted => here <= on JANUARY 3, 2014 by SAURABH

    Important Notices:

    1. This tutorial is for Samsung Galaxy SII (GT-I9100) model only !!!
    2. Backup all contents of your android phone including pictures, music, videos, call logs, SMS, etc… as this process will completely format your mobile. Possibly enable next Google’s Automatic Backup and Restore features so all your Apps, Contact, Calendar and Settings will be automatically re-installed.
      1. Go to Settings > (Personal) Back up and reset.
      2. Check the options “Backup up my data” and “Automatic restore”.
      3.  Never put all the eggs in one basket. Use another backup tool next to Google. Also notice that Calls logs, SMS, MMS are not backuped by Google.

    Prerequisites:

    1. Download Odin3 v1.85 program from Techotv and unzip it. Samsung Odin is the ROM Flashing tool for SAMSUNG Android Smart phone and tablets devices. Including Samsung Galaxy SII, etc. Other official versions are available here.
    2. Download Philz CWM Recovery for Galaxy SII from here. The ClockWorkMod Recovery (CWM) is a replacement recovery option for Android devices. It’s used as being better than the Stock android Recovery. A Recovery is a bootable partition that has the recovery console installed where you can find tools to help repair (recover) your installation as well as install system (OS) updates, delete all user data and files, etc… On Galaxy Samsung SII, you can access the Recovery by turning off the mobile and pressing next simultaneously Volume Down + Home + Power for a few seconds.
    3. Download the Partition files (PIT) from Techotv and unzip them. A PIT file is a Partition Information Table that can be used to re-partition the phone’s internal memory space.
    4. You phone doesn’t need to be rooted but this tutorial is assumed to work both if you have rooted your device or already installed a custom ROM. NB.: Android needs to be rooted to get the full control on the device, various features being indeed usually locked by default to prevent among other users’ mistakes, etc…
    5. You need a PC with the Samsung Drivers for Galaxy SII installed, otherwise the connection required by Odin to flash the mobile won’t succeed (although the mobile is detected by Odin).
      1. Install “Kies” from Samsung (available here) to get those drivers on your PC.
      2. Don’t RUN Kies after the setup. It could interfere with Odin. If required, kill all its related processes using the Task Manager (via Ctrl–Shift–Esc).
      3. If drivers are not installed, you will be stuck within Odin on the step “<ID:0/003> SetupConnection..”

    Go go go!

    1. Launch ODIN program.
    2. Turn off your mobile.
    3. Press mobile’s Volume Down + Home + Power buttons together for few seconds.You will enter the Recovery mode.
    4. Press Volume Up key when prompted on the phone screen to continue in download mode.
    5. Connect your phone to computer. You’ll see one of the rectangular boxes in ODIN turned yellow indicating that the program has detected your phone.
    6. Click on PIT button within Odin and select one pit file. I have chosen for the 6GB PIT file as I store anyway music and video files on micro-sd card instead of internal storage and want a lot of place for my Apps!
    7. Hit on PDA button within Odin and select Philz CWM Recovery file.
    8. Keep selected the Options “Re-Partition”, “Auto-Reboot” and “F. Reset Time”.
    9. All other Options must be unchecked.
    10. Hit on Start button.
    11. You will see Messages displayed by Odin… The process is completed once the message “<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 1 / failed 0)” appears. You should also see a green rectangular box with the message “PASS!”.
    12. If Odin is stuck on “SetupConnection..”, try each of the following tips:
      1. Check that Samsung Drivers are installed (See “Prerequisites”) and Kies stopped.
      2. Connect your mobile on another USB port.
      3. Use a shorter USB cable.
      4. Remove the battery of your mobile for 5 minutes.
    13. Unplug your phone from computer.
    Odin Storage Extension on Galaxy SII
    Odin Storage Extension on Galaxy SII

    Check the outcomes:

    1. Go to phone storage settings and check if the device memory has increased and USB storage space adjusted accordingly. You may be required to format USB storage before it is shown in storage setting. I had to do so as requested by a notification.
    2. If the new storage setting is still not visible on your phone, then do factory reset either from recovery (volume up+home+power keys together in phone off state) or from phone settings (Setting > Backup and Reset > Factory reset). I had to do it.
    3. If storage is still not increased, flash stock Samsung firmware or custom ROM for your phone. I didn’t have to do this!

    Google started automatically to restore all my Apps, Contacts, Settings, etc… I only had to reorganize my Apps on the “desktop”…

    10.000 thx to SAURABH from Techotv.com for this tutorial. Thanks to him, I have only one more reason to buy another smart phone, which is not enough regarding my own criteria 😥

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  • Upgrade Fuhu Nabi 2 from Ice Cream Sandwich to Jelly Bean

    I used to root Kids’ tablet Fuhi Nabi 2 in order to be able to install Google Play. But I got a notification from Fuhi two weeks ago announcing that Google Play was now available out of the box with their latest update… This one upgrades from Android 4.0.1 to 4.1.1… So, hop, hop, hop, I immediately decided to rollback my tablet to a stock Rom and give a try to that new update. Piece of cake… if you know how to proceed…

    Click to Read More

    1. The Nabi 2 had Rom 1.9.37 and TWRP Recovery Image 2.2.2.1.
      • I had a touch screen calibration issue with more recent TWRP. I didn’t try to most recent one however (E.g.: 2.6.3.0).
      • Original site of TWRP can be found Here.
      • All TWRP versions tested for Nabi 2 can be found here as well as the native Recovery Image from Fuhu.
    2. Download the stock Rom 2.0.5 and unzip it from your PC onto a SD card under \TWRP\Backups\<device serial number>\abcdstock123, then re-plug the SD into the Nabi 2
      • This is the folder where TWRP did store my backup when I did root the device
      • All Stock Versions can be found here.
      • There should be 4 files: boot.emmc.win, boot.emmc.win.md5, recovery.emmc.win an System.ext4.win
    3. Install PDA.Net, to be found here, if not available anymore on your PC.
    4. Boot the Nabi 2 in recovery mode by pressing both the Volume + Button and the Power Button.
    5. Press twice the Volume – Button to move to the menu “Recovery Kernel”
    6. Press once the Volume + Button to enter the selected menu
      • it takes quite a few seconds to enter. Be patient.
    7. Once entered in Teamwin (TWRP), select “Restore”
    8. Then select “Using external SD” and pick the Stock Rom version 2.0.5 copied on the SD
    9. Only restore System and Boot, but not your data!
      • I presume that all your data, if any, are in gmail, google+, etc…
    10. Once the restore completed, reboot the system.
    11. It will take some time to reboot, installing the various packages, etc…
    12. Once back into Android, go to the “Settings” > “About” > “System Updates” > “Check now” for updates, “Download” it and install. Android will reboot at the end of that update.
    13. This was actually the “first part” of the upgrade from the Stock Rom 2.0.5 to 2.3.11. With that first part, you are not yet running Android 4.1.1. You have to redo the step here above once more to install the “second part”.

    Notice: I had an issue with the installation of the “first part”. I think that the “update” file was corrupted because I lost the Wi-Fi connection for a few seconds during the download. So, I had to restart the operation and it went then well.

    I had a bigger issue when I tried to install the “second part” of the update. During the reboot, I got the red triangle dead Android picture… This is because I still had traces of rooted files on the tablet. The update din’t recognize some system files and refused to proceed further… Fortunately, there is a solution…

    1. Download the fix OTA2.zip to be found here (named Part2 Work Around)
    2. Copy the zip as is onto the SD card under \TWRP\ and re-plug the SD into the Nabi 2
    3. Reboot into Recovery mode as explained previously
    4. Now, instead of “Restore”, select “Install” and pick the file OTA2.zip from the “external SD”
    5. As far as I am concerned, I did a “Wipe Cache/dalvik” after the installation..
    6. Reboot the system.

    Et voilà. The Nabi 2 is now running a fresh Jelly Bean with all kids’ favorite games re-installed from Google Play. Big big thanks to XDA-Developers’ community for providing such a great support!!

    Notice: I am now running a US version instead of a UK version… But I don’t care as everything seems ok 😛

    Click to Read More

    I am not that happy about the upgrade…

    For sure, the new Android interface for the parents is great. But there is no real change for my kids except that:

    • It’s much slower to boot
    • It freezes regularly while my kids are unlocking the screen immediately after the boot. The lock screen start to slide and then freeze in the middle of the screen. I have no choice but hard-reboot (keeping the power button pressed for some seconds)
    • It also freezes sometimes while my kids are playing. Not often but still… I never had any issue in the past.

    And a problem that I always had: when charging the tablet, the tablet always completely switch off and it’s a real pain to reboot it once charged. I always have to wait a bit (> 1 minute) after unplugging the tablet before being finally able to boot. Possibly due to the fact I am on 230V/50Hz and some kind of protection ? It looks indeed like the tablet refuses to boot because the battery is too hot…

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  • Use Belgacom 3G USB Dongle (Vodaphone) on my Fuhu Nabi (Android) tablet

    I used to buy the 3G USB dongle of Belgacom to surf for free on the web with my laptop during the weekends. It’s a Vodaphone dongle (a “HUAWEI Mobile Connect – 3G Modem” inside). I was just wondering if I could use it on my Fuhi Nabi II tablet. The answer is YES if your tablet is rooted!

    Click to Read More

    My Tablet, a Fuhu Nabi II, is running Android 4.0.4. It has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi but no 3G. Since a few weeks, I have a “Belgacom Internet Partout Maxi” subscription, including mobile internet for free during the whole week (You have to go into your “e-Services” to modify your current “Mobile Internet Free Weekend” subscription and activate the “Mobile Internet laptop” as mentioned here). That’s why I was motivated to try my Belgacom dongle on my tablet.

    Belgacom's vodafone 3G dongle
    Belgacom’s vodafone 3G dongle

    First, I had to install PPP Widget on my Tablet.

    Next, I did add the Widget on the screen. At that time, you will see a status “Checking access” displayed by PPP Widget and you will be prompted to grant it root access. If you don’t grant it root access, you will see a status “No root access” displayed. I suggest you to re-add the widget on the screen and grant it access or you won’t be able to use it.

    The status displayed next by PPP Widget should be No modem found”. Click on its “Configure” button to set the Belgacom parameters:

    1. Acces Point Name: internet.proximus.be
    2. Username: (keep it blank)
    3. Password: (keep it blank)
    4. Dialing string: (keep it unchanged: *99***1#)
    5. Check and set PIN: checked
    6. Pin Code: enter the pin code of the SIM plugged into the dongle
    7. HTTP Proxy: (keep it bank)
    8. Disable USB device sleep: unchecked
    9. Auto-Start Connection: unchecked
    10. Automatic Re-Connection: unchecked
    11. Automatic device detection: checked
    12. Manual port selection: unchecked

    Then reboot the tablet to start from a clean situation. Once back:

    1. Disable the Wi-Fi.
    2. Connect a USB cable to the tablet.  I did use an official Samsung USB adapter I bought for my Galaxy SII.
    3. Connect the Vodaphone Dongle on the USB cable.
    4. The dongle’s led should start to blink “green”.
    5. When you are prompted by PPP Widget to “open PPP Widget when this USB devices is connected”, select “Use by default for this USB device” and click OK.
    6. Wait for a few seconds. If nothing happens, unplug and replug the dongle. You should soon see the following status displayed by PPP Widget:
      1. Prepare device…
      2. Seach for port…
      3. Setup modem…
      4. Disconnected (and the button “Connect” should now be enabled)
    7. Now, The dongle’s led should blink “blue”.

    The Connect button of the PPP Widget will become “enabled”. Click on that button. PPP Widget will display the status “Dialing out…”. If it fails to connect, the status “Disconnected” will displayed. Otherwise, you should see “Connected!” and the dongle’s led should stay fixed “blue”. Enjoy !

    If it does not succeed to connect, check that the dongle is still working on your laptop. Running the application “Vodaphone Mobile Connect Lite” on your Laptop, you will possibly get more details like “Sim card not found”, … Notice: I tried to use the latest version of the application “Vodaphone Mobile Connect Lite” on my Laptop (Windows 8.1) but got a message like “This program as compatibility issues”. I tried to run the Compatibility Troubleshooter, but it didn’t find a solution. Finally, although the application could start anyway, it didn’t detect the dongle. So I would recommend to use the software version available on the key itself.

    You can also enable the log within PPP Widget, via the Configure menu.

    Notice: if your tablet goes to sleep mode, you will be “disconnected” and the dongle will restart to blink “green”. When the tablet waked up, you should see PPP widget trying to re-detect the dongle and setup the modem. If it succeeds, you will be able to click on “Connect”. Otherwise, to unplug and replug the dongle.

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Acer iDea 510 AirPlay Android Backup DD-WRT DNS DS209+ DS713+ DS1815+ FlexRaid Galaxy Galaxy S2 Galaxy S7 Google Assistant Google Home HTPC Kies MCE MySQL Nabi 2 Nvidia TV Shield One Plus One OnePlus One OpenHab Outlook Philips Hue Plex RAID Raspberry PI Remote Desktop Root Access Samsung Scripts Synology Team Build Visual Studio VMWare Wi-Fi Windows Windows 8 Windows 8.1 Windows 10 Windows Server 2012 XBMC Xpenology

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