Hi Guys,
First post here so I could'nt post in the relevent thread. It has been noticed that there is a switch on the Tablet S PCB that apparently disconnects the battery, I've opened up many devices over the years and have never seen that before - very strange if you ask me. Might be of interest to some to note that the Sony PSP used an anti hacking method that utilised the battery !!, so we may be on to something here.
On PSP a hacked battery is called "pandora battery". It is not a switch. The battery has four contacts. Two of them are the voltage contacts plus and minus and two of them send a serial signal code. With the right code, the PSP boot in a special (hidden) recovery menu. Do you have more information about the tablet battery and the switch? Pictures available?
Wouldn't the relevant thread be the ones you found out about on it?
original discovery of switch here (with pictures)
Then I brought it up in the dev thread about APX mode here
And yes it exists... can confirm it's there (at least on my 16gb model anyway)
My thoughts are is that there would be a factory cable used here (similar to the motorola factory cable) and they need to disconnect the battery for it to function as it should.
And a hunch that it could very well have something to do with APX mode, however... since people have stumbled into APX mode completely by accident with no hardware commands, that kind of contradicts that thought.
I don't have any info on the battery or the switch, I was just pointing out the strangeness of having a switch to disconnect the battery, nothing else I have ever looked at has this feature. (and I've opened up a lot of devices)
It just makes me think that there is a need to easily and repeatedly disconnect the battery during the manufacturing / assembly / repair process.
For example, does the system "know" when the battery has been disconnected and allow different operations ? - fastboot perhaps ?
I know this is all supposition and it may mean nothing at all - but the feature is bugging me - it cost money to implement and I can't help but feel it's there for a reason.
System woiuld'nt let me reply in thread I was reading - said dev section was for expert users only ??
obicom said:
On PSP a hacked battery is called "pandora battery". It is not a switch. The battery has four contacts. Two of them are the voltage contacts plus and minus and two of them send a serial signal code. With the right code, the PSP boot in a special (hidden) recovery menu. Do you have more information about the tablet battery and the switch? Pictures available?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought of this too but then went on to think that there's probably no way such a thing would transfer accross do android/unix codes like that. ie they use android kernels and stuff, they don't make the whole thing themselves. Plus they realised the vulnerability of it and removed it in models like the psp 3000 and go (not sure about 2000).
DreadPirateDan said:
I thought of this too but then went on to think that there's probably no way such a thing would transfer accross do android/unix codes like that. ie they use android kernels and stuff, they don't make the whole thing themselves. Plus they realised the vulnerability of it and removed it in models like the psp 3000 and go (not sure about 2000).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Early PSP-2000 models still had the vulnerability.
DreadPirateDan said:
I thought of this too but then went on to think that there's probably no way such a thing would transfer accross do android/unix codes like that. ie they use android kernels and stuff, they don't make the whole thing themselves. Plus they realised the vulnerability of it and removed it in models like the psp 3000 and go (not sure about 2000).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're actually pretty close, I think. Android would be perfectly capable of receiving certain boot codes, but these are far more likely to be wired to the more capable micro-USB port as in just about every other Android device. While an Android kernel could theoretically receive serial codes from almost anywhere given the right instructions, Sony would probably not do this. As mentioned, the PSP's ability in this regard caused many problems.
As mentioned by the others, if someone could post some good hi-res shots of the battery and surrounding PCB or something like that, that would make it much easier.
Sony's philosophy has always been that the end user should use the product as it was built and the purpose it was built for.
They've always made hacking and rooting very difficult for users. They don't like their products being tampered with.
I can understand where they are coming from, but at the end of the day, with many phones and tablets, if root techniques and mods aren't available, many users won't buy the goods.
All PSP models, including the 3000 series, excluding the go have been cracked.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
pandora battery worked for psp 1000 and psp 2000 before the TA-088 V3 motherboard, all the next models where hacked by firmware homebrew enabler, but not by battery mod..
wrsg said:
All PSP models, including the 3000 series, excluding the go have been cracked.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to clear things up, what works on the PSP will not, generally speaking, work on the Tablet S. They are different hardware, with different interfaces to different firmware which runs completely different software.
If we can get a look at the PCB in closer detail where the battery connects we might be able to see if there are any serial pins, but I doubt there will be. No other Sony product since has featured it (to my knowledge).
Related
Greetings all,
Just off of the success of fixing the frustration of the broken audio adapter after upgrading to a new ROM problem, I think that a new and even more valeuable project is at hand: UnBricking these that are really bricked.
Ok, here is my thought and experience in as short a summery as I can give. Almost ALL consumber products these days evolved from general purpose processors with outboard EPROM or EEPROM, RAM, and peripheral components. As the devices develope, custom chipsets come into play to reduce size, component count, weight, power consumption, cost, etc, while upping the reliability, battery life, features, speed, and just the joy factor of these things. Look at them as they get better and better, just the transition from 6th gen 6700 to the 7th gen 6800 how much better it works. This goes for everything from the PDA/Smartphones, to the refrigerator, to satellite receivers, everything. A problem was that as more stuff gets crammed onto a smaller number of chips, they needed a way to initially configure these things so they would not come out as dumb boxes. Enter the JTAG interface. For those who do not know the acronym, look it up, but basically it is a standard interface and protocol to communicate with dedicated microprocessors and program them, without having to exactly speak the language of each model and brand. When you get a device off the production line at the end it goes to a workstation that has a JTAG interface jig and a PC configured to load the initial stuff, like the bootloader and basic stuff needed to make it what it is. I have been working with stuff for many years now and have JTAGGed satellite receivers, cell phones, air cards, cars, yes even cars use it, and a standard set of software talks to it all. The only difference is the connector or jig that is used and the BIN file you load. This is usually createable from the bootloader file that we usually load up to the USB port with the RUU, but without a bootloader in it already we can not do anything with it, so we need to JTAG like OLIPRO2.40 straight to the memory address range it needs to go to. JTAG software will, thru the interface, establish communication with, communicate, identify, and program the flash directly, heck you can put the entire ROM on it if you want. I do this all the time with other devices, so I know it is possible.
If you have a 6800 that is bricked thru software error and NOT broken by any crazy stuff done to it afterwards, then JTAGging WILL fix it. I propose to start the JTAG project for the 6800 series HTC devices, as I see an ever increasing number of these getting bricked it needs to be done. The ONLY way one should be touched inside is if it is known to be bricked by software error that you can not get back out of and thats all that is wrong with it, and very important that there is no possibility of returning it to your carrier under warranty for repair. HTC would do exactly what I propose and send it back fixed but probably charge a bunch. I have not killed mine, and do not intend to do so just for this project, but if anyone has one that is just a paperweight and meets the above criteria and has nothing to loose and plenty of time (cause my paying job takes priority) I would be happy to take this on and find, probe, and JTAG your device, fix it and provide before, during, and afterwards logging of what is done. I would then prepare a package of instructions and software on how everyone else can do it as well.
Anyone got a really dead one that they would care to try ???????
I hope I'm not on the list. I haven't seen JTAG since I went to the DD-WRT forums.
Sounds like a great project for those in need.
Mmm, JTAG... DD-WRT and old CNC machines..
I'm curious about this, how do you interface with the phone for JTAG? I just skimmed the article [dont have my glasses] but would love to know.
JTAG fixed my Hermes
JTAG does work - it brought my bricked hermes back to life!
morganlowe said:
Mmm, JTAG... DD-WRT and old CNC machines..
I'm curious about this, how do you interface with the phone for JTAG? I just skimmed the article [dont have my glasses] but would love to know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to find the 4 or 5 connection points needed and determine memory layout. The problem with his idea here is the cpu in the 6800 is SPECIAL. No public datasheets, and it's proprietary as heck. Good luck finding the jtag points for the kaiser or 6800 or any msm7000 series device using the msm as the cpu.
Shadowmite said:
You have to find the 4 or 5 connection points needed and determine memory layout. The problem with his idea here is the cpu in the 6800 is SPECIAL. No public datasheets, and it's proprietary as heck. Good luck finding the jtag points for the kaiser or 6800 or any msm7000 series device using the msm as the cpu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was thinking the same thing, there's not much on this chip out there... I have JTAG stuff for old school EPROMs and such, even got a cable for Linksys routers... I would worry about digging into my phone though. I know with Sprint you can add insurance at anytime, but you must wait 30 days to make a first claim... I got some old Treo 600s for Sprint I could donate to someone needing a phone as a temp.
Shadowmite said:
You have to find the 4 or 5 connection points needed and determine memory layout. The problem with his idea here is the cpu in the 6800 is SPECIAL. No public datasheets, and it's proprietary as heck. Good luck finding the jtag points for the kaiser or 6800 or any msm7000 series device using the msm as the cpu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And the great Shadowmite emerges from the......shadows?
Long time no see! (TC)
JTAG prober
Shadowmite said:
You have to find the 4 or 5 connection points needed and determine memory layout. The problem with his idea here is the cpu in the 6800 is SPECIAL. No public datasheets, and it's proprietary as heck. Good luck finding the jtag points for the kaiser or 6800 or any msm7000 series device using the msm as the cpu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
JTAG points are usually together in a pattern and not scattered, and JTAG prober software is wonderful for getting the pinout by analyzing the signals it sees, JKEYS is good as is QXDM (Qualcomm Extensible Diagnostic Monitor) is what I used for doing the same thing with a Sierra Wireless 580 card that uses the MSM5500. The card was corrupted during a flash update and I was able to JTAG and get it back and use it as a test card to this day. QXDM even can unlock the protected memory and change things you are not allowed to change (ESN), it is pretty much all powerfull as far as the Qualcomm chips go. By the way, before Nortel I worked for Qualcomm and still have access so I was reeeeeeeal happy to see HTC start useing this chipset ;-)
You go ahead and try then, let us know if you succeed.
Will do when,,,,,,
Shadowmite said:
You go ahead and try then, let us know if you succeed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When a unit becomes available I will do it ;-)
bump.
Surely there must be one person out the the hundreds with "bricked" titans that would donate it to madman. I am sure he will give it back when he is finished with it.
madman34: I think you may have found a winner.
Thanks for the referal
hindjew1 said:
madman34: I think you may have found a winner.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I went there and asked him to come here and have a look. I am thinking that he does have a possible candidate, but just for grins I just pulled my battery and plugged in my wall pack and right away get the red light, but with my laptop I do get his 'data device' and red light so I am open to the possibility that there might be a fusible link bad in his if it is not a software problem. Either way, if it is useless to him I will be happy to look at it.
man i bricked the ecu on my subaru once... i had to send it to the open source ecu tool dev to jtag it... good times
drag to kill your car
bmorrisj said:
man i bricked the ecu on my subaru once... i had to send it to the open source ecu tool dev to jtag it... good times
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be a bummer as you could not drive to get the fix. I started by writing code for the TMS7000 processors in the old VC2, then my Acura in 1988, but then they stopped useing PROMS and went to JTAG, really got me going.
No takers so far, and mine still works
Well nobody has come forward with a victim,,,,,hmmmmm,,,,uuuuhhhhh,,,,,unit to try ;-) and mine works still so we wait.
madman34, one one unit we have so far that has died did not entirely die. It would appear if the spl gets wiped out on a msm7xxx series device using comm core as cpu it has a failsafe mode if the oemsbl/qcsbl are still present. The device goes into download mode on boot and sits there.
Since you stated you worked for qualcomm, can you shed any light on this and how we might possibly be able to write nand from download mode? Or get back to debug mode instead?
Shadowmite said:
madman34, one one unit we have so far that has died did not entirely die. It would appear if the spl gets wiped out on a msm7xxx series device using comm core as cpu it has a failsafe mode if the oemsbl/qcsbl are still present. The device goes into download mode on boot and sits there.
Since you stated you worked for qualcomm, can you shed any light on this and how we might possibly be able to write nand from download mode? Or get back to debug mode instead?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I worked for them before this series came out, but I will get up with some of my old friends there and see if I can get more info.
my mogul is stuck on the ***** ass sprint screen after a tried upgrade but im in Houston
Post here about anything you might have found out about the internal NookColor hardware.
Here's one to start with:
Look at dmesg under Android. The wireless driver is TIWLAN, and a little Googling correlates the line "Chip ID is 0x4030111" with a WL1271, a TI part with 802.11b/g/n, bluetooth, and FM. However, as far as I can tell Bluetooth isn't anywhere to be seen in the Nook ROM.
This document shows the typical setup for the WL1271, which is for WiFi to connect to the host through SDIO (one of the SD/SDIO/MMC interfaces) and Bluetooth and FM to go through a UART.
There may not be antennae for BT and FM, but we should definitely look into this
staulkor said:
There may not be antennae for BT and FM, but we should definitely look into this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe not FM, but that document I linked shows a "WiLink 6.0 Solution" that uses an antenna switch so only one 2.4GHz antenna is needed for BT and WiFi.
Ohhhh, this has some interesting potential!
I got Flash 10.1 to install, but cannot get the B&N Browser to Dolphin to recognize that its installed when I try to do something with Flash (tells me I need to install it)
txskeets said:
Ohhhh, this has some interesting potential!
I got Flash 10.1 to install, but cannot get the B&N Browser to Dolphin to recognize that its installed when I try to do something with Flash (tells me I need to install it)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting, but let's keep this thread on the topic of hardware.
Have you tried checking the ttys? Or even just trying to put a bluez stack + firmware taken from another device on it?
BlueTooth
Please, Oh Please, tell me that this device can do BlueTooth. The ability to add a wireless keyboard would make this device Perfect for me!!!!
Agreed, Bluetooth FTW. We could be one kernal injection away from BT!
marcus905 said:
Have you tried checking the ttys? Or even just trying to put a bluez stack + firmware taken from another device on it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't bother; from that doc I posted there's a GPIO enable for bluetooth, and unless the BN developers were complete bozos they've turned it off and left it off in this kernel. We could go searching for it, but it would get tedious. I am willing to bet that it's referenced in the BN u-boot and kernel sources though.
The TI WLAN/BT/FM driver and firmware can be found here: http://gforge.ti.com/gf/project/wilink_drivers/
This might not be the right section. But what are the possibilities of overclocking to possibly run the tablet version of android "3.0" which is said to require 1ghz or faster processor??
This is an interesting find. My guess is that it would have been too much of a hassle for BN to get a WIFI only chip so they opted for the ready made one and disabled the rest of the functionality.
But I think until we have a cooked ROM for the Nook we won't be able to see BT any time soon. This is too stripped down an OS.
devis said:
This is an interesting find. My guess is that it would have been too much of a hassle for BN to get a WIFI only chip so they opted for the ready made one and disabled the rest of the functionality.
But I think until we have a cooked ROM for the Nook we won't be able to see BT any time soon. This is too stripped down an OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's clear that the NC is based on TI's ebook reference platform. Given the amount of TI silicon in there I wouldn't be surprised if TI cut them a deal on this WiFi module such that it was cheaper than another company's WiFi-only one. It's not clear what's inside the module, and for all we know there is no BT/WiFi switch, which would make it impossible to run anything but WiFi.
As long as the module has a switch, it wouldn't make any sense for BN to hard-disable the bluetooth. There aren't that many connections just to get BT data, and I'm pretty sure the OMAP doesn't use those connections (1 GPIO, 1 UART) for anything. It would only cost a few PCB traces and maybe a pullup resistor or two, less than a couple of cents at scale.
The nook is getting 3.0 Already confirmed.
luistorres1027 said:
The nook is getting 3.0 Already confirmed.
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Click to collapse
where was this confirmed? never heard mention of it at all
molesaied88 said:
where was this confirmed? never heard mention of it at all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems pretty unlikely, to be honest. The NC wasn't intended to run straight Android so can't see B&N being massively interested in supporting future Android versions.
luistorres1027 said:
The nook is getting 3.0 Already confirmed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a fairy tale. The next version of android will be 2.3, and nothing about 3.0 could be confirmed as it's likely 6 months away at least. And no one has really even confirmed anything about 2.3. It's all been sightings and rumors.
But back on topic - has anyone had a look at the TI Ebook reference material? Maybe they have a vanilla version of android that is made to work with the processor? It's possible the Nook hardware is similar or identical to some TI reference design - it is the first product based on that chip after all, maybe B&N just let TI design the thing?
EDIT: At the bottom of the page for this processor it says: "This product is intended for high-volume wireless OEMs and ODMs and is not available through distributors. If your company meets this description, please contact your TI sales office."
So Grr, looks like they're not going to share much unless you're a big company. Sometimes these guys have lots of support material for their processors, but I guess this one is too specialized.
has anyone had a look at the TI Ebook reference material?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I browsed through a bit. Looks like very well supported hardware - the driver for the WIFI chip is in the AOSP source tree, and the graphics chips is pretty common.
It would seem to me that a port of Cyanogen would be very straightforward. The missing buttons would need to be mapped to something - maybe an additional UI component which popped up for menu and back? - but other than that...doesn't look too bad. Simpler than a lot of others, maybe.
And damn, this device looks like it would be pretty quick. It's no slouch now, and with Froyo...and maybe a touch of overclocking... it would be faster than a Nexus one with absolutely killer battery life.
A very commonly available, high-quality Cyanogen tablet for $250?
Sick.
You could copy the Archos on-screen buttons (which look really annoying but are better than nothing)
Facegarden said:
That's a fairy tale. The next version of android will be 2.3, and nothing about 3.0 could be confirmed as it's likely 6 months away at least. And no one has really even confirmed anything about 2.3. It's all been sightings and rumors.
But back on topic - has anyone had a look at the TI Ebook reference material? Maybe they have a vanilla version of android that is made to work with the processor? It's possible the Nook hardware is similar or identical to some TI reference design - it is the first product based on that chip after all, maybe B&N just let TI design the thing?
EDIT: At the bottom of the page for this processor it says: "This product is intended for high-volume wireless OEMs and ODMs and is not available through distributors. If your company meets this description, please contact your TI sales office."
So Grr, looks like they're not going to share much unless you're a big company. Sometimes these guys have lots of support material for their processors, but I guess this one is too specialized.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Eh, as far as I can tell it's the same die as the 3630 but in a lower pin count package, without a package-on-package (DRAM/flash stacked on top) version, no camera interface, and only specced for 800MHz. The 3630 comes in 1200MHz versions, and as we've seen with the Nooter bootloader (by accident) it's possible to make this part run at least at 1GHz.
The datasheet for this part is the general 36xx series datasheet, and at 24MB isn't lacking at all (except for the DRM stuff).
bcpk said:
You could copy the Archos on-screen buttons (which look really annoying but are better than nothing)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could.
There's a thread in the general section right now about a button remapping app.
I just manually did what the app does, pulled the .kl files, changed VOLUME_UP to BACK and VOLUME_DOWN to MENU, pushed the files back and rebooted.
Et Voila, Bob's yer uncle, I now have menu and back keys...at the expense of losing a couple of volume control keys about which I care not at all.
Nice.
I'm sitting here in bed recovering from a minor surgical procedure (seriously minor, so don't get distracted) and decided to spend some quality time with the TrueSmart in conjunction with my Sony Xperia Z1s. Like many of you, I waited 6+ months for my device (apologies to those *still* waiting - I feel your pain). What I'm *not* certain of, is how many people here were looking at the TrueSmart as a serious training watch. For me, that was as or *more* important than the propeller-head functions of being a real Android device. There *were* some things related to safety and long-range excursions (such as traveling out of range of cell towers and running a BT-connected satellite communication device) but that was more of the nice-to-have variety, as I do that kind of adventure travel once or twice per year. My main use case is regular weekly training on the bike, in the gym and in the pool. The TrueSmart seemed perfectly suited to this, while being an "all-day wearer" and much more versatile than task-specific training watches.
Then it happened - you all know the drama around the IPx7 rating. Omate went from showing demo videos of Laurent stepping out of the pool with his device and later posting that the watch is "IP67+" - indicating higher resiliency versus the standard -- to abandoning the water resistant aspect of the device completely. This is more than an academic/marketing issue for me. This is a major design goal failure in my view, and it's pretty much a deal-breaker for my central use case for this device. So it is with some trepidation that I put any more effort into this device than it takes to update the firmware and post it for sale on eBay/Amazon/whatever.
What kept me interested? ...the work of Lokifish Mars, Daniel Ortiz, Kurt Huwig, Dee's Troy, Cyril Preiss and others... including some serious discussion in this forum about improving the water resistance of the device. That's all pretty heartening stuff. But at the end of the day it comes down to how it's suited to *my* use - even if the goals change, so I set about to put both Lokifish's and Dee's ROMs on my TrueSmart and try them out. I started with Runkeeper and Ride with GPS, and found both to be beyond acceptable - nearly exceptional. I had brought my bike into my bedroom before my surgery (set up on a trainer from my days when I was recovering from knee surgery last year) and was already beginning to fit the TS onto the handlebars in a way that I could use the camera "facing forward" with Ride with GPS - to be able to grab snapshots as I go along my route. Pretty. Freaking. Cool. I expected the Runkeeper app to look/perform well - but RWGPS was a pleasant surprise. And even though the screen is small, it's much brighter/more readable than the screen of my Sony Zperia Z1s in daylight. This encourages me greatly.
Then I started to look into Cyril Preiss's "SWApps" suite, and things got REALLY interesting. I grok the concept of a companion device versus a standalone device that plays well with others at arm's length. I've done quite a bit of work in mobile tech, and even have an inkling of how things work "on the metal". Both approaches have their uses, but I always thought of *my* use case as being in the standalone-without-a-SIM variety, since I was generally looking for capture of training data with occasional Wi-Fi tethering/sync of that data back to the web apps. So the "tell me why my pocket is buzzing" aspect of companion usage never really felt that compelling to me. That has somewhat to do with the fact that unless I'm expecting contact I just let chatter go to voice mail/inbox/whatever and clear it later. With all of that said, Cyril seems to have done something I never thought anyone would bother to do - split the difference between the two functional core cases for wearables, and perhaps create a super-set of those roles while doing so in a fairly elegant manner. It makes a really strong case for the TrueSmart - at least in *my* mind. Because of this, I started to seriously re-think my purpose for the TS, from focusing on it as a glorified training watch to something that really covered many more bases.
Enter Sony.
[cue Taiko drums]
When I made the switch from the iPhone 4S, it was to the Sony Xperia Z. I really liked it. In fact I *loved* it. One of the things I really enjoyed about the device (other than it was a fairly well-executed Android platform) was the water-resistance that allowed me to keep it by the edge of the pool. "Why?" you ask? Good question. Right now I swim with a Polar FT1 armband and coded HRM strap (their GymLink protocol transmits/receives at 5kHz which goes through water). Every few laps I pause to take a picture of the FT1. Later I go through the images and record the timing/heart rate measurements to create a graph of my performance. Yup - OLD SCHOOL DATA COLLECTION. It actually took a bit of work to get the phone to STAY THE F*CK ON and leave the device running, so I could just pick it up, take a snap and get back to paddling. But yeah - I'm nerdy about data like that. Some people collect baseball cards. Whatever. So I upgraded to the Z1s essentially for Android 4.3 and BTLE. This allowed me to capture cycling data from the cadence meter by Topeak (Panobike - highly recommended) and HRM data while in the gym using the Polar HR7 (also highly recommended). Awesome, right? Well, I'm getting tired of spending more time processing the data from my swims that the actual amount of time I spend in the pool (this is partly because I'm really not that strong of a swimmer yet, but I digress). So I really, really want to be able to get seamless data into *a* device that can just record/correlate the data and I can get on with my day. Is that too much to ask?
Evidently so... but I'll stay with the Sony saga for a bit longer.
So I'm working with Lokifish's ROM, connected to the Z1s via Wi-Fi tethering. SWApps is cool - like - really cool. I'm beginning to think this is going to work... until it doesn't. Bear in mind, I don't know what the Z1s "thinks" is data as in "oh, you need the Internet through me? Let me get that for you..." versus device-to-device chatter via Wi-Fi that doesn't require outside connection - but the Z1s seems to think that it can shut down its HotSpot tethering functionality completely when it thinks there's no traffic for ten minutes. I mean, I get it - this is a strategy to save the battery, but when you turn that 'feature' off you run head-long into a battery drain issue. I happen to believe this is lazy/sloppy programming in T-mobile's Wi-Fi management stack, but that's based more on my experience with T-mobile than knowledge of the Sony Xperia line.
And to be honest I'd like to have the watch *just run* for a few days in this mode when needed. I don't mind heavy (or nearly complete) drain of the device while it's doing data capture during training. But when it's just a watch - why turn it into a focus/distraction by burning down the power source so far you're spending more time plugging and unplugging it from the charger than clearing notifications? So, what to do? Why, try Bluetooth tethering of course. Seems logical, right? Run the watch in "airplaine" mode, so so need for (relatively) battery-draining Wi-Fi, and the bandwidth limitations of Bluetooth is not so much of an issue in this case. This is device comms, not Netflix, right? So, easy-peazy-lemon-squeezy I put Dees_Troy's BT ROM on the device and set about to tether it to my Z1s...
"What's that? I can't do that? But I just read on a web page that all I have to do is go to the HotSpot management page and enable the Bluetooth tethering option, right? I'm sorry, what? As of Android 4.3 Sony has disabled Bluetooth tethering for anything but their own devices?"
Seriously. This is "classic" Sony, and by that I mean the Sony *I* knew when I first started working for them back in 2003. The Sony *I* knew refused to put a product they owned (Sonic Foundry's Vegas, probably the best video editor on the Windows platform) in lieu of a product they did *not* own (Pinnacle software, a company that doesn't exist any more - which tells you all you need to know). This is the same Sony that told Steve Jobs to go screw himself when he suggested they might do well to put his OS on Sony machines (doh!). This is the same Sony that decided to create a horribly designed music service years after iTunes, when they had multiple chances to jump in before Jobs created the market - and now that application/platform doesn't exist any more (which again is all you really need to know about that). I could go on - BUT - when I took a look at the Xperia line, I saw a Sony mobile device group that was interested in participating in open-source, showed an inclination to respond positively to notes from outside developers, and generally was more open and participatory in nature. I thought "well, they must have finally grown up"...
Then today I see the same old Sony, closing down their features to only be available on other Sony products. (cue the sad trombone) What I guess happened, and I'm pretty certain of this, is that some empty-shirt exec saw the spike in sales of the Xperia phone line, and then saw that the tablet sales were flat and said "Hmmm, I bet if we do 'tighter integration' with our phones and tablets that we'd sell more to our phone users" and promptly ordered the lock-down of BT tethering on their phones. I'm not a conspiracy nut - I've actually been in meetings where Sony execs have intentionally knee-capped their own products in order to look like they're "doing something" without actually doing anything. Adding by taking away is the kind of failure at basic math that only a huge company like Sony can manage for so many years. I'm sure that same person is being considered for CEO of the company some day.
Believe it or not, it even gets better, or worse depending on your perspective. I'm pulling Dee's ROM and the connection keeps failing. Mind you, I tether via WiFi through my phone because I get really solid 4GLTE data rates to/from the device because I'm basically line-of-site with the tower nearest me. That, and the other 'dedicated' Internet services are pretty weak, and it's a no-brainer for most situations. However the ROM download is at 143MB and I look down at my phone to see the "SONY" logo on the front screen - it was restarting. I picked up the device and it was hot, and I mean HOT. Not so much that I needed to drop it but enough that I wondered if I had placed it somewhere it had picked up ambient heat from an outside source. Nope. This is all Sony's doing. So I try a few more times, each with progressively more aggressive temperature management. I put the phone in the freezer for a minute (yup, you read that right) and then brought it back out, set up the HotSpot and started to download the ROM again. And again the Z1s reset itself (with no warning) as the ROM got to about 180MB. Damn.
I put my hand under the Z1s and found that a spot above the NFC chip on he back panel as just as hot as it was before. The rest of the phone felt cool as a cucumber. So I did the freezer again, this time for a few minutes - and brought with it a gel pack that had been sitting behind a pack of ice cubes since I recovered from my knee surgery. I used that as a 'pillow' for the Z1s, and started the process once more. And the phone failed yet again, with little or no residual heat near the NFC chip. So now I'm starting to get really frustrated - because this is a major hardware issue that's not related to the environment. I've done file up/downloads before with fairly sizable assets - video and audio files for projects (my latest was the "Incredibly Fit" video series for FerrignoFIT - you can find demos on YouTube and Vimeo) and this *never* happened to me before. And then it dawned on me - I was using Wi-Fi both directions. On my large studio computer I always connect via USB tether, because that machine is never online unless I'm moving a file (or doing an update, etc). I thought to myself "nah - this can't be true" so I connected the phone to the laptop via USB without chilling it down, set everything up and started the the file download once again.
BOOM! Downloaded it without a hitch.
So here we have what I consider to be a major design flaw - one device making one connection to the Internet and moving a file a few hundred MB in size - causing the device to restart without warning. The mobile hotspot functionality is supposed to handle up to ten devices. I have a hard time believing that either Sony and/or T-Mobile didn't test this to the point of seeing that failure that occurs early and often. It's kind of astonishing, really. I can understand a fledgling company like OMate dropping the ball (to a point) but two large companies like Sony and T-Mobile missing something like this? What's the point of T-Mobile holding back updates for six months if their device/infrastructure is going to crash their devices at the first sign of solid throughput? Sony made a bad design choice, and T-Mobile was lazy and stupid for allowing it on the market with such fragile capability. But at least the Z1s actually water-proof.
I don't want to look like I'm giving OMate a pass on their other failures with the TrueSmart. It's easy to point to their most glaring failure - to live up to their specs, as they spent a great deal of time prancing around about how design is more than a department. Well, I have news for Laurent Le Pen, supply chain is more than making sure the paperwork is signed. Maybe some of the glaring deficiencies in the casing/hardware will get sorted, but you still have to deal with Mediatek. That failure is probably the most problematic for me when looking at Omate. Given that Laurant Le Pen's background is supposed to be in supply chain, his failure to properly evaluate and actively manage a partner is a cardinal sin. There may have been Herculean efforts to correct that, but the results have left everyone wanting - especially those here who have thrown so much "good money after bad" in trying to compensate for those failures. Maybe this isn't the end of that story and they pull a rabbit out of a hat with this device. Maybe it all gets corrected with the *next* TrueSmart, whatever that might be. But one thing I know for sure, I'll never put money in one of these projects again, and Kickstarter/Indiegogo can thank Laurent Le pen for that. They're welcome to "fail forward" as much as they can afford, but it won't be with any more of my money.
As for whether I'll continue to manage the failure of the TrueSmart with my time, that remains to be seen. I see a LOT of talent here - and see certain folks pulling back while others are still pouring it on. I wish I could be more optimistic. But even with that, I may keep the TrueSmart and continue to use it as a high-consumption Wi-Fi tethered device, and who knows - maybe I'll throw a SIM in it and leverage more of the SWApps features. If the aftermarket waterproofing effort comes to fruition I may actually get back to my core use case. But then again, as I've said nearly every place I've decided to enter the conversation, I'm much more likely to just go to the real pros in this arena - Polar or Garmin, and just make the move to a wearable that won't remind me of its status as an unwelcome distraction.
The one thing I'm *certainly* going to do is take this Z1s back to T-Mobile and get either an HTC One M8 or Samsung S5. That's one failure that can be handled with relative ease.
Quick update - just replaced the Z1s with an HTC One M8 and it is a freakishly nice device. Thank you, Sony.
So - another update: I decided to reverse course and hold on to the TrueSmart. I've added a SIM and picked up the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 that T-Mobile was pimping out. I know they've got me by the nads on data plan, but that's the cost of doing business.
Aside from the garden-variety uses, I'll be taking Cyril Preiss' "SWApps Link" through its paces. I'll still end up with a V800 when they come out, but I'll have to find a way to manage multiple wrist-worn devices. Maybe I should have been born with more arms like Lokifish. ?
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
For lack of a better place to put this, I decided the Android Q/A was probably best. Anyway I'll get straight to the point. I'm attempting to create an HMD using an old Android phone. The problem is, even on a local network, all of the possible Remote Desktop apps seem to have unbearable lag. I cannot fix my network. I'm using Powerline Adapters. I put a WiFi router directly in the room I want to use the phone as an HMD and I've got a direct connection to the main router via Powerline on my PC. It's really as good as it's going to get. And yet I have noticeable lag even just moving my mouse around. So I don't really want suggestions on how to get wireless working better.
What I really want is a true one to one display. Almost like the phone is acting as a secondary monitor to my PC. So whatever my PC is displaying, my android shows with zero lag. That means directly connecting the device I'd imagine. The problem is, EVERY single possible way of wording this in my research seems to provide the exact opposite results of what I'm looking for. Google loves doing that to me. I say "Use Android as PC Monitor" and I get "How to display your Android on your PC monitor". That's just one example of the many different ways I got those same exact results.
So anyway, I would appreciate any direction someone could give me to figure this out. Thanks.
As an update, I just wanted to say I've found two apps that seem to do what I want, but they seem a little iffy. The first Twomon USB - USB Monitor, claims it does precisely what I want. However, the reviews are mixed with some saying it doesn't work. I'd rather not spend almost $10 on something iffy. I'd rather read things like "It connected with no problems and there's NO LAG."
Then the other one is ExtDisplay extend via Wifi/USB. This time it has a free version ExtDisplay Extend PC Display, but I hesitate to try it because of it doesn't have good reviews. I guess I'll try it and come back to this, but I just figured I'd give a little more details on what I'm looking for. These apps claim to be exactly what I'm looking for. Just don't seem to deliver.
How did it go ?
SelfDestructPro said:
As an update, I just wanted to say I've found two apps that seem to do what I want, but they seem a little iffy. The first Twomon USB - USB Monitor, claims it does precisely what I want. However, the reviews are mixed with some saying it doesn't work. I'd rather not spend almost $10 on something iffy. I'd rather read things like "It connected with no problems and there's NO LAG."
Then the other one is ExtDisplay extend via Wifi/USB. This time it has a free version ExtDisplay Extend PC Display, but I hesitate to try it because of it doesn't have good reviews. I guess I'll try it and come back to this, but I just figured I'd give a little more details on what I'm looking for. These apps claim to be exactly what I'm looking for. Just don't seem to deliver.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did it go ?
Eliospeed said:
How did it go ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I ended up switching over to a program I'm sure all have heard by now. Trinus Gyre. Well now it's called TrinusVR. At any rate, it worked very well for a while, but my android phone's display is terrible. Trying to play anything is extremely pixelated to the point that I can't read text. I have however been looking out for a program with the same functionality for my iPhone because it has a much higher resolution. I did find one called KinoConsole. It works great and while currently I will use it from time to time for movies, I still can't really use it for gaming because again, text isn't easy to read. At this point I'm just holding out for a professional headset that won't break the bank. I kinda have my heart set on PlaystationVR because of the specs, but still don't know how much they're going to try to sell this thing for.
But, if you're still set on using an Android device, definitely try out TrinusVR. It's worth the money especially if you have a decent resolution.
Hello,
I'm new to the rooting world and I am unaware of how to root my Fossil Q Marshal Gen 2... I use an iPhone so im planning to use android studio on my Mac for the same. Pls help me. Thanks.
In terms of actually rooting it, I'm afraid I can't help. However, I have a Fossil Gen 3 Marshall and wanted to do something similar, but my intent was to flash AsteroidOS. The response on here seems to be that it couldn't be done (certainly the flashing the new OS) due to the lack of ports. However, some long and intensive googling suggested that yours (and I suspect mine) does indeed have a data port, its just covered and internal. I have seen the four (actually, I think five) pins that I believe to be the data port, which might facilitate the flashing a new OS.
This is something I intend to keep looking into until I can find a way to keep Google from my devices!
denial_button said:
In terms of actually rooting it, I'm afraid I can't help. However, I have a Fossil Gen 3 Marshall and wanted to do something similar, but my intent was to flash AsteroidOS. The response on here seems to be that it couldn't be done (certainly the flashing the new OS) due to the lack of ports. However, some long and intensive googling suggested that yours (and I suspect mine) does indeed have a data port, its just covered and internal. I have seen the four (actually, I think five) pins that I believe to be the data port, which might facilitate the flashing a new OS.
This is something I intend to keep looking into until I can find a way to keep Google from my devices!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah popping the watch open and making a pin connector to touch the board with, will allow you access to Fastboot Mode. This has been proven on another Fossil Watch missing the USB Port. And Since I'm guessing most of Fossil's models remain the same with different aesthetic tweaks, most everything should be the same.
We just have to make a Fastboot Connector and then pop the watch open to access USB. I bet you they left most of the bootloaders unlocked that didn't have physical access to fastboot mode. I know my Smartwatch actually has all of its log set to ENG. So there is actually a lot of data to sift through in recovery mode logs and everything. But we can't access the data in user mode. But it is there if we can make the pin connector.
Also interested in this if. Will be watching for answers because I would love to remove sone bloat and mae my waych a little snappier in performance.