I was thinking of the coolness factor of just having one device, a phone, to which you could connect an external display and have an extended desktop. I am not finding any reference to this on Android (only the MS Surface). From what I have been reading, and remember/understand (may be confused), Jelly Bean brought the ability for windowing apps. However, the apps have to be coded for the capability, unless you root your phone and installed an app that provided windowing for all apps. Also, I have not heard of the possibility of having an extended desktop in Android.
I would like to ask WHY? Why not have windowing and the ability for an extended desktop, on an external display? A bluetooth keyboard and mouse just follows. Does google have to play nice with the manufacturers that stand to loose from people only needing one device? Is there a reason I'm not thinking of? Most phones are fast enough for this these days.
At the turn of the century, I was running GPS software Deluo Routis on a Sony Vaio 505 Pentium 200Mhz laptop running Win98. The 2-D graphics were smooth even while playing mp3's through the car speakers. The mapping software showed the map clearly, and effectively gave me navigation. People have lost sight of how much you can do if you give up the bloat and bling.
Also, I am pretty confused with the merging of Android and Chrome. I never liked Java to begin with; my experience with it is in MS Windows, and it runs slow as molasses. I believe my phone would run much faster if they had not chosen Java. I understand this to be because you have an operating system running on top of another operating system. It just makes more sense to me to have less layers and run apps natively, for better performance. I thought maybe they chose Java for its level of security. Is the screening process for Google Play not foolproof enough?
I like the philosophy of Google better than Microsoft**, so if one of them is going to win, I hope it's Google. I'm hoping Google won't end up with a convoluted Android/Chrome operating system because Lawyers forced them to (the idea I get based on the latest news). I don't understand: do they want to keep their OS architecture simple, but are being forced to make the OS complex for different reasons?
**Apple doesn't even want to compete. They have never wanted to dominate, just make huge profits. Unless they break up the marriage of hardware and software, they won't win. Then again, if Samsung keeps dominating, there may not be much hardware diversity?
Oh, and my main question was: "Why not have windowing and the ability for an extended desktop?". Wouldn't that be a big deciding factor for anyone that wanted to simplify and just have one device?
Anybody? Tell me I'm crazy at least. There has to be a strategic reason, that Google does not introduce full windowing and extended desktop support.
Its coming eventually. though you could do it right now. Motorola tried something like this with their atrix lapdocks.
Sent from my Samsung i437p using Tapatalk and CM 10.2
E_Phather said:
Its coming eventually. though you could do it right now. Motorola tried something like this with their atrix lapdocks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you do it right now with any android device having a video port?
Well lets look at how we could achieve this with todays technology.
Input:
Bluetooth Mouse & keyboard.
Output:
Wireless display with support for older displays using something like Chromecast.
Graphical User Interface:
A secondary Launcher/Application (Which could potentially see companies like MS & Canonical developing their own UI's and Charging for them if required).
Home & Office use with one device:
Home would be the default UI, but when your device has used NFC to log into the office it would automatically enable your Office profile/UI for a certain length of time (requiring you to log back in after a set time or manual log out via another NFC tap).
This would be very useful as it would enable you to take your "desktop" environment anywhere with you and connect to any HDTV with Wireless display/Chromecast support.
Applications:
So if like me you are finding your phone to become ever more a better solution to your digital needs and you only require your desktop for apps which work better with larger displays (Videos & certain games) you will find this very useful.
Games:
Now games could become ever more better as they could be controlled using standardised control inputs (game controllers could use standardised input methods allowing you to select any compatible controller to best suit your needs) or even a driving game could allow you to see the game on a HDTV yet be controlled with the accelerometer for steering and the right of the devices touch display would be the accelerator and the left of the display would be the brakes for example.
More Business Solutions:
If you could wirelessly connect to the office display then show a powerpoint style presentation that would be great because the very device which stores the file would also be your controller to move to the next/pevious slides.
Media:
Music could possibly be stored in the cloud so when your on the move you can listen to your music as many of us do now, but when connected to a large display it could utilise the large display and speakers to show a music video too!.
Photos could be viewed on the large screen and the next one to be displayed could be select on the device (allowing the use to avoid showing anyone pictures which they don't want other to see - ie: pitcures of you and your friends whilst your parents/grandparents are in the room...).
The TV Guide:
The TV Guide would become a very interactive thing which allows you to see what is available on other TV channels without other people in the room being limited to viewing the content they are trying to watch in a small box in the corner of the display...
These are just some ideas of what is possible, but I know that you could do so much more with this and with 64-bit technology coming to many mobile devices soon that will make it so much easier for devices to process all of this data at once without any serious lag!.
I would love to see a group of developers on XDA team up on an open desktop (secondary) launcher to run alongside the users primary (phone) launcher. if there was a project like this with an open framework to develop apps for I'd be happy to start developing apps for that or separate UI's to run alongside my current (Phone/Android) apps UI's.
Edit:
Also remember that this could be utilised in other ways too eg:: connecting your device to your car and your device could deliver your navigation & music to your vehicles display whilst getting important traffic/weather news using your devices network connection!.
Isn't this exactly what the Ubuntu phone intends to do or have I got the wrong idea?
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Yes, but with Android already having a large ecosystem it would make a lot of sense to build upon that.
Chromecast is not "open" to third party apps. http://www.minyanville.com/sectors/...eeds-to-Tread-Lightly-With/8/28/2013/id/51502
Do they have a displayport version of Chromecast? *cough*
quote from: http://www.tested.com/tech/set-top-boxes/457036-testing-google-chromecast/
"Chromecast is also not a particularly good desktop mirroring option, either. It actually can't do full desktop mirroring, and instead works solely with the Chrome browser. In beta right now is Chrome tab streaming, which sends to Chromecast everything that can be rendered in a single Chrome tab, including web pages, flash embeds, and even full-screen MKV video files if you have VLC installed. I like that Chrome tab streaming works independently of what's showing on your laptop or desktop's screen--like with YouTube and Netflix, you can multi-task and switch to other tabs or windows while one tab is being streamed. The only thing that matters is the window size and screen resolution. Chromecast will automatically scale the aspect ratio of your window to fill up your TV screen, adding black bars on the sides to avoid stretching. A full-screen resolution of 1440x900 looked good on a large 1080p TV, but streaming from a 2560x1600 monitor at full-screen made the text unreadable on my 70" TV."
Wow... I thought only displayport was capable of 2560x1600 (edit: hdmi v1.3 brought this). Even if I hook it up to my 2560x1600 monitor, it won't really display anything but entertainment. Chromecast doesn't seem to be a way to have a monitor, to use your Android phone as a PC replacement.
AllCast !!!
http://www.geek.com/android/chromecast-reject-becomes-allcast-public-beta-now-available-1578674/
However, I still need to add some kind of wifi enabled device to my 30" lcd monitor (like with chromecast). Really, I don't mind a cable connection from my phone to my monitor, if that was an option. If Google continues to be closed like this, then I would go for Ubuntu phone.
Displayport:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MyDP#SlimPort
Any phones have this besides the Google Nexus 4? Actually, I'm not getting a new phone until I know what the hell will happen with Android / Chrome OS
Quote from: http://www.tested.com/tech/android/457205-mhl-vs-slimport/
"SlimPort's support for the DisplayPort standard--specifically Mobility DisplayPort--means it can output video at the same 4K resolution as MHL, though not via HDMI (yet, anyway). And here SlimPort hasn't really made good on its potential, yet; though it's based on the flexible DisplayPort standard, the only SlimPort adapters currently available are for VGA and HDMI connectors. The upshot is that you won't be plugging a Nexus 7 into a 1440p DisplayPort computer monitor anytime soon." http://www.slimportconnect.com/
Chromecast May Get Screen Mirroring With Android 4.4.1
Evidence in Android 4.4.1 indicates that screen mirroring is coming to Chromecast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/chromecast-google-screen-mirroring-kitkat-android,25345.html
It could start with mirroring a primary display, but gradually result in mirroring something that a GPU has rendered for a secondary display.
A dock from Samsung Galaxy phones. Has USB ports, HDMI, and audio.
http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones-accessories/EDD-S20JWEGSTA
mraeryceos said:
A dock from Samsung Galaxy phones. Has USB ports, HDMI, and audio.
http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones-accessories/EDD-S20JWEGSTA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried that myself with my previous Galaxy S4 (i9500), It was a great dock and when I connected my wireless KB & Mouse USB dongle & connected the HDMI to my PC monitor it was a good experience when doing things like playing GTA3 on the bigger screen (it was better than the windows version in some ways).
But the device just needed a separate home screen UI to be output to the PC screen to look perfect and to work better with the KB & Mouse input type.
It shouldn't be too difficult to make a UI that simply changes the size of some buttons to a smaller size, enabling more widgets to fit on the home screen and if they could simply force the apps to run in either windowed or full screen that would enable better multi-tasking, then the browsers would just need a small update to detect if the device is running in Desktop Mode if so, then simply zoom out of the page a little to emulate the desktop browser experience.
Just a few ideas... If Google's Android team are reading this, I would recommend that you get that dock to experiment with for future Android builds.
Especially now that OS' like Ubuntu Phone are looking at going down this road of the one device fits all computational needs.
Rather than creating a new thread I thought that it would appropriate to bring this topic back up after the recent announcements that several OEM's have made, that they will be releasing desktops with Android as their Primary/Secondary OS.
I hope that this pushes Google into creating a dedicated desktop UI in the future.
Hello all! My first attempt at any type of guide or help, so give me pointers if you notice a better way to go about this than what's here.
This was done by me on my Ultra that broke, but I would imagine the same works for any other device that has a Snapdragon 800, and probably earlier chipsets as well. SPMC and XBMC have documentation about the supported hardware.
Doesn't it suck when you crack the screen on your baby and she no longer responds to touch input? We've probably all been there with one device or another. But don't let that busted phone gather dust, turn it into a full fledged media center! These quad core beasts can do so much more than the phones of a few years ago. I take no credit for anything here, as I'm just passing along my experience so others can make use of a disabled phone.
I have used Plex, Chromecast, etc, but no combination of those gives me the control of XBMC, and the ability to play mostly any codecs without the need for transcoding.
A few things before I get into the steps:
1. I started with a rooted phone, but you don't necessarily need one. It just helps later on if you want more control over the device functions.
2. I recommend using the most up to date firmware possible, I am on 4.4.4 myself, using this rom here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2800414
3. You'll want a usb OTG cable like the one I used here, along with a cheapo wired usb mouse so you can control the phone until it is set up to work with a remote.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00871Q5PI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
4. You'll also need an MHL adapter. I used this one here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KPXI4S2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
5. You'll need wifi, assuming you have moved the sim to your next device.
6. You will want some form of controlling XBMC remotely. I use Yatse for Android, installed on my replacement phone and it's a godsend.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.leetzone.android.yatsewidgetfree&hl
Here we go.
1. Clean that busted phone up. Reset to factory settings, flash a new rom, OR just remove any non-essential apps. I only have my phone signed into Google so I can access the Play store, which you will want to do as well.
2. Install this if you are rooted. It will allow the phone to disable the screen when the MHL adapter is plugged in, saving battery and keeping it nice and dark around your TV. The wizard should guide you through a fairly simple set up. What you are looking for is for the app to disable/suspend/standby the screen when it detects MHL.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nkahoang.screenstandby&hl
3. Install SPMC. This is a forked version of XBMC for Android, and frankly, it's better suited for this application. It has more features, and takes better advantage of the hardware.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.semperpax.spmc
4. After installing SPMC, you can use it as a launcher, meaning the phone will boot directly into SPMC. Just press home and you'll be given the option.
5. Launch SMPC, go into Settings-Services-Webserver and check Allow control of XBMC via HTTP.
6. At this point, you can now control SPMC with Yatse or another similar XBMC remote app on another device. Depending on your situation, you may still want that mouse to do a few more things before you connect to the TV.
Options Options Options
I use XBMC in my living room on a dedicated PC. My media resides on a NAS, wired via gigabit ethernet to an AC wireless router. Since I wanted to use this broken phone as a sort of satellite system in the bedroom, I set up a MySQL server on the same NAS. It can be daunting, but XBMC provides great documentation and this method makes getting your media onto the phone very easy.
http://kodi.wiki/view/MySQL
If you do not have another XBMC or do not wish to share the library between devices, skip this section.
1. If you have another instance of XBMC, give this a serious look, as both the library and the playback status will be synced among all devices. You can stop in one room and resume in another.
2. Running the current version of SPMC, and XBMC 13.2, I had no issues with MySQL, despite the warning to use the same build date.
3. If you have this type of setup, all you need to do is copy the advancedsettings.xml file you created from your original XBMC install, and paste it into the userdata folder deep inside the SPMC file structure. This is usually found inside sdcard/Android/data
4. Once you do this, launch SPMC and your existing library will be there.
5. I have not tried this, since I went through the trouble to set up MySQL before, but you can alternatively use Media Browser 3 to serve up your library, and it does appear
to be easier to set up. Download the XBMB3C plugin inside XBMC/SPMC to allow for this.
http://mediabrowser.tv/download/#server
Add Media
Alternatively, you can navigate to videos inside SPMC, select files, and then choose Add Source to add your media from wherever to your new library. There is lots of documentation over at the official XBMC site, so go there if this is your first foray into this type of thing.
I've found that I just have to turn the phone on when I walk into the bedroom, and it will boot directly into SPMC. From that point I can use Yatse on a different device to control the media center. When I am done watching content, the shutdown option inside Yatse will shut the phone off, and it just goes into a powered down charging state.
Mostly everything should play after the install, but you may need or want to adjust some settings inside SPMC/XBMC. Again, look to the official XBMC wiki for help if you need it.
If you're rooted, you can probably do without the USB OTG cable. You could use ADB to install packages and the shell (or a wrapper like this — worked well for me a few months back) to control the screen. This might also be useful if your screen is dead.
There is a new specific xbmc for android that comes preconfigured with the most important repositories for those that really don't want to dabble with all of that kind of stuff. Just install and all the main plugins are automatically installed for you. You can find it here http://www.tvaddons.ag/tvmc-android/
Is TVMC anything more than XBMC 13.2 with preconfigured settings? Seems redundant slightly because SPMC (version 13.3.2) actually contains fixes to XBMC 13.2 to enable hardware acceleration on more devices. With the Z Ultra specifically, under XBMC 13.2 official, even though hardware acceleration was enabled in the settings, it was not working. SPMC is built by official XBMC team members and contains "fixes" that were left out of the official spin for whatever reason. The settings are also mostly preconfigured, at least the defaults are different than regular XBMC, and for me at least, everything worked right away.
What are the possibilities for a phone that does not support MHL? (Oppo Find 5) I had the same idea after I broke my screen, but I am not sure now what to do. A mediacenter seemed great to me. A webserver is possible too, but I don't like how it won't use it's media capabilities anymore.
The device supports wireless screen (Miracast?) but I don't think that works great and I can't get it to work really.
Well, Android Lollipop will support Chromecast Mirroring, so if you are able to find a rom for that device when Lollipop makes its way around, that would work. There seems to be a good amount of development for that phone on XDA, so you might just need to wait it out a bit.
HaTeNL said:
What are the possibilities for a phone that does not support MHL? (Oppo Find 5) I had the same idea after I broke my screen, but I am not sure now what to do. A mediacenter seemed great to me. A webserver is possible too, but I don't like how it won't use it's media capabilities anymore.
The device supports wireless screen (Miracast?) but I don't think that works great and I can't get it to work really.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mailme45 said:
Well, Android Lollipop will support Chromecast Mirroring, so if you are able to find a rom for that device when Lollipop makes its way around, that would work. There seems to be a good amount of development for that phone on XDA, so you might just need to wait it out a bit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This may be worth a look if you are interested in chromecast mirroring.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/har...experimental-enable-mirroring-device-t2812193
mailme45 said:
Hello all! My first attempt at any type of guide or help, so give me pointers if you notice a better way to go about this than what's here.
This was done by me on my Ultra that broke, but I would imagine the same works for any other device that has a Snapdragon 800, and probably earlier chipsets as well. SPMC and XBMC have documentation about the supported hardware.
Doesn't it suck when you crack the screen on your baby and she no longer responds to touch input? We've probably all been there with one device or another. But don't let that busted phone gather dust, turn it into a full fledged media center! These quad core beasts can do so much more than the phones of a few years ago. I take no credit for anything here, as I'm just passing along my experience so others can make use of a disabled phone.
I have used Plex, Chromecast, etc, but no combination of those gives me the control of XBMC, and the ability to play mostly any codecs without the need for transcoding.
A few things before I get into the steps:
1. I started with a rooted phone, but you don't necessarily need one. It just helps later on if you want more control over the device functions.
2. I recommend using the most up to date firmware possible, I am on 4.4.4 myself, using this rom here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2800414
3. You'll want a usb OTG cable like the one I used here, along with a cheapo wired usb mouse so you can control the phone until it is set up to work with a remote.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00871Q5PI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
4. You'll also need an MHL adapter. I used this one here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KPXI4S2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
5. You'll need wifi, assuming you have moved the sim to your next device.
6. You will want some form of controlling XBMC remotely. I use Yatse for Android, installed on my replacement phone and it's a godsend.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.leetzone.android.yatsewidgetfree&hl
Here we go.
1. Clean that busted phone up. Reset to factory settings, flash a new rom, OR just remove any non-essential apps. I only have my phone signed into Google so I can access the Play store, which you will want to do as well.
2. Install this if you are rooted. It will allow the phone to disable the screen when the MHL adapter is plugged in, saving battery and keeping it nice and dark around your TV. The wizard should guide you through a fairly simple set up. What you are looking for is for the app to disable/suspend/standby the screen when it detects MHL.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nkahoang.screenstandby&hl
3. Install SPMC. This is a forked version of XBMC for Android, and frankly, it's better suited for this application. It has more features, and takes better advantage of the hardware.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.semperpax.spmc
4. After installing SPMC, you can use it as a launcher, meaning the phone will boot directly into SPMC. Just press home and you'll be given the option.
5. Launch SMPC, go into Settings-Services-Webserver and check Allow control of XBMC via HTTP.
6. At this point, you can now control SPMC with Yatse or another similar XBMC remote app on another device. Depending on your situation, you may still want that mouse to do a few more things before you connect to the TV.
Options Options Options
I use XBMC in my living room on a dedicated PC. My media resides on a NAS, wired via gigabit ethernet to an AC wireless router. Since I wanted to use this broken phone as a sort of satellite system in the bedroom, I set up a MySQL server on the same NAS. It can be daunting, but XBMC provides great documentation and this method makes getting your media onto the phone very easy.
http://kodi.wiki/view/MySQL
If you do not have another XBMC or do not wish to share the library between devices, skip this section.
1. If you have another instance of XBMC, give this a serious look, as both the library and the playback status will be synced among all devices. You can stop in one room and resume in another.
2. Running the current version of SPMC, and XBMC 13.2, I had no issues with MySQL, despite the warning to use the same build date.
3. If you have this type of setup, all you need to do is copy the advancedsettings.xml file you created from your original XBMC install, and paste it into the userdata folder deep inside the SPMC file structure. This is usually found inside sdcard/Android/data
4. Once you do this, launch SPMC and your existing library will be there.
5. I have not tried this, since I went through the trouble to set up MySQL before, but you can alternatively use Media Browser 3 to serve up your library, and it does appear
to be easier to set up. Download the XBMB3C plugin inside XBMC/SPMC to allow for this.
http://mediabrowser.tv/download/#server
Add Media
Alternatively, you can navigate to videos inside SPMC, select files, and then choose Add Source to add your media from wherever to your new library. There is lots of documentation over at the official XBMC site, so go there if this is your first foray into this type of thing.
I've found that I just have to turn the phone on when I walk into the bedroom, and it will boot directly into SPMC. From that point I can use Yatse on a different device to control the media center. When I am done watching content, the shutdown option inside Yatse will shut the phone off, and it just goes into a powered down charging state.
Mostly everything should play after the install, but you may need or want to adjust some settings inside SPMC/XBMC. Again, look to the official XBMC wiki for help if you need it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im confused. How does the phone charge while its hooked into the TV?
Roseysdaddy said:
Im confused. How does the phone charge while its hooked into the TV?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The mhl adapter is powered.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71TmMtz9uIL._SL1500_.jpg
One port to rule them all
adfurgerson said:
The mhl adapter is powered.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71TmMtz9uIL._SL1500_.jpg
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a Galaxy Note 2 with the same issue,
What is confusing me here is the phone has one MicroUSB into which three things need to plug into it
Power
OTG for Mouse and Keyboard
MHL adapter
ShiversZN said:
I have a Galaxy Note 2 with the same issue,
What is confusing me here is the phone has one MicroUSB into which three things need to plug into it
Power
OTG for Mouse and Keyboard
MHL adapter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. The mhl is a Y cable with a male micro usb on the end of cord and a female at the end with hdmi that requires power which runs adapter and charges phone.
2. OTG is only for initial setup and will not be used with mhl ( OP states this is for screens that will display but not respond to touch) after setup control will be via a second device using yatse or another remote control app.
3. See #1.
This thread is great i ened up doing this very thing after destroying the digitizer on an s3 a while ago (I was one unlucky sap to try replacing a cracked screen) and the resultof having a usless phone was made better by having a perminant xbmc device connectd to my tv-way better than satellite or cable
Awesome!
I have a few devices that I keep around. Note 2, galaxy S2, nexus 1 (and my retarded/retired phones iphone 5S, ipad and blackberry playbook). I will definitely give it a try and let you guys know how it goes.
Have you tried on your S2?
Although I've touch screen working, but my gorilla glass is broken. I dont know some are saying that they've to replace whole assemble costing $125 here. While some people on the internet say that it can be done and on ebay I saw front panel(Gorilla) being sold in India.
I just came across this thread after my own experiences with getting this going yesterday! I have an LG Optimus G (E973) with a cracked digitizer, and I was about to buy an Android box, when I realized this phone would be more powerful, and have more features, than anything I could buy in the $100 range.
I made an OTG cable myself. Very easy to do, all you need is a microUSB cable male end, and a USB female end... except, problem #1, I found out my phone doesn't support OTG power. So I had to turn it into an OTG Y-cable so it can receive power (and charge the phone) simultaneously. Then, problem #2, my kernel doesn't support OTG. I wasn't able to figure this out. So I looked for another solution.
Maybe I could install VNC or one of those ADB viewers? Hook up my computer... problem #3, not authorized for adb. Can't authorize without touchscreen. (I later discovered the device keys are stored at /data/misc/adb/adb_keys, and could have added my computer in recovery.) Went to the gf's house and found my old MacBook Air, turns out that one was authorized!
Great! I'm in... now... after fiddling around trying to get it to work in Windows and OSX, problem #4 neither VNC or ADB viewers worked. I could SEE the screen, but interaction did nothing.
Eventually, I decided to just manually run touch events from the adb shell, a la adb shell input swipe 0 0 0 1280 to pull down the menu. Armed with this, I hacked together a script with JavaScript and PHP to have a web interface I could interact with my phone through. It's SLOW as hell at 768x1280 (max 1fps, I'd say), as it uses screenshots.
If anyone is interested, here's the script I made. https:// gist.github.com/shahyar/8d24815b54b8ca1c1d9c
...It didn't end there. I decided now that I have it working, I'll reset the data. Problem #5: I forgot that this also resets debug to off. I had to calculate, using a ruler, where to swipe and tap to enable developer mode, and then enable USB debugging. I wrote an init.d script which did this.
Now, I'm just waiting for my MHL cable and Bluetooth keyboard. Let's hope those go a little better than how the rest of this adventure did.
Screen cracked and not usable
I have a further issue in that my screen is cracked and I can't see what's happening on the screen.
Any thoughts on how to set it up in this case?
Great guide, thank you for taking the time to write it mailme45
tithij said:
I have a further issue in that my screen is cracked and I can't see what's happening on the screen.
Any thoughts on how to set it up in this case?
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I was in a similar situation when I embarked on this little project, my screen was completely dead but i could hear sounds from the physical buttons so I knew the phone was on. There are a few solutions to get your phone setup, assuming you are still looking for a solution, if not I'll just mention it for the next person in this predicament. If you didn't buy your mhl adapter yet and your screen doesn't work at all, then I suggest buying a mhl cable with CEC function; this will allow you to control your phone with your tv remote when connected. These mhl adapters cost more than the ones found on ebay but also come with more features. The rocketfish RF-G1171($12 at bestbuy) for example will work with most phones including 11-pin samsung models so if you didn't buy a mhl yet, I would recommend getting one with CEC or one that comes as part of a hub, search ebay for the 5in1 mhl. If you already bought a cheap ebay one, continue reading below.
You will need a mhl cable, otg cable and usb mouse/keyboard; These steps are for people with a dead screen and digitizer. If your screen works but touch does not, just use a otg cable and mouse and if your screen doesn't work but touch does then use mhl cable and control using the touch screen.
Note** If you had USB debugging enabled already, skip to step 5
Step 1: connect the MHL cable to your phone and connect with your TV/Monitor and wait for your device to boot into the lockscreen
Step 2: Once at the lockscreen take out the mhl cable and use the otg cable to connect your mouse and swipe to unlock, switch back to mhl cable to make sure you got passed the lockscreen.
Note** If you had a password lock or pattern lock this will be very annoying, use the otg with keyboard if its a password and use mouse for pattern; might take awhile since you will be doing the pattern blind.
Step 3: use the keyboard to navigate to Settings > About Phone > scroll to "build number" and hit enter 7x to turn on developer options.
Note** As each phones menu, app layout and UI is slightly different, you may have to switch between mhl and otg just to see where you currently as you navigate. I suggest taking your time and switching between the two for each action you make, as we will only have to go through this process once.
Step 4: with developer options enabled, navigate to the "developer options" menu and turn on USB debugging.
Step 5: At this stage there are two methods, if you are lucky option 1 will work, if it does not, sadly you will have to go through the annoying mhl/otg switching to navigate one more time.
Option 1:
Install a google chrome app/extension called Vysor on your pc
Link: Vysor
This is an app developed by Koush that allows you to connect, view and control your android device on your PC through USB. The app is still in beta phase so might not work with every phone. Drivers will need to be installed for this app to work, which can be found at the Vysor homepage(I can't link to outsite sites so just google it) along with instructions. If the app works for you, I suggest the first thing you do is turn off certain features like lockscreen and sleep timer; next install a bluetooth keyboard/mouse/controller, something that will allow you to control the phone when connected to the tv/monitor through mhl. Finally you can also do all the required setups mentioned in this thread to get kodi running and when you are satisfied with the setup, connect the phone back to the tv/monitor.
Option 2:
If you were unlucky and Vysor did not work for you, navigate to the play store by switching between mhl and otg and install an app called Teamviewer Quicksupport. Install teamviewer on your PC; launch the app on your phone and you will be given an ID, use the ID on your PC to connect to the phone. When you try to connect from your PC, you will get a confirmation on your phone; make sure your phone is connected through mhl so you can see the confirmation. switch to otg to accept then switch back to mhl since you will be prompted to install an add-on, this add-on is necessary to view your phone screen on your PC. Once the add-on is installed, you will be able to see and control your phone from your pc, use your pc to setup your phone. As mentioned in option one, turn off certain features that are hindrance like lockscreen and install a bluetooth device that will let you control your phone wirelessly.
Hope this helps people with a completely dead screen but otherwise working phone, It can be very frustrating and time consuming but once you get past the initial stuff, you should be able to either link using vysor or wirelessly using teamviewer for feature setups.
So this is a great idea, except that it doesn't work for any other apps, since I do most of my watching on Netflix and HBO and I can't figure out a way to control the phone outside of Kodi.