Zero Devices Z902 Android "Stick PC"? - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hey guys, I'm not sure where to even post about this.
I ordered two of the Zero Z902 mini computers, since they're currently on sale at Asia Pads for $75 a pop.
http://www.asiapads.com/product_info.php?products_id=2291
The highlights:
-CPU is a 1.5 GHz Cortex-A8 "AllWinner A10" package.
-1GB of RAM
-4GB internal flash storage
-WiFi B/G/N onboard
-MicroSD slot with support for up to 32GB of additional storage (pretty much standard)
-stock ROM is some sort of ICS
-Unit is freaking TINY, has a built in HDMI male plug on it, and can be powered off of USB. This means if you get lucky with your TV's port layouts and USB port voltage, you could just piggy back this guy onto the back of your TV and not have to run any cables to it.
The spec sheet on AsiaPads is a fairly amazing Engrish translation, but the company actually making the devices is somewhat reputable.
The Z902 appears to be their third or fourth generation of this type of device, and this one is supposedly pretty decent. Here's their site:
http://www.zero-devices.com/
It seems like this device could be pretty decent. My package of two was delivered today to my house. I'm writing this from the office. I wasn't able to find anyone talking about this device on XDA yet, so I figured I'd post about it.
If its awesome, or terrible, I'll post my OOBE and hacking experiments here
My primary use-case for this is a tiny & silent thing to attach to my TV and give me XBMC and NetFlix at a really good price.
I may test it out for use as an emulator if it doesn't immediately burst into flames when playing Avengers in 1080P
Hopefully if that happens I'll catch it on video...
I found a generic CM10 ROM for A10 tablets, so I'm hoping that with some help I can get CWM working on this device and then maybe custom ROMs? We'll see how terrible the stock ROM is.
From what I have, Zero Devices gives you a rooted device right out of the box, and "stock" Android should be pretty good I hope.

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First update:
I was able to hook up one of the two Z902s I ordered to my TV without anything catching on fire or dying.
The device works and can put out 1080P video.
I was able to get the stock Market working as expected, and pretty much immediately installed YouTube, which works nicely.
The UI in general feels kinda slow / crappy, and I'm not sure what exactly to pin this on yet.
I am presently very new at operating Android via mouse & keyboard so its pretty awkward LOL
The stock ROM is honestly kinda terrible and, in its present form, basically useless to me.
BS Player plays everything in SW mode for some reason.
NetFlix will not install from the Market.
XBMC crashes at launch without generating any xbmc.log file.
In the Settings > Info, I see the "Neon" CPU feature listed, but I tested both the "Neon" and non-Neon builds.
I was able to get an SSH app installed and working.
What's weird is, there appears to be a su binary present, but SuperUser.apk I am used to using doesn't work.
I mean, I appear to be able to do "root" stuff, but never get any prompts to OK app access to root.
Also I am unable to remount /system as RW.
My next task is to get some form of ADB connection to the device working so I can further troubleshoot this.
I suspect I'm gonna have to modify boot.img to allow /system to be modified. We'll see.
I didn't have time to set up the device so I could SSH into it from work today, so can't make any progress until tonight.

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Hey, DivinityCycle, thanks for your post. I have ordered the Z902 but still waiting. Glad to hear they are shipping. I am using an android 4.1 set top box which is a learning experience. Wireless mouse barely usable. I will come back here when I have anything on the Z902.

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I just got my Z902 today. I found the same thing that you did regarding the root. Can mount system as writeable. I also found that MANY apps in the Market are not compatible with this device so they won't let me install them.
I'll be interested to hear what other people's experiences are.

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You mean "can't" mount the system as writeable?
Honestly I have been busy with a lot of other stuff, so I haven't bothered messing with my Z902 yet, sort of hoping someone else will get root on it first. We also will need someone to get CWM or something equivalent ported before anything truly useful can be done.
Is it even possible to get ADB to this thing working via some sort of USB hookup?

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oops. yeah. "cannot" mount.
It does seem you can do a usb hookup. There is some kind of utility (And driver maybe) on their website.
I downloaded an app called "Root Checker" but it just hangs when I click "Verify root access"

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ADB is key to getting even a really basic root going, I think.
From what I have read elsewhere, the boot.img must be modified to allow us to remount / and /system as RW.
Post a link to the site, wouldja? I'm going on vacation starting on Friday, so I may actually find some time to work on this a bit.

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update:
I installed another App called "Got Root?"
it checked and says:
Successfully located "su" (superuser) on device.
Successfully obtained root privileges through 'su'!!!
Successfully located BusyBox on the device.
---------- Post added at 10:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:31 PM ----------
You go to this site, and register in their "VIP Area"
http://zero-devices.com/
That's where the PDF of the manual is, along with the utility I mentioned. There is no firmware there yet since they are still on the initial firmware version.

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standarduser said:
update:
I installed another App called "Got Root?"
it checked and says:
Successfully located "su" (superuser) on device.
Successfully obtained root privileges through 'su'!!!
Successfully located BusyBox on the device.
---------- Post added at 10:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:31 PM ----------
You go to this site, and register in their "VIP Area"
http://zero-devices.com/
That's where the PDF of the manual is, along with the utility I mentioned. There is no firmware there yet since they are still on the initial firmware version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That manual is the best little handbook for these Android HDMI Sticks because of the relatively unfamiliar GUI (mouse and TV) needs

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Very sorry to report that after long wait my zero devices Z902 will not boot past the "Android " logo. Resets have not helped.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium

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Its A piece Of Crap. I bought one (Pre-ordered) from asiapads.com. The 4.04 Android OS is very unstable and slow. Device claims to be rooted by only one out of ten apps requiring root were able to run. OS has a built in SU hidden somewhere that does not require permission. Most apps requiring root are not granted permission Others like Titanium backup ARE able to get it. You cannot install your own SuperUser app either. It says you do not have root access. No custom Roms are available for the z902 yet so your stuck with stock. Also, large downer is no built in Bluetooth I have 15 different cheap USB Bluetooth dongles which none of them work after hours of tinkering. Must have 2.4g keyboard or mouse to control. Otherwise you have to plug in a mouse or keyboard manually (One at a time) into the one regular USB 2.0 port. After installing about 20 apps on the device the OS became very unstable with choppy mouse movement. I did not like this so i wanted to do a benchmark test. To be fair though i reset the OS to factory settings erasing everything. I got a scare here when doing the factory reset though. The OS would not boot back up. It instead got stuck in a booting loop. Loading the Zero devices welcome screen then The android loading screen. Then turn off loosing hdmi signal to the TV. A few seconds later the Zero devices Welcome screen would load and continuing this loop. After watching 8-9 loops, I gave up (A bit Mad that I even bought the piece of ****) and walked away. After playing on my phone for about 4 minutes the TV made noise drawing my attention. The OS finally loaded up correctly to the initial setup screen. Installed and ran Antutu Benchmark getting a very low score of 2200 (1.5 stars) and the CPU range was from 0.008-1.005 GHz When its claimed to have a 1.5GHz Cortex-A8. I tried to take screenshots of the results but all the screenshot apps required root and kept force closing. Overall I would highly NOT recommend this product. Instead buy a cheap phone or tablet with an hdmi output. Any of them would provide a better product than this UN-powerful PC Stick that is going in my junk drawer. BTW, my phone got a benchmark score of over 5000 and it also has a 1.5GHz processor.
Also it comes with a card that shows how its authentic and that you can check out its authentic on there website. But the websites checker does not seem to work. Whats the point..

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I just received the z902 this week and I'm not unhappy with the purchase. I mean, I bought it to give some "intelligence" to an old TV and it is doing the trick.
I must confess I have only installed a couple of apps (MX Player, Youtube, ES File Explorer...), but it doesn't seem to behave slowly. I agree with the fact that I don't understand/like why can't I install some apps (e.g., Chrome).
Overall I'm happy with the device, taking into account that I just want it to play video and maybe surf the web. High def video plays perfectly fine, so I'm good. Despite everything, I hope in a neer future it will be possible to install CWM and then CM10.
BTW, if you don't want to spend money on a wireless keyboard/mouse, and have an Android tablet/smartphone, check DroidMote, for 1.99 is worth the value. In fact I think you can even install it for free if you go the dev's post here at XDA.

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Received the Z902 but it does not show up anything on the screen !!
+ they have not listed the Firmware on the VIP area in zero-devices.com
Anyone with a way out ??

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ninadpchaudhari said:
Received the Z902 but it does not show up anything on the screen !!
+ they have not listed the Firmware on the VIP area in zero-devices.com
Anyone with a way out ??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe it is silly to ask, but did you connect it to the AC? Remember that HDMI is not giving the device any power so you have to connect it via the USB cable provided to the TV or to one plug with an adapter.
If that is not the case... post more details on how you connect it and maybe we can help.

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There is also a reset button that does a hard reset.
Sent from my SCH-I815 using Tapatalk

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Enough power?
ninadpchaudhari said:
Received the Z902 but it does not show up anything on the screen !!
+ they have not listed the Firmware on the VIP area in zero-devices.com
Anyone with a way out ??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found out the hard way that the 902 needs a little extra power. After using a 600mA phone charger and a TV USB port and only getting half way through the boot sequence I changed to a 1A charger and viola!
Not sure if this is the same issue you've been having, but I thought I'd share it.
---------- Post added at 11:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:39 PM ----------
hmose said:
Very sorry to report that after long wait my zero devices Z902 will not boot past the "Android " logo. Resets have not helped.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try a >=1A charger?
(See my post above)

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Tatting, that is a great find! I'm pretty sure my TV's USB port doesn't pack enough punch to run the stick at a full 1A, so that may explain my stability issues. I've been working on a ROM for my tablet, so haven't been focused too much on the stick PCs for now.
I AM learning some good tricks which may help in ROMing the stick eventually. The first / most important thing we need for this device to be more useful is CWM. I honestly don't know how feesible it is to port it to this device.
It seems like CWM mostly just needs to know how the store device partitions are laid out on the device, and in this case, probably needs to be patched for keyboard input. This device is kindof on my back-burner for now since I have a lot of other crap I'm working on and I just got notice that my Raspberry Pi has shipped, so I'll probably have it within 21 days. The Pi seems like it'll occupy much the same usecase as the 902, but without as much crappiness. We'll see!

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Bigger power supply! It finally solved my problem. No Z902 boot with 500ma. Unstable with 700ma. I am going for greater than 800ma, Will overheating be the next nuisance?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium

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so basically I've determined that although the device IS rooted, the system file system cannot be mounted as R/W. I've tried several different utilities and they've all come up with the same result.
I'm also frustrated in that I've contacted AsiaPads and have not received a response.
---------- Post added at 04:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:04 PM ----------
BTW, I'm using a 1amp power supply on mine. When it comes to amperate, a higher rating on the power supply is ok. The device will only pull the amperate that it needs.

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I am using 1 amp supply and Z902 now works properly. Why didn't their support people say this?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium