I am a Windows Phone developer who writes apps for wearable devices like the Pebble that are not supported or poorly supported on Windows Phone. In order to understand the Bluetooth protocol for the device I normally download the manufacturers apk for their device and decompile it to understand the Bluetooth packet requirements.
I have been using a Nexus 7 which has worked well but the last couple of devices I have purchased, Google Play will not allow me to download the apk because my Nexus 7 is not a phone. So the question is what would be the recommended pre-owned device I should get that will still allow me to download apps meant for an Android phone but still allow me to get to Google Play and the apk when downloaded.
If it makes a difference, I use Verizon but if a suitable phone was not available or too expensive, I would be willing to go with a phone I could not use on Verizon but still use Google Play on.
Thanks for any help you can provide.
Related
I am relatively new to Android, via a Dell Streak.
I have just bought an Advent Vega, and I am trying (without any success!) to understand how app licencing works when I have 2 or more devices.
It's obviously not a problem for free apps, but what is the position for the apps that I have paid for (e.g., NDrive, VCOrganizer Pro, Bloat Freezer)? Can I run these on multiple devices, or do I need to buy a separate licence for each device? If it's the latter, how do I do this, given that they are all tied into one Google account, so whichever device I use to connect to the Android Market, Google always thinks that the app has been paid for.
Or does it depend on the application (in which case, how do I find out what the position is for each app? The web sites don't tell me).
Confused!
You can use the softwares on more than one device as long as you have the same google account on them. I have a Desire and considering this fact buying this tablet was a better deal than an Ipad.
Sent from my CorvusVegaRom_0.5 using Tapatalk
Any app you download in the android market, paid or not can be run on any android device linked to the same google account.
If you buy apps from alternative sources e.g. gameloft then they usually link the apps to your specific device
Hi. I would like to ask about .apk files.
I have had the eternal issue of certain apps and games on the Google Play store not being compatible with my device.
Had a Kindle Fire HD. Tried downloading apps thru a 3rd-party source (like 1Mobile) but got frustrated because apps are sometimes "in conflict" with the Kindle App Store-downloaded apps.
For example this game called The King of Fighters-A 2012. If i buy the new Nexus 7 and its not compatible i have to endure the hassle of returning my device to the store, wait for my refund then buy another device. There seem to be no info on device compatibility on certain apps or games nowadays.
So, this leads me to my question:
1. To avoid the frustration of having a device (Kindle Fire, Nexus 7, Galaxy Tab 3, etc) that's incompatible with the app...what is the best way to download an app?
2. Will downloading an .apk file be "sufficient" i.e. dealing with issues such as updates, etc.?
3. What or where would be a good source of .apk files on the net?
Please advice.Thanks.
Hey.
I just wondered if there would be any way to dsguise my phone as a tablet for starting an app in another mode...
I know it can depend on several things, but could it be done somehow?
I'm thinking about this: spotify free is now available for phones and tablets, too.
For phones it is limited in function, but for tablet devices it's free like the version for desktop computers.
So I want to make spotify "think" that my phone is not a phone but a tablet, to use full functionality of spotify free.
Here's an excerpt from the news:
The new tablet version of Spotify will mimic the free desktop app by allowing users complete control over what music they choose. The free smartphone version, available for iOS and Android, will allow users to shuffle randomly through their own playlists, playlists by friends and artists’ catalogues. Users won’t be able to select individual songs on demand with the mobile version, and neither the tablet or mobile apps will let people download songs to their device, a feature of the premium version of Spotify. The new features will be available today.
Read More: Spotify Offers Free Music on Mobile Devices | TIME.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Edit the build.prop ? (make a copy/backup before you do). This is a workaround for many apps, such as Foxtel (pay TV) Go in Australia. It only works natively with the SGS3, Note 2 & Note 10.1, but if you edit your build.prop to fool the app & hide root before you use it, you can use it on other Android devices.
This may/may not work with the Spotify app, and will depend on what it checks to determine whether that version of the app is acceptable to use on a particular device (checking build.prop is a common one though).
There is another discussion about trying to get Spotify to display in the tablet mode here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2565626
Unfortunately, none of the common tricks have worked so far (build.prop, DPI, denying access to phone state, etc.). Noone has yet to figure out how the app determines whether you are using a phone or not. If you have any ideas or information to contribute, please add it to the thread I posted the link to so that we can all use that information to hopefully figure out a solution.
I'm not familiar with Android so just needed to know if there is an .apk app that would allow me to root my Android car stereo so I could then install and run an app called 'Market Helper 2.0' to allow me to change the device name to bypass restrictions on Google Play so I can install apps it currently says are incompatible.
I've installed Market Helper but for it to work my device needs to be rooted what I now know is the same as the jailbreak I have on my iPhone.
Thanks for any support or suggestion if there's an easier way to allow me to install unrestricted apps from Google Play. I know I can get apps from other sources but I want to install a particular sat nav (TomTom) and need the in app purchases like real time traffic updates and speed cameras. I do have TomTom on my device but it's missing the traffic updates for me and as well on occasions the car symbol appears to be flying over buildings so I'm sure thats not meant to happen:laugh::laugh::laugh:
PS: Why don't they just call it a jailbreak for Android instead of Rooted, damnnnn...lol
I just tried an app called Frameroot to root my device but I received the message 'Your device seems not vulnerable to exploit included in framework'.
I've tried another 2 Root Apk app and no joy. Are there some Android devices that cannot be rooted just out of interest?
Is there a way to bypass Google Play compatibility on an android device without it being rooted ?
Hi all.
I have a rooted phone that is used strictly in wifi mode and only needs to be able to run 4 or 5 standard aps, a couple of optional aps, plus the aps that support rooted phones and enhanced power management. I don't want google-anything on it, and I am not kidding. My prime concern is battery life, I hope to be able to run my phone for 3 to 4 days (or more) between charges, so deleting all fluff aps and crapware is important, as is underclocking it and getting rid of google. I also want to stop updating of the operating system and installed software by google.
I hope to do a hardware mod to remove power from the cell band rf transceiver. Despite it being turned off in the phone using software, I am detecting occasional transmissions from the cell band transmitter. Hardware mods are not a problem for me, I'm a retired EE, who specialized in RF design.
I need to know if it's possible for the phone to function if gmail, google+, google search, chrome, google calendar and google-whatever are exhorsized (uninstalled)? Yes, I also want to give the playstore the boot, to prevent excessive battery drain (and, yes, I do realize downloading aps will be slightly more difficult without the playstore).
For those who might be interested, the phone is used as a wifi phone for the home based Ooma telephone service. I also might like to run a mini bittorrent server. It seems to me that the android community could use bittorrent in place of the playstore, thus making it easier for others to give google and google playstore the boot
I love this forum, and want to thank all those that support and administer it.
Aloha,
A
alohagirl said:
Hi all.
I have a rooted phone that is used strictly in wifi mode and only needs to be able to run 4 or 5 standard aps, a couple of optional aps, plus the aps that support rooted phones and enhanced power management. I don't want google-anything on it, and I am not kidding. My prime concern is battery life, I hope to be able to run my phone for 3 to 4 days (or more) between charges, so deleting all fluff aps and crapware is important, as is underclocking it and getting rid of google. I also want to stop updating of the operating system and installed software by google.
I hope to do a hardware mod to remove power from the cell band rf transceiver. Despite it being turned off in the phone using software, I am detecting occasional transmissions from the cell band transmitter. Hardware mods are not a problem for me, I'm a retired EE, who specialized in RF design.
I need to know if it's possible for the phone to function if gmail, google+, google search, chrome, google calendar and google-whatever are exhorsized (uninstalled)? Yes, I also want to give the playstore the boot, to prevent excessive battery drain (and, yes, I do realize downloading aps will be slightly more difficult without the playstore).
For those who might be interested, the phone is used as a wifi phone for the home based Ooma telephone service. I also might like to run a mini bittorrent server. It seems to me that the android community could use bittorrent in place of the playstore, thus making it easier for others to give google and google playstore the boot
I love this forum, and want to thank all those that support and administer it.
Aloha,
A
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are threads all over the place trying to do this. Google is deeply ingrained into all the apks used by the os. You will be very hard pressed to find away to remove them completely and still have things work right.
I agree that security is an illusion. I dumped Microshaft in 2013 in order to improve my security and privacy.
However, the android operating system is supposed to be open source, so it should be possible to de-google-ize it IF someone knows how to edit and recompile the android OS.
I was merely asking if anyone knew of a way to give google the boot, even if it came down to paying someone to compile a custom rom.
The loss of google playstore is not a consideration, neither is a monetary forfeiture (any programmers out there?).
I'm curious, is it possible to gag google so it can't connect to the outside world (with a firewall)? We used to do this in XP to prevent Bill's Internet Explorer from downloading updates.
Are any of the custom roms currently available able to run without google-anything??
Is there any hope, or is it truly hopeless? If a custom rom that gave google the boot was available, how many would pay a small fee to have it? Just curious??!!
TY
A.
alohagirl said:
I agree that security is an illusion. I dumped Microshaft in 2013 in order to improve my security and privacy.
However, the android operating system is supposed to be open source, so it should be possible to de-google-ize it IF someone knows how to edit and recompile the android OS.
I was merely asking if anyone knew of a way to give google the boot, even if it came down to paying someone to compile a custom rom.
The loss of google playstore is not a consideration, neither is a monetary forfeiture (any programmers out there?).
I'm curious, is it possible to gag google so it can't connect to the outside world (with a firewall)? We used to do this in XP to prevent Bill's Internet Explorer from downloading updates.
Are any of the custom roms currently available able to run without google-anything??
Is there any hope, or is it truly hopeless? If a custom rom that gave google the boot was available, how many would pay a small fee to have it? Just curious??!!
TY
A.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is one project that is working on removing Google completely in the forums. A search will find it for you. There are some issues that I don't recall if they could find a way around or fix. You could give that a shot.