a better ipod touch replacement?
Bought one from the BB sale for $65 to give to the 4yo as a music/game/book player. Is there anything that rooting will help me with? are there apps that are available to a rooted phone that would allow me to lock it down and make it more toddler friendly? as it stands I am having a hard time finding a really kid-friendly mp3 player app.
The only advantage I can think of right now is if there is a ROM that I flash that will u/g android to run flash, since many of the games he likes are flash. Are there any other benefits to rooting this for a kid?
I have two other of these as our main phones and his came with 2.2.1(?- no hot spot) and ours came with 2.2 if that makes any difference.
Rooting your phone is mainly to allow complete access to the phone. By rooting it would enable you to do basic things like remove factory installed apps or you could install custom recovery's and rom's.
As far as using it as a music player you can use the built in music player or download a music player from the Android market but those wouldn't benefit from the phone being rooted and not sure if there are any kid friendly ones out there.
I don't know of any apps or Roms that would let you lock out settings or features of a phone that would prevent a toddler from accessing them. I currently run ADW launcher on my optimus V and I know that has options to hide the status bar, hide the dock bar and remove extra desktops. You could install that and make it default launcher, hide status bar and dock bar to prevent access to the app drawer and remove the extra desktops. This would limit your toddler to only have the apps you want available on the desktop. Now this wouldn't be totally locked out because the menu button on the phone is still active which would allow settings to be accessed
There is a thread about installing flash player to the Optimus V with a custom rom but in my attempts to get it to work I wasn't able to. All the sites I visited still said I needed flash player installed. Not sure if I wasn't doing it right but I don't access alot of flash content so I never put much effort into making it work. If you search on XDA I'm sure you'll come across some info on flash.
One note that even though the phone is not activated it will still seek out signal from the sprint towers so when it's not being used on wifi I'd put it in airplane mode to conserve some battery
Hope my little bit of info helps and hopefully you get some more suggestions from others
Related
I guess this subject might need some explaining.
My parents are going on a trip in a month and they have there heart set on taking a smartphone with them.
What they need is being able to call, text and mail.
They also want to be able to use it as a backup (just in case) for finding their way. So just in case they get lost to find out where they are on their map or use the gps to guide them for a little while.
So basically, calling, sms, mail and gps.
They don't need to be able to change a lot of settings.
So, I was thinking about installing their (yet to buy) smartphone with a simple home screen and the settigs they would need.
To keep them from accidentally messing anything up, I was wondering if it is possible to password protect settings and stuff.
So, does anyone have an idea on:
-how to protect settings etc.
-a good homescreen
-other things like very simple gps app for example
...
I know it's a lot, but any help is much appreciated.
Bada? Much easier than android...
But why do you think, they'll mess up settings?
I was just thinking that if they happen to end up in a settings screen or something they don't know,they might press something wrong.
But on the other hand... I just have to tell them to press the home or back button in such an event.
About bada... I feel stupid now,but i didn't know about it.
The reason for android was that I have an android phone and would at least be able to offer some remote assistance if necessary...
I saw the samsung gt s5560 or something today ... That interface lookes rather simple,maybe I should take a look at that.
Thanks already,more ideas are always welcome ;-)
Sent from my SK17i using XDA
'app lock' can password protect apps and settings from being opened. It's free on the market and works well.
I wouldn't password protect settings, that way they can turn GPS on and off as needed without running it constantly.
Google maps/nav should work fine. Set up a simple toggle widget on their screen, I suggest Widgetsoid, but there are others. Tell them what the settings do, or in Widgetsoid turn labels on. Flashing a rom with notification toggles built in would help, since they could directly turn on/off GPS and data without being taken to settings screens.
I would also install a launcher that will allow you to lock the home screen so they can't accidentally delete the widgets/shortcuts you've set up for them. Never used it myself but I believe ADW launcher can lock the home screen but there must by others.
I can confirm that adw ex allows you to lock the homsecreen, so nothing can be changed. If you buy a phone with touchwiz, then you can lock settings and use quicktoggles in the notification bar. I can't live without them now. On a side note:widgets could possibly simplify the homsecreen.
App lock and ADW are good ideas (I actually use adw on my tablet).GPS widget on home screen can be very usefull too. Thanks for all the sugestions already!
I got a mail yesterday that they have seen some smartphones they seemed to like. I don't really know them myself except that there's only one android phone (if my web search is correct off course)
The phones they saw:
Nokia lumia 710
Nokia lumia 800
(those are WP7.5 I think)
Samsung galaxy+
(only android in the list as far as I could tell)
Samsung galaxy wave III S8600
(This one is BADA I think)
So I might just wait for what they decide to do, a first look at them on the web seemed to sugest that they're all fine for what they're looking for. They all seem to have the possibility to use gps with some (free) maps as a backup and off course sending mail.
Sent from my SK17i using XDA
Seems like the correct place for this:
Anyone know of a ROM or program that will allow me to set it up so that she has limited access to programs/system?
Perhaps a launcher I can lock down such that it only shows her games and gallery video player, camera, etc.?
I figure I will use Button Remapper to deactivate the search/home/menu/back buttons (otherwise she will accidentally hit them when watching a video or playing a game).
Not sure what to do about the soft buttons---she needs to be able to access menus and go back somehow.
Oh, she is 3. She uses it all the time and loves the games I put on there, but the issues above need to be resolved before it is practical for her to use. It has been gathering a lot of dust since I got my new phone, and she really wants to have her own computer...
Any other ideas are welcome too of course.
Thanks
iamjakecali said:
Seems like the correct place for this:
Anyone know of a ROM or program that will allow me to set it up so that she has limited access to programs/system?
Perhaps a launcher I can lock down such that it only shows her games and gallery video player, camera, etc.?
I figure I will use Button Remapper to deactivate the search/home/menu/back buttons (otherwise she will accidentally hit them when watching a video or playing a game).
Not sure what to do about the soft buttons---she needs to be able to access menus and go back somehow.
Oh, she is 3. She uses it all the time and loves the games I put on there, but the issues above need to be resolved before it is practical for her to use. It has been gathering a lot of dust since I got my new phone, and she really wants to have her own computer...
Any other ideas are welcome too of course.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To recommend a rom that would satisfy both her needs and yours I would look towards a 2.2 froyo based rom, any of them would do but for perfomance for games and working camera I would go with Beasty.
To be able to lock certain system settings and apps you can look into a face lock app from the market. There are numerous free versions to try out, but one you find the one thqts works right for your needs suggest purchase version for more options.
In a similar situation...handing down the tablet to my nephews and niece. They really want to be able to video chat. Are there any HC/ICS based ROMs that have the camera working? I've been away too long and haven't kept up with dev. Hoping someone can help me narrow down the search.
TIA!
Guys, Can I pls get your help for the below issues I have with my Sony Tablet S
I cant seem to "close"recently used apps', even after completely shutting down & disconnecting power. Its like I want to "delete browsing history" on a PC
I cant seem to log-out of Gmail at all as I can't see an option to do so.
The remote control learner does not learn at all, inspite of following all instructions. I have a Pioneer Amp to control music, but I've had no luck. After some research I've found out that the tablet can only learn from some models post 2011. Is this true?
I also have an Onkyo reciever for which I've downloaded the andriod app. This works well, but the app inevitably starts with the wrong orientation - inspite of my best efforts to hold the tab in the correct direction in which the app opened the last time. (It seems to rotate regardless)
I have no other issues such as force close or auto dimming as per my understanding of the most frequent issues on this forum
Thanks for your help guys. I really need it. Cheers
You could use "Advanced Task Killer free ( Or pro )
If you close an app does not mean it really shuts down but it wil stay there in memory,
The Task Killer will terminate all running apps.
Gmail is always running unless you uncheck the auto synchronize with Gmail,
you can find that in Settings / Accounts if that's what you meant.
I have several IR devices and i choose them from the device list no problems at all some actions didn't work well so I had to learn it from my remote control that worked fine to.
Orientation is a known issue but if you have your tablet rooted you could use a rotation app which requires root access something like full rotation i quess can't remember.
Don't mind my English
The novice said:
Guys, Can I pls get your help for the below issues I have with my Sony Tablet S
The remote control learner does not learn at all, inspite of following all instructions. I have a Pioneer Amp to control music, but I've had no luck. After some research I've found out that the tablet can only learn from some models post 2011. Is this true?
Thanks for your help guys. I really need it. Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have learned my tablet remotes from Dreambox 800HD (digitalbox for cable) and from my Harman Kardon AVR255 EU (reciever) and both are pre 2011. I also got it to work with a tv and digitalbox when I was visiting my father in the US. Can't remember the models though, but no problems with the remote. The tv in US was an old "fat-tv" not the new flat-tv
Honeycomb has no built-in method of killing apps at user request and for a good reason: Android does a better job itself. If Android needs to kill an app, it will do so, so you don't need to do it yourself. As for clearing history and the like, thats a bit trickier, but the stock Browser does include Incognito tabs for private browsing.
Gmail, on the other hand cannot be logged out of unless you go into Settings -> Accounts & Sync and either turn off Gmail sync (which still leaves you signed in, but not updating) or simply delete the Google Account. Gmail's not really made to be signed in or out of regularly.
As for your problems with the IR, thats definitely not the case and whatever your problems are, they're relatively isolated. Can you give us more detail on what you've tried and what happens when you do so?
With your Onkyo app, that almost invariably means that the developer has not included landscape support. If there is no landscape option for an app, it will force rotate to portrait, or vice versa if the app doesn't have portrait support. If you're sure they have, make sure that the Auto-Rotate Screen in your Settings toggles is set to On and if it still doesnt work, email the developer and let them know. Could be an isolated issue.
The question was not how to kill apps the question was how to delete recently opened apps and I have this question too. It seems there is no way.
Where are you finding these recently closed apps? As far as I knew Honeycomb didn't have any equivalent of the pre-3.0 "hold home button" dialog. The multitasking button in the bottom left shows running, paused and killed apps together, so there is no way to differentiate between recently used and closed apps, and recently used but still running apps.
maybe this helps
Schrammi said:
The question was not how to kill apps the question was how to delete recently opened apps and I have this question too. It seems there is no way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dont know about honeycomb cause i never tried this on it but on ics u can drag the apps out of the recently opened apps drawer and it disappears... try it... maybe it helps... or u can wait for the ics update to help u get rid of this issue....
Yes on ICS. But ICS came out last night us only for the moment. And with he there is no way.
bassir.masood said:
dont know about honeycomb cause i never tried this on it but on ics u can drag the apps out of the recently opened apps drawer and it disappears... try it... maybe it helps... or u can wait for the ics update to help u get rid of this issue....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As Schrammi said, that is a new ICS feature and on Honeycomb, the only way to clear apps from the multitasking panel is to reboot (which will also end the app, obviously)
The question sounds stupid, but the problem is I'm never sure where the "stock" image ends and the "extra stuff" begins, and in the past when I've put ROMs on other phones (Evo, Atrix 2) I wind up missing features.
I got my new Note this morning, immediately rooted it before I went to work (Had ODIN all set up and ready to go) and spent the day downloading apps. When I get the 64gb SD card I read about on these very forums (should arrive tomorrow or Friday) I'll then flash the nifty recovery stuff and use Titanium Backup to save all my application settings. Fine and dandy. Meanwhile I've been playing around with the phone (of course) and I've found there are things that I don't think are part of stock gingerbread that I want to keep.
I think the things I like are specifically Samsung customizations rather than AT&T add-ons. For example, the ability to swipe left on a name in your contacts list to send a text and swipe right on a name to call them is brilliant, and I don't remember that being a part of CM7 when I had it on my Evo. I also like that you can hang up, mute, or put on speakerphone a call from the task list--don't remember that one either.
There are a few apps I like. The Samsung music app (though it has a tendency to skip when the screen is off--anyone know why?) the voice recording app. I even kind of like the About Movies app, if only because the Note is the first phone where I thought it would be worthwhile trying something like that out (seriously, the screen is almost as big as the screens on some portable DVD players these days).
Some of these apps I figure I can back up on Titanium and then restore, and they'll probably work. Some apps might not work in ICS, and I'd really like to try a few of the ICS ROMS. Some features I like, like the phone functionality, probably get overwritten altogether. And of course I want to keep all the stylus apps and functionality.
Some of the functionality (like the stylus stuff) may have been duplicated in some of the custom roms. Some of the apps may be compatible with some roms and not others.
All of that leads up to my question: is there any information on what custom features in the stock Note were duplicated or re-implemented in various ROMs, and any information on what ROMs are compatible with some of the app add-ins? When I go through the lists in the dev section I usually see "debloated" which to me reads "we stripped out everything that isn't stock" but other than a few comments about stylus functionality I don't see a lot of information on what was carried over.
Those features you mention are features of the touch wiz interface that is Samsung firmware.
You lost those on cm rooms before because it's aosp based, which is what Samsung gets, and then throws touch wiz on top of it.
htc has an overlay they put on Android called sense.
Motorola's is called motoblur
If you want to keep those features on a custom ROM, just make sure it's based on a stock firmware and not from aosp
does anyone know of any roms out there designed to turn an outdated or lowend android phone into a PMP/MP3 player? i know they already have the capacity to play media, but i can't help but wonder if battery/performance would be better if you trashed all the cellphone parts of android and designed a UI just for media playback.
Sent from my DROID4 using xda app-developers app
pyro42 said:
does anyone know of any roms out there designed to turn an outdated or lowend android phone into a PMP/MP3 player? i know they already have the capacity to play media, but i can't help but wonder if battery/performance would be better if you trashed all the cellphone parts of android and designed a UI just for media playback.
Sent from my DROID4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For starters, you could put the phone in airplane mode.
A little bit more work: root and freeze or remove all the Apps you don't want/need. Particularly bloatware and other apps that include a service, things that auto-run on start.
electricpete1 said:
For starters, you could put the phone in airplane mode.
A little bit more work: root and freeze or remove all the Apps you don't want/need. Particularly bloatware and other apps that include a service, things that auto-run on start.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well airplane mode would knock out wifi as well, but yes, some ROM's allow you to just turn off the data connection. you'd obviously do well to start with a clean rom is possible instead of stock. but i was hoping someone'd started a little more of a complete solution.
pyro42 said:
well airplane mode would knock out wifi as well, but yes, some ROM's allow you to just turn off the data connection. you'd obviously do well to start with a clean rom is possible instead of stock. but i was hoping someone'd started a little more of a complete solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't you disable 3g data under settings?
Sent from deep below the earth on a Paranoid E4GT
pyro42 said:
well airplane mode would knock out wifi as well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can see why you might want wifi for downloads or data transfer, but of course that’s not what you asked for (“just for media playback”)
I'm pretty sure there are easy ways to turn off data and phone radios without turning off wifi.
I think you just turn airplane mode on first and then turn wifi on after that.
I just tried it and it seems to work on my phone (afterwards I could access internet via wifi but my phone dialer wouldn't dial out)
If for some reason that doesn't work for you, google airplane mode wifi tool
pyro42 said:
i was hoping someone'd started a little more of a complete solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven’t heard of custom roms designed to reduce the capabilities of the phone.
But if that's what you've got your mind set on, go for it. It doesn't hurt to ask.
Good luck
pyro42 said:
does anyone know of any roms out there designed to turn an outdated or lowend android phone into a PMP/MP3 player? i know they already have the capacity to play media, but i can't help but wonder if battery/performance would be better if you trashed all the cellphone parts of android and designed a UI just for media playback.
Sent from my DROID4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am wondering the same thing. I have AT&T's first Android, the Backflip.... that I use as an mp3 player (an expensive one.. lol) and it is running the CM7 rom. I would love to wipe it and have a simple interface that is purely an mp3 player as you said. Putting it in airplane mode, shutting off 3g, deleting bloatware (if ur running stock) are all great ideas.... but I have CM7 stripped down to the bare (no Gapps, no accounts ,etc) and I STILL would like to turn it into a pure stand alone mp3 player with ext memory and amazing battery life. The phone is small (unless you flip it open) so it would be great for it! Was hoping maybe someone got bored since the last reply on here and came up with something. It "seems" like it would be fairly easy since there isn't much to create.... but to have the phone "boot" into just an mp3 UI does actually sound kind of complicated from my small knowledge of Android.
P.S. I have upgraded 5 or 6 times for myself and everyone in my group, so this Backflip serves no "phone" purpose. Would be perfect..
Very interesting idea. Would like to know info on this as well. I've been thinking how to repurpose my old cell phones and this could work.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2 using Tapatalk 2.
Optimus v would be great
Sent from my LG-P920 using Tapatalk 2
Not a ROM, But a good solution,
Hey guys. So, It's not a specific ROM for mp3 player-ness, But here's what I did with CM7 on my HTC Evo 4G
- Downloaded a media player app with a full screen widget (PlayerPro or WinAmp should od the trick)
- Set the 4x4 widget as my homescreen, and eliminate the rest of the screens.
- Remove lockscreen and security (or you can use WidgetLocker and put a smaller widget as your lock screen)
- I remapped my 4 Froyo Android buttons (Home, Back, Menu, Search) as MP3 player centric buttons. (pause, play, forward, backward, mute, etc... you can do whatever you want) using ButtonRemapper.
- To top it all off, I use Juice Defender to kill network connectivity, cell connectivity, etc... I purchased the Ultimate version for complete root access features. I keep wifi and bluetooth available for stuff (like connecting to by bluetooth stereo)
So, yeah. Battery still isn't amazing, but it is better. And I don't think there's a ton that can be done about that, the screen is, and will always be, the juice hog. even though it's not a dedicated rom, it works pretty well. I'm lucky that the EVO has such a huge developement community. If you have a less popular phone, you might be SOL with some of these features.
Hope this helps a little. I'm not really a developer, I just love finding new, interesting ways of customizing my phones
I started a how to on this ..
check out my forum post http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2644588 it's pretty much what your original question was about.