1st post
Hi I just wanted to tell of my experiences of my Imacwear M7.
Imacwear is a clone of the True Smart, £130 ebay.
Well i've been using this as a phone for 2 weeks now.
The call quality is excellent on both sides. I had a TS and the call quality was very poor.
Wifi and GPS work flawlessly so does my data connection.
With light use the battery lasts 2 to 3 days. 600mah.
The build quality seems ok as well.
Love this Imacwear and in my opinion its better quality than the TS.
So if you want a TS but better try the Imacwear M7
Hope Ive helped
Dean
Windows 7 64. Imacwear M7
It looks very good.
But it has only Android 4.2 and we need Android 4.4!
If you get an Update to 4.4 please share with us.
Guess I'll add it to the ever grown list of "brands" the clone is sold under.
Podoor PW306II
Shenzhen Jingri Watch Industrial JR-WM1021
Shenzhen Esee JT01
Shenzhen Mustech Electronics M401
What about water resistant?
Have you tried it? Swimming?
Lol they even copied the incorrect specs and false promises:
1000 MHz = 800 MHz
5mp camera = 3mp (with software upscaling to 5mp if they also copied truesmart firmware)
Micro SD card slots: well i don't think it has multiple slotS, but even accessing the one microsd slot breaks all waterproofing.
IP67: even the original TrueSmart was never certified
Google Play (was never supported and was removed from the specs shortly after the kickstarter campaign ended)
etc, etc
By the way, to whom is it still cool to put a lowercase i in front of your iProductname?
OUI tested?
Hi, I just wonder you have tested to install OUI or other version of rom which posted in here. I have seen other products like simvalley has been tested with other rom but I could not find any rom tested with iMacwear m7. Kindly, advice me if you tried already.
By the way, is there any essential apps to install for M7?
Thanks,
KJ Kim
Dean71 said:
1st post
Hi I just wanted to tell of my experiences of my Imacwear M7.
Imacwear is a clone of the True Smart, £130 ebay.
Well i've been using this as a phone for 2 weeks now.
The call quality is excellent on both sides. I had a TS and the call quality was very poor.
Wifi and GPS work flawlessly so does my data connection.
With light use the battery lasts 2 to 3 days. 600mah.
The build quality seems ok as well.
Love this Imacwear and in my opinion its better quality than the TS.
So if you want a TS but better try the Imacwear M7
Hope Ive helped
Dean
Windows 7 64. Imacwear M7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hesitating between this imacwear m7 and zgpax s8
Hi,
I'm hesitating to go either for this phone or the zgpax s8.
Anybody able to do a comparison?
Main reason why I would take this phone is that this phone is shipped with a 600 mAh battery while the zgpax only has 450 mAh. The battery on this phone is also removable.
Second reason would be that memory cards can be interchanged more easily.
Main reason why I would take the ZGPAX S8 is because it has Android 4.4 and has more interactivity on the forum. (2 pages of conversation versus 70 pages of conversation)
Anybody can share more experience for this phone:
(things I'm particularly interested in are: USB OTG, 3G in Benelux, bluetooth keyboard connectable, how long on just one charge of the battery, tried miracast, can it be woken without touching the buttons)
Looking forward to read your thoughts.
"It looks very good.
But it has only Android 4.2 and we need Android 4.4!
If you get an Update to 4.4 please share with us."
Why would you need 4.4 instead of 4.2? You are putting it ad a deal breaker and I'd like to see why, apart from of course newer Android.
Moreover I've read in other threads someone getting it delivered with 4.4.2 despite the supposed official specs of 4.2, does anybody have any update or confirmation as to the latest Android version available for the imacwear m7?
Sent from my KINGZONE N3 PLUS using XDA Free mobile app
Ended up buying 2 watches
Hi,
I ended up buying 2 watches, the imacwear M7 and the zgpax s8.
the ZGPAX S8 has 3 capacitive buttons
-menu
-home/recent apps
-back
This post explains how I use the ImacWear M7 in almost exactly the same way:
-Standard feature: swipe over left border to right for menu
-Standard feature: swipe over right border to left for back (quite intuitive)
For the home/recent apps button I use the app "Multi Action Home Button" by Sylvain Lagache. It's the free version, with just one hot spot at the bottom of the screen.
On that spot there are 3 actions defined:
-tap: home
-long hold: recent apps
-double tap: switch of the screen. For this, "Multi Action Home Button" calls another app: "Screen Off" by Cheetah Mobile.
The main thing to take into account for this phone is that it is not possible to touch the buttons while it is charging.
Adding "Multi Action Home Button" allows me to configure the device while it's in the cradle. When I think I'm finished I can double tap the hot spot. When I want to enable the screen again, the trick I use is to simply switch the power supply off and on again. This activates the screen. On top of that I've activated the developer options and prevent standby when charging.
On the "recent apps" of the ZGPAX S8 there is a "brush" icon that closes all apps that recently were activated (not the background things running). It would be nice if we could enable somethign similar on the ImacWear M7 (or any other phone). Anyone knows about an app that takes care of this?
@bernsbe: on imacwear m7 try installing (upon root: very simply done manually with adb, it gives you already root access the only thing to do is to copy su binary in /system/xbin and then install the supersu or superuser apps from play store, look for details on this method in xda) xposed installer and framework. Then you will be able to load ultimate dynamic nav bar module that will allow almost all the things you have on S8 with navigation bar and perhaps even more. It has for e.g. the possibility to associate to one of the buttons in nav bar (double taps are supported as well) a kill all apps function.
As for the wake up of watch when charging in the cradle I use to do it by shaking it (your method may damage or degrade the battery if done often in the time) install one of the shake app to turn on the screen that use the accelerometer sensor. Two of the best apps for m7 are shake and awesome on off screen for that purpose. It will also allow you to watch the time by shaking the watch instead of pressing the hw buttons with the risk to loose them in the long time.
Sent from my KINGZONE N3 PLUS using XDA Free mobile app
he lzwfkv, I'm happy to find someone with experience on the M7.
I've tried shake on/off on my zgpax s8 and that worked very nicely. (There is another user called smartwatchticks that has created a video from it).
So I tried the same on the M7. It shakes off well, but doesn't shake on.
Is the accelerometer sensor still active when the screen is off?
At this point there are 2 things that I could use some help with:
1) indeed starting the interface without touching buttons. (see experience above)
2) get a relacement bluetooth keyboard from an android based tablet(or phone)
I wanted to try pushbullet, but the M7 does not accept the installation of teh tool.
(I'm actually wondering if someone managed to use the keboard of a tablet as if it were a bluetooth keyboard. I would like to do more of things like what tablet talk does, but not only for SMS)
Of course I could just buy a bluetooth hardwere keyboard, but that seems so uninventive when one already has a tablet or phone that could be used as a big screen.
cheers.
@bernsbe, as for the watch wake up try awesome on/off screen or shake they work on mine both. I prefer the type of shake implemented by awesome on off though.
Point two: i think you have found a sort of workaround with messagease keaboard in another thread. However you can find a number of apps in playstore that give you remote keaboard, mouse and remote desktop of android devices from another android.
Sent from my KINGZONE N3 PLUS using XDA Free mobile app
lzwfkv said:
@bernsbe,
Point two: i think you have found a sort of workaround with messagease keaboard in another thread. However you can find a number of apps in playstore that give you remote keaboard, mouse and remote desktop of android devices from another android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lzkwfkv,
The thing is that these tools are not taking care of typing on the interface.
Some only work with SMS, others have a broader range of application but require a wireless connection (which is more battery consuming than a bluetooth solution).
In a world where virtually every hardware has bluetooth enabled, I'm realy wondering if there's no option to simply turn an old android tablet or phone into a bluetooth keyboard that hooks to other devices, without installing a host software on the targetted device. This would have a large range of application, not jsut to type on the ImacWear M7
Note: MessageEase is indeed a good alternative. I'm training on it ...
bernsbe said:
lzkwfkv,
The thing is that these tools are not taking care of typing on the interface.
Some only work with SMS, others have a broader range of application but require a wireless connection (which is more battery consuming than a bluetooth solution).
In a world where virtually every hardware has bluetooth enabled, I'm realy wondering if there's no option to simply turn an old android tablet or phone into a bluetooth keyboard that hooks to other devices, without installing a host software on the targetted device. This would have a large range of application, not jsut to type on the ImacWear M7
Note: MessageEase is indeed a good alternative. I'm training on it ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand your point an I am with you, but unfortunately it is as it is.
If you look at the default Bluetooth profile that the watch uses to pair with other devices you will just find internet access tethering, so it is the only way you could use the watch for via Bluetooth. I also miss a full a2dp or a hands free bluetooth profile to get on the watch full media or phone audio from the paired devices. Unfortunately these services as well as keyboard/mouse are not available over Bluetooth on these devices and you will need to use another Bluetooth stack (bluez from some time ago?) or a custom implementation through an app for those Bluetooth services.
As for the keyboard I've tried several, including messageasy, the only one really usable that can replace the aosp KB with a medium learning curve is flit keyboard that I am actually using now. Indeed my quest for a good KB is going on and I am also appreciating minuum KB. Those are the two alternatives I have to choose between.
Sent from my KINGZONE N3 PLUS using XDA Free mobile app
I just got my M7 as well, and can definitely confirm that call quality is miles beyond that of the Truesmart.
My Truesmart is effectively unusable for calling unless using a BT headset; the M7 is fine, with the only comment from callers being that it sounds a bit tinny, "am I on speakerphone or something" (which, ofcourse, they are).
All in all I am quite happy I took the chance and moved from the Truesmart to the M7.
Another user and I have bought this clone http://m.alibaba.com/product/60240808558/TOP-factory-3G-GPS-android-wifi.html for £84 ($130) including delivery, it's exactly the same as the imacwear M7 as far as I can tell, Android 4.4.2 and very good clear 3G calls.
Does any know how to check the Bluetooth version? I'm sure it's 4.0.
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lzwfkv said:
I understand your point an I am with you, but unfortunately it is as it is.
If you look at the default Bluetooth profile that the watch uses to pair with other devices you will just find internet access tethering, so it is the only way you could use the watch for via Bluetooth. I also miss a full a2dp or a hands free bluetooth profile to get on the watch full media or phone audio from the paired devices. Unfortunately these services as well as keyboard/mouse are not available over Bluetooth on these devices and you will need to use another Bluetooth stack ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi lzwfkv,
I've just had a test with:
An A2DP device, the Jabra BT3030 (ancestor of the Jabra Steet2)
A Bluetooth keyboard, that normally is a companion to the Acer Iconia W700
A Bluetooth mouse, the targus AMB02EU
It is possible to use all 3 at the same time.
To search for Bluetooth devices, from a standby state:
press top button to see the watch
swipe to see the homepage
swipe down from top edge to see eventual messages (the screen can be all black without message, with time on top right left side, provider on bottom and menu button on top left)
touch menu button
if Bluetooth chicklet is white, hit it once to activate Bluetooth, and it becomes blue
When Bluetooth chicklet is blue, long press it
You see that the M7 is visible to paired devices, and also a list of devices already known. (My M7 knows also a Jabra Easygo ear bud and a Samsung GT-P3110 tablet we have)
If you want to search from a Bluetooth device and find the M7, hit the words "only visible" and then search from the other device
With a mouse or a keyboard it's kind of difficult to initiate a search.
To search for Bluetooth devices from the M7
1) make sure that your Bluetooth device is discoverable (for my keyboard I had to keep its powerbutton pressed long, for the mouse, there is a connect button)
2) Now swipe from left edge to right, and a menu will appear to search for devices (and if you want, you can rename the phone there as well, for example)
3) Search for devices and hit the one you want to connect
4) follow connection instructions (For keyboard, I had to type a number sequence and hit enter, the sequence was shown on the M7 screen, For the mouse I had to type the mouse passcode on the M7, and I knew it's 0000)
5) Enjoy
So, if a developer builds a software that enables an old smartphone to act as a Bluetooth keyboard, it is possible to connect this to the M7 as a regular Bluetooth keyboard. Still looking for one. There was a project here on XDA that was doing what I'm looking for, but it's not available on the modern Android versions.
Adding another Bluetooth stack at first sight is not needed. It works fine from factory.
iMacwear v ZGPAX S8
I received my Macwear yesterday. I have managed to access my emails, I downloaded yahoo mail from the app store. Additionally I downloaded Runkeeper in preperation of going out for a run today to test it out (i have used runkeeper before on previous mobile phones and know its a great running app). To put the sim card in you have to unscrew x2 small screws to take this small panel/strip off the side, this I imagine has been put in place to try and make the watch more water resistant/proof as possible. My wife called me soon after setting it up and I was surprised and how clear I could hear her and how well she could hear me,I guess I was expecting less quality, but it is great so far.
iMacwear v ZGPAX ..the main differences that I can see
iMacwear
more expensive around £110-£120 ebay (i got mine on ebay £105 best offer)
1GHz dual core
600 mAh battery
water resistant/water proof IP67
android 4.4.2 (i was expecting 4.2 however it arrived with 4.4.2 android version)
weight 118g
to charge you have to put the charger unit around the phone and then connect the lead, so no charger port on the side of the phone only on the charger cradle thing that comes with the phone.
ZGPAX
cheaper at around £80 ebay
1.2 GHz dual core
470 mAh battery
not waterproof
android 4.4
weight 75g
charger port on the side of the watch phone making it easier to charge
so i guess between the two, I have to go for the M7 because I will be going out running in the rain & need water proof/resistant watch phone and I would prefer a better battery life however I would have liked to have had the android 4.4 and better charging port and lighter watch like the ZGPAX. Seeing that they are close in specification I guess it depends on which features you want more and of course the look of the phone/watch. I will be testing it out more today. I have a garmin 405 forerunner gps watch and intend on comparing the watch phone to this to make sure the miles covered are close because the garmin is top quality for running. I main intention is to use the watch phone M7 to play music through my bluetooth headphones when out running whilst being able to track my run and be able to make/recieve calls if I need to but obviously this might be a test to the watch phones battery.
please note that I dont think there is a way to get call forwarding from another mobile phone to this watch unless anyone else knows. With Samsung gear s you need a sim card in both your samsung gear s and in a samung mobile phone and then if you leave your main phone behind you can do call forwarding to your watch phone or have someone ring you off your other number on your watch because you will have two numbers with samsung and two contracts. Also if you have the samsung gear s and dont have a compatible samsung main phone it wont work. After all these considerations I went for the iMacwear M7 because if i go out for a run or fancy going for a pint with my mates I can just transfer my one and only sim from my main mobile and put it in the watch, but the annoyance with this is that I have to unscrew them two little screws on the side of the watch to change the sim. If I went with the ZGPAX i wouldn't have this issue but it isn't waterproof. The M7 comes with x2 scews extra as spare and a mini srewdriver. My M7 has its name etc underneath the watch phone - mentioning this as some sites suggest they dont and there appears to be this same watch (M7) selling under different names. I have gone for the iMacwear choice for this watch and the quality appears very good,I cannot say for the same watch under different company names,maybe more people can say.
apparently the ipod nano 6 has the same size screen as the iMacwear M7, so I have ordered x6 screen protectors on Ebay for the nano with the intention of putting it on my M7,hopefully they will fit perfectly. only costs around £1-2 on Ebay
imacwear m7 or zgpax s8 ?
bernsbe said:
Hi,
I ended up buying 2 watches, the imacwear M7 and the zgpax s8.
the ZGPAX S8 has 3 capacitive buttons
-menu
-home/recent apps
-back
This post explains how I use the ImacWear M7 in almost exactly the same way:
-Standard feature: swipe over left border to right for menu
-Standard feature: swipe over right border to left for back (quite intuitive)
For the home/recent apps button I use the app "Multi Action Home Button" by Sylvain Lagache. It's the free version, with just one hot spot at the bottom of the screen.
On that spot there are 3 actions defined:
-tap: home
-long hold: recent apps
-double tap: switch of the screen. For this, "Multi Action Home Button" calls another app: "Screen Off" by Cheetah Mobile.
The main thing to take into account for this phone is that it is not possible to touch the buttons while it is charging.
Adding "Multi Action Home Button" allows me to configure the device while it's in the cradle. When I think I'm finished I can double tap the hot spot. When I want to enable the screen again, the trick I use is to simply switch the power supply off and on again. This activates the screen. On top of that I've activated the developer options and prevent standby when charging.
On the "recent apps" of the ZGPAX S8 there is a "brush" icon that closes all apps that recently were activated (not the background things running). It would be nice if we could enable somethign similar on the ImacWear M7 (or any other phone). Anyone knows about an app that takes care of this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there what one should I buy and can you download wacth faceshers ? Thanks and are play store working on them ?
Dean71 said:
Hi I just wanted to tell of my experiences of my Imacwear M7.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
chedderbeef said:
iMacwear v ZGPAX ..the main differences that I can see
iMacwear
more expensive around £110-£120 ebay (i got mine on ebay £105 best offer)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The iMacwear M7 is now down to around £75 from DX and the Gearbest EU Warehouse, and the M702 2nd Gen is £80 from Chinavasion.com where it is directly linked from the official website: http://www.imacwear.com/novel-wearable-brand-imacwear-showcased-in-new-yorks-times-square / http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...ased-in-new-yorks-times-square-300015595.html .
@chedderbeef , given the praise that the call quality of the iMacwear M7 has received (presumably running Android 4.2 rather than the 4.4.2 that yours shipped with), do you feel that it is better call quality than that of the ZGPAX S8? Also, how does antenna reception compare between the two, and compared to traditional phones?
Lokifish Marz said:
Guess I'll add it to the ever grown list of "brands" the clone is sold under.
Podoor PW306II
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you know what the Podoor Z004 is based on? It doesn't look like the ZGPAX S8, but looks similar to the Omate TrueSmart.
bernsbe said:
I wanted to try pushbullet, but the M7 does not accept the installation of teh tool.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does Pushbullet install on the ZGPAX S8? Does it install on the iMacwear M7 running Android 4.4.2? I would make heavy use of that app.
Related
This will be a neat product for the Shift...
BlueAnt Q1: Voice controlled Bluetooth headeset with multi point
http://www.blueantwireless.com/q1/index.html
Looks like it will connect to both the PC side and WM side at same time, and keep both bluetooth connections active! (a bit more unique compared to Jabra T5330M)
Meaning you can take calls from WM using BT and use Skype/Dragon on PC using BT, and switch between them (Both lines stay active and you can switch between 2 devices)
It also has integrated voice commands to carry out some basic functions plus you can store speed dials on the headset (independent of the paired device)
The Q1 product is not out yet, but keep watching their website for it!
I'm sure this will be a Shift "Must Buy"
I'm certainly going to get this for my X7500 and PC, but since it can pair up to 8 devices (and I'm not certain if BT is capable on both sides simultaneous yet, but I'm sure that it's only moments away! :~Fingers crossed~: )
I can't tell from the picture, but the charging connector looks unique not like a "micro USB" or mini-usb, so that means one more type of cable to carry, but inter-changable cable tips are more popular now.
(BTW- I have the BlueAnt V12 LCD headset with vibrate and it uses micro-USB, so I imagine company uses same connector here too...also, I never really got the speaker part of the V12 LCD to sound well, but the Vibrate LCD w/lanyard is nice to carry around as I can have a vibrate caller ID hanging around my neck/pocket and not have to whip out my X7500 just to check who's calling...will need to try this with my SHIFT to see if I can get caller ID from Shift)
Also, this could be a cool feature to someone who knows how to use it (maybe our fellow xda folks)
Updateable firmware (anything we can use here?)
No price yet, but info on their site and hi-re images
Sounds good but first things first! Mate how do you get BT working Winmo side??????
Bradaland said:
This will be a neat product for the Shift...
BlueAnt Q1: Voice controlled Bluetooth headeset with multi point
http://www.blueantwireless.com/q1/index.html
Looks like it will connect to both the PC side and WM side at same time, and keep both bluetooth connections active! (a bit more unique compared to Jabra T5330M)
Meaning you can take calls from WM using BT and use Skype/Dragon on PC using BT, and switch between them (Both lines stay active and you can switch between 2 devices)
It also has integrated voice commands to carry out some basic functions plus you can store speed dials on the headset (independent of the paired device)
The Q1 product is not out yet, but keep watching their website for it!
I'm sure this will be a Shift "Must Buy"
I'm certainly going to get this for my X7500 and PC, but since it can pair up to 8 devices (and I'm not certain if BT is capable on both sides simultaneous yet, but I'm sure that it's only moments away! :~Fingers crossed~: )
I can't tell from the picture, but the charging connector looks unique not like a "micro USB" or mini-usb, so that means one more type of cable to carry, but inter-changable cable tips are more popular now.
(BTW- I have the BlueAnt V12 LCD headset with vibrate and it uses micro-USB, so I imagine company uses same connector here too...also, I never really got the speaker part of the V12 LCD to sound well, but the Vibrate LCD w/lanyard is nice to carry around as I can have a vibrate caller ID hanging around my neck/pocket and not have to whip out my X7500 just to check who's calling...will need to try this with my SHIFT to see if I can get caller ID from Shift)
Also, this could be a cool feature to someone who knows how to use it (maybe our fellow xda folks)
Updateable firmware (anything we can use here?)
No price yet, but info on their site and hi-re images
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same with the Plantronics headsets that have multi-point.....however, first we need to get it working on the winmo side......
I'm optomistic that the BT will be coming to WM side eventually...
finally, no one report back this bt devices actually works with SHIFT.
PS: shift in WM side still can not open bt.
To: johnQ , can you find any news from China and Hong Kong , that anyone have able to solve the bluetooth and sd card and mic & earphone use on the windows mobile side ? Please share with us if you manage to get some computer / handphone dealers able to hack and enable the above functions , let us know how to get it done ? Thanks and best regards - jimmunsw
Does anyone have any experience/recommendations for an Android-based car stereo head unit? My old stereo has just died, so I am interested in what people think of the currently available ones. I have a double din space.
eBay seems to have several available that are similar to this: http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/15/ca-fi-is-an-aftermarket-android-car-stereo-that-wont-fit-in-you/
There are ones where the Android part is essentially a separate tablet (probably not what I'm after, judging by the videos) http://www.erisin.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=253
Parrot make this single-din stereo: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Parrot-Aste...?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1343930713&sr=1-24
There are no doubt many others too. Prices seem to be in the £200 - £280 range which is about my limit.
Nobody has any experience of these or opinions at all?
I think I'm leaning towards the Parrot as it's rootable, and the single-din size is more likely to fit whatever car I get after my current one.
Bump for this thread. I just recently thought about getting into one of these units too, my only concern is how "locked down" they would be in terms of getting rid of their default launchers and crap they have. I basically want a way to just have android by itself running on the car - I can get apps for just about everything else. Ideally I want a clone of my phone on the car that would sync with my phone. Or better yet, simply a way to have a "remote display" for my phone. That way, anything I'm doing on the car side of things would be the same on my phone, like a received email, new internet bookmark, or something like that.
~T.J.
I just picked up a "Road Cyberman" from China Jiaho (actually they call it something else, but it's the same as Chinavasion's Road Cyberman, except $100 cheaper).
It's running Gingerbread 2.3.5 and proving difficult to root. No adb on the usb (even with debug option), no google apps (although I found some apks that sort of work) and no adb wireless available.
The devices works fine, but I would like to have a little bit more control over it.
I've tried Gingerbreak and the other get root apks, but no luck so far.
Yeah, I have seen a lot of those units, but I kind of changed my mind. I have recently been looking into doing something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Q-UXDi3dm3U
I have been following that company for a while, and they just recently released that video and are taking pre-orders for the new board. My biggest hold up at this point is that I would like to use a single DIN stereo for the "amp" by running the audio from their device into the aux input of my existing stereo. I need to find room to mount both the double DIN screen and a custom spot for the single DIN stereo I already have. I would then have the choice of using the stereo without plugging in the phone if I didn't want to for whatever reason. Alternatively, if I can find a good FM tuner app for my phone and a good customizable dock mode, I could eliminate the stock stereo and just run the inputs into a standard automotive 4 channel amp. This of course means you get nothing for a car stereo unless you connect the phone though, unlike the other plan.
Of course, another thought I had was getting a used double DIN touch screen DVD player and using their interface board to convert it to run the Android screen through it, then run the audio straight into the aux input of the touch screen DVD player. That way you have the ability to use the system "as is" out of the box, OR run the Android device through the screen. I think this is the best option, but it also takes the most money since you have the expense of the used double DIN touch screen unit first. I also wonder about picture quality and touch screen sensitivity with the built in touch screens on those units.
Anyway, just food for thought!
~T.J.
EDIT: One of the other hold ups is the calling. I would like to use an external mic and have audio come through the car speakers, currently using that board you are still calling through the device, thus you would need a Bluetooth headset from my understanding. I would like to avoid that if possible also. This is another good reason to go with the double DIN stereo since some of those support Bluetooth calling already and you could probably make/receive calls that way completely hands free.
EDIT #2: If you were into car monitoring and such also, you could easily get a bluetooth OBD interface and run the software on the phone (such as torque) so you could display live data from your car on your dash also. Something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay-ZvTn3fLo&t=45s
I picked up one of these after my buddy sent me this thread. It's got the power, but needs a root bad. Wish I knew how to find root for an Android device.
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17228
I had always found NFC to be rather gimmicky. Nice to have, but not mandatory. Since getting my Lumia, I have actually discovered a whole different world of convenience that I never realized. Of course, I do have peripherals that take advantage of it, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't still be useful without them.
I have:
1) Nokia 360 Portable BT Speaker
2) Nokia BH-505 Headphones
3) BT Car stereo and NFC stickers
In the morning, I touch my Lumia 920 to my Nokia 360 Speaker and it turns it on, connects, and starts playing my music. I listen to the music while I'm getting ready for work. I ride my motorcycle to work, so when I'm ready to leave, I touch the Lumia to my BH-505 Headphones and the music stops playing on the 360 and starts playing on them. I put them on and ride to work.
When I get into my truck to drive somewhere, I touch the Lumia to a programmed NFC sticker on my dash and it connects to my stereo and starts playing music.
I plan to program a sticker at work as well and possibly one near my wireless charging stand. I never really noticed how annoying it was to manually go into Bluetooth settings and connect to each device until all I had to do was touch it to my phone. I now find NFC to be a very useful feature and one I would have a hard time going without.
The NFC on the Lumia 920 is highly excellent. Much better and smoother than the nfc on the Pureview 808
Where are you getting the NFC stickers from?
Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Board Express
greyhulk said:
I had always found NFC to be rather gimmicky. Nice to have, but not mandatory. Since getting my Lumia, I have actually discovered a whole different world of convenience that I never realized. Of course, I do have peripherals that take advantage of it, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't still be useful without them.
I have:
1) Nokia 360 Portable BT Speaker
2) Nokia BH-505 Headphones
3) BT Car stereo and NFC stickers
In the morning, I touch my Lumia 920 to my Nokia 360 Speaker and it turns it on, connects, and starts playing my music. I listen to the music while I'm getting ready for work. I ride my motorcycle to work, so when I'm ready to leave, I touch the Lumia to my BH-505 Headphones and the music stops playing on the 360 and starts playing on them. I put them on and ride to work.
When I get into my truck to drive somewhere, I touch the Lumia to a programmed NFC sticker on my dash and it connects to my stereo and starts playing music.
I plan to program a sticker at work as well and possibly one near my wireless charging stand. I never really noticed how annoying it was to manually go into Bluetooth settings and connect to each device until all I had to do was touch it to my phone. I now find NFC to be a very useful feature and one I would have a hard time going without.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please inform me how and where I can obtain those kind of NFC stickers for Windows phone. I could find a lot of NCF stickers available for Android phones on web.
wnandroid said:
Please inform me how and where I can obtain those kind of NFC stickers for Windows phone. I could find a lot of NCF stickers available for Android phones on web.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Android ones will also work for WP8. Actually all NFC stickers/tags will work with each other... with the exception of mifare (some phones support it, some don't.... lucky for us, WP8 does). Then there are Sony NFC tags/stickers which are of course proprietary, just the way they like everything.
I got one of those beginners kits from tagstand. Worth the money because I ended up getting 3 different sets of 5 tags. 1 set of 5 was the mifare type. I needed to use my wife's Android phone to format them before using them for the Lumia 920 (which can't format them. Win for Android? lol
Either way, as it stands, the abilities of the NFC tags are quite limited at the moment due to the restrictions that Microsoft had put upon WP8 for now. Auto-toggling is not available... so the best that a tag can do is bring up the settings screen for Wifi and Cell Data for toggling. Another issue that I have seem to have found is that WP8 only actions the first record on the tag. :-/ That part sucks big time since I would have to have a tag just to bring up the wifi settings screen then another just for cell data. I hope this opens up more, or someone creates an app to circumvent some of these issues.
as far as i heard apps cant change system settings. so its rather useless isnt it
LudoGris said:
Where are you getting the NFC stickers from?
Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Board Express
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Amazon has them for fairly cheap.
wnandroid said:
Please inform me how and where I can obtain those kind of NFC stickers for Windows phone. I could find a lot of NCF stickers available for Android phones on web.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are all compatible. NFC stickers are NFC stickers. We have a program now for Windows Phone that lets us program them and they are universal. I'm not sure why the sellers limit their demographic by listing them as being for Android. Perhaps they're simply not aware that NFC exists in other phones.
The only limitation is that the stickers need to be pre-formated as WP8 cannot format them. found that out the hard way
is there a quick on-off-solution for NFC yet as it seems to be quite a battery drainer for me?
I was thinking something like connectivitiy shortcuts similar to WIFI .. ?
pencilcase said:
The only limitation is that the stickers need to be pre-formated as WP8 cannot format them. found that out the hard way
is there a quick on-off-solution for NFC yet as it seems to be quite a battery drainer for me?
I was thinking something like connectivitiy shortcuts similar to WIFI .. ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just buy blank ones that are ready to be programmed. I didn't know you could even format them.
I used to leave NFC off all the time, especially after reading battery life threads here, but at some point it turned itself on again (probably after an update to some of the Nokia system apps) and I have been leaving it on. My battery life has been unchanged. I'm not convinced that NFC is the culprit. I literally leave NFC and BT on all the time now and my battery drain isn't noticeably faster than it was with them off.
what action are you writing to the tag to automatically pair the device with a BT accessory? i would really like to be able to do this but i haven't had the time to play around with the stickers i bought recently.
a short write up would be much appreciated
adiliyo said:
what action are you writing to the tag to automatically pair the device with a BT accessory? i would really like to be able to do this but i haven't had the time to play around with the stickers i bought recently.
a short write up would be much appreciated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.nfc-forum.org/specs/spec_list/
That's the technical spec for NFC
Some random code examples
http://fupeg.blogspot.com/2011/06/local-data-exchange-with-nfc-and.html
I wish
greyhulk said:
I
I plan to program a sticker at work as well and possibly one near my wireless charging stand. I never really noticed how annoying it was to manually go into Bluetooth settings and connect to each device until all I had to do was touch it to my phone. I now find NFC to be a very useful feature and one I would have a hard time going without.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't seem to coax this behavior. I do not have any Nokia accessories, but do like to connect and disconnect to my hearing aids. The best I can get is to tap the tag, then I have to allow the action, then bluetooth settings come on. Doesn't save much in the way of interaction for me. How are you say, just getting in your truck - tapping the tag and it automatically connects to the bluetooth in your truck and starts playing music? Or is the tag just starting the music playback, and the bluetooth connection has already been made because you are in range of the device. Please tell me more...What app are you using to program the tags, and what actions from it do the magic???
mailstop7 said:
I can't seem to coax this behavior. I do not have any Nokia accessories, but do like to connect and disconnect to my hearing aids. The best I can get is to tap the tag, then I have to allow the action, then bluetooth settings come on. Doesn't save much in the way of interaction for me. How are you say, just getting in your truck - tapping the tag and it automatically connects to the bluetooth in your truck and starts playing music? Or is the tag just starting the music playback, and the bluetooth connection has already been made because you are in range of the device. Please tell me more...What app are you using to program the tags, and what actions from it do the magic???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may have gotten ahead of myself. I haven't actually programmed any of my NFC stickers yet (haven't had time), so it may not work the way I want it to.
However, both the 360 speaker and headphones automatically turn on, pair, and start playing whatever music is currently playing on my phone, so I would think that would be possible. Unless the peripherals get some kind of special permissions that general NFC does not, which is possible, since I have read that you can't program NFC to turn your BT or Wifi on and off, only take you to the settings menu.
that's why i was wondering how you got it to work, NFC implementation in wp8 currently is almost completely useless and its faster to use an app that pins BT settings to your start screen.
hopefully they change it in an update though, until then, i'll use my android to play with NFC i guess.
adiliyo said:
NFC implementation in wp8 currently is almost completely useless and its faster to use an app that pins BT settings to your start screen. hopefully they change it in an update though.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely right, so please visit the page for WP feature suggestions and vote for "NFC tagg system changes"
hxxp://windowsphone.uservoice.com/forums/101801-feature-suggestions/suggestions/3088478-nfc-tagg-system-changes
They ask to "Add NFC options to change many settings at once when you tap nfc tags. E.x. At office nfc tag (data off, wi-fi on, volume 5, brightness high...), at bedroom tag (data off,wi-fi on, vibration, brightness low,...).."
I had to change http to hxxp to post that link, sry, but I'm new here.
thanks for the link, i'll be sure to go there
greyhulk said:
I had always found NFC to be rather gimmicky. Nice to have, but not mandatory. Since getting my Lumia, I have actually discovered a whole different world of convenience that I never realized. Of course, I do have peripherals that take advantage of it, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't still be useful without them.
I have:
1) Nokia 360 Portable BT Speaker
2) Nokia BH-505 Headphones
3) BT Car stereo and NFC stickers
In the morning, I touch my Lumia 920 to my Nokia 360 Speaker and it turns it on, connects, and starts playing my music. I listen to the music while I'm getting ready for work. I ride my motorcycle to work, so when I'm ready to leave, I touch the Lumia to my BH-505 Headphones and the music stops playing on the 360 and starts playing on them. I put them on and ride to work.
When I get into my truck to drive somewhere, I touch the Lumia to a programmed NFC sticker on my dash and it connects to my stereo and starts playing music.
I plan to program a sticker at work as well and possibly one near my wireless charging stand. I never really noticed how annoying it was to manually go into Bluetooth settings and connect to each device until all I had to do was touch it to my phone. I now find NFC to be a very useful feature and one I would have a hard time going without.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you have to do anything special to get NFC to work with the 505's? I didn't even realize my 505's had NFC (Since I got them long before I got the 920) and sure enough when I tapped them together I got the NFC pairing tune, but nothing happened. I tried it having my phone stream BT to a music receiver and then tapped the 505's to it and it didn't switch over. I checked under the Nokia accessories section under setting and no devices show up. Thanks!
This may be such an unusual use case that it hasn't been an issue for anyone other than me, but here's to hoping for a solution...
I've just bought a new car (2015 Honda Fit) which has a decent size LCD panel in the dash (but I opted not to get the expensive navigation system) and which also has full bluetooth integration and, surprisingly, an HDMI port for the screen. HDMI is one of the "source" settings, and Bluetooth is a separate one.
I've paired my Nexus 5 to the car in order to take and make phone calls and get the other integration features such as music and podcast playback over the car's audio. I had this idea that if I were to run the Nexus 5 through the large screen using HDMI (via a Slimport adapter), I can have a much nicer Google Maps based navigation system that would give something close enough to the experience of the in-dash nav system minus the touchscreen -- which is fine, as I can set the route, put the phone in a cupholder, and not bother with it again.
Now, here's the fatal snag. While the phone is paired to bluetooth, it insists on sending 100% of its audio through Bluetooth and doesn't send it through HDMI. The car is either-or on the sources. If it's on HDMI, it only plays back HDMI. The screen displays exactly as I hoped -- but no audio at all (again, it's going to Bluetooth). Now, I can switch over to Bluetooth and hear the sound but not get the display. I could kill the pairing to get both through HDMI, but now I lose the ability to receive calls over bluetooth with the handy steering wheel call answering and all of the amenities associated with that.
I'm wondering if there is some kind of workaround -- Android configuration that I've somehow never noticed, or a third party app -- which will allow the Nexus 5 to remain paired and actively Bluetooth connected while still sending audio through the HDMI port (Slimport). I don't see that this would as likely be a car-side solution.
The Nexus 5 is rooted stock 4.3.3.
Thank you in advance for help toward a solution.
qaelith.2112 said:
This may be such an unusual use case that it hasn't been an issue for anyone other than me, but here's to hoping for a solution...
I've just bought a new car (2015 Honda Fit) which has a decent size LCD panel in the dash (but I opted not to get the expensive navigation system) and which also has full bluetooth integration and, surprisingly, an HDMI port for the screen. HDMI is one of the "source" settings, and Bluetooth is a separate one.
I've paired my Nexus 5 to the car in order to take and make phone calls and get the other integration features such as music and podcast playback over the car's audio. I had this idea that if I were to run the Nexus 5 through the large screen using HDMI (via a Slimport adapter), I can have a much nicer Google Maps based navigation system that would give something close enough to the experience of the in-dash nav system minus the touchscreen -- which is fine, as I can set the route, put the phone in a cupholder, and not bother with it again.
Now, here's the fatal snag. While the phone is paired to bluetooth, it insists on sending 100% of its audio through Bluetooth and doesn't send it through HDMI. The car is either-or on the sources. If it's on HDMI, it only plays back HDMI. The screen displays exactly as I hoped -- but no audio at all (again, it's going to Bluetooth). Now, I can switch over to Bluetooth and hear the sound but not get the display. I could kill the pairing to get both through HDMI, but now I lose the ability to receive calls over bluetooth with the handy steering wheel call answering and all of the amenities associated with that.
I'm wondering if there is some kind of workaround -- Android configuration that I've somehow never noticed, or a third party app -- which will allow the Nexus 5 to remain paired and actively Bluetooth connected while still sending audio through the HDMI port (Slimport). I don't see that this would as likely be a car-side solution.
The Nexus 5 is rooted stock 4.3.3.
Thank you in advance for help toward a solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't help ith your situation, but I'm wondering if you can help with mine. I also just bought the 2015 Honda Fit. What I want to be able to do is mirror my Galaxy S4 to the screen for navigation purposes. But from what I understand, it will only work in Park. I don't have the cable yet and did't want to buy it unless I knew it would work.
For a quick test, I plugged a roku stick in the HDMI port. As expected, it worked fine until I put the car in gear. Then the display gets disabled. Does this happen with phone mirroring? Would I be able to actually use google maps and see it while in motion or will the screen shut off? What does and doesnt work with mirroring?
samseed101 said:
I can't help ith your situation, but I'm wondering if you can help with mine. I also just bought the 2015 Honda Fit. What I want to be able to do is mirror my Galaxy S4 to the screen for navigation purposes. But from what I understand, it will only work in Park. I don't have the cable yet and did't want to buy it unless I knew it would work.
For a quick test, I plugged a roku stick in the HDMI port. As expected, it worked fine until I put the car in gear. Then the display gets disabled. Does this happen with phone mirroring? Would I be able to actually use google maps and see it while in motion or will the screen shut off? What does and doesnt work with mirroring?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This behavior of the HDMI port / display actually became a far bigger problem than how to route the sound. I had been doing all of my testing with the car sitting in the garage, and because I wasn't ever able to get the sound to do what I needed, I didn't bother to go drive around with HDMI display enabled. I confirmed through this and consulting the manual that for "safety reasons" they have entirely disabled the HDMI input while the car is not in park. Unfortunately, I'd guess this is coded in the system's firmware which most of us aren't going to have a way to tamper with, so this is a fatal problem for what we're both looking to do. I was confident that there was probably some sort of solution to making audio go over both channels, but that's irrelevant in light of this problem.
So to summarize, I'll suggest not bothering with the Slimport (or the other kind of interface, if that's what your phone uses) because it will certainly be utterly useless for this and I don't foresee a solution. It looks like this thread is therefore dead. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, though -- I'd have continued working toward an audio solution and then discovered this bigger problem once I solved that one. You just saved me from wasting a lot of time.
samseed101 said:
I can't help ith your situation, but I'm wondering if you can help with mine. I also just bought the 2015 Honda Fit. What I want to be able to do is mirror my Galaxy S4 to the screen for navigation purposes. But from what I understand, it will only work in Park. I don't have the cable yet and did't want to buy it unless I knew it would work.
For a quick test, I plugged a roku stick in the HDMI port. As expected, it worked fine until I put the car in gear. Then the display gets disabled. Does this happen with phone mirroring? Would I be able to actually use google maps and see it while in motion or will the screen shut off? What does and doesnt work with mirroring?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One more thought (stating the obvious, I suppose) -- We've been hamstrung by the assumption that everyone is going to be using the display to watch movies while driving, even though we have excellent reasons which would actually make it safer (an easier to see navigation display). I guess Honda is mitigating lawsuits from the would-be idiots who might actually be watching American Idol episodes while driving to work.
How many others still using their G5 as a daily driver?
I am since 2016 (h850) and using the latest available Lineage 18.1 (Android 11)
Using Proshot & open camera apps, although the camera quality is far behind whats available now but it still works and get decent images.
My GPS hasn't worled for a long time.
My vibration motor doesn't work, but thats ok.
The touch sensor doesnt work, I think thats because of LOS.
I'm using a modded samsung battery
I'm on my second display (replacement is an original LG part)
LOS is laggy sometimes, especially when turning on Wifi after a while then all apps seem to want to download their data, the phone becomes unresponsive.
Takes a minute to be stable. Other than that, cba and can't afford a new phone so still using as a daily driver.
Any better camera apps or further recommended tweaks?
Hi i want use my LG G5 h850 but i have miss the date to unlock it.
so i cant use it while the bootloader ist lockt and the LG System is over and i lost my unlock key
I'm still using my LG G5 H830. I have LineageOS on it which does not support VoLTE, now required for use on T-Mobile;s network.
I bought a new H830 (v7.0.0) off eBay and my plan this week is to root it, install recovery, upgrade to stock v8.0 Android then migrate everything to this phone.
@davestuarts , I recommend you buy a new H850 off eBay and migrate everything like I'm doing.
davestuarts said:
How many others still using their G5 as a daily driver?
I am since 2016 (h850) and using the latest available Lineage 18.1 (Android 11)
Using Proshot & open camera apps, although the camera quality is far behind whats available now but it still works and get decent images.
My GPS hasn't worled for a long time.
My vibration motor doesn't work, but thats ok.
The touch sensor doesnt work, I think thats because of LOS.
I'm using a modded samsung battery
I'm on my second display (replacement is an original LG part)
LOS is laggy sometimes, especially when turning on Wifi after a while then all apps seem to want to download their data, the phone becomes unresponsive.
Takes a minute to be stable. Other than that, cba and can't afford a new phone so still using as a daily driver.
Any better camera apps or further recommended tweaks?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I gave up some months ago using the G5 as the chin started to randomly fail and not let me charge the phone. While I was using it I replaced two batteries, repaired multiple times the fingerprint sensor connectors on the motherboard and replaced the camera glass. Vibration motor started to fail too (squeaking instead of vibrating, I think I killed it playing Hooked On: COTD on the EKA2L1 emulator), and of course GPS was, and always had been, just barely working.
Despite all this, it was a great phone, especially shooting photos in RAW format: if you want to spend a minute or two to improve the photos you take, Adobe Lightroom for Android is the best software to make any decent picture taken with the G5 look as good as if it was shot on an iPhone.
In my opinion, by the way, the stock LG camera app is better than the other third party cameras, with only Google Camera being better in some occasions, albeit a bit buggy on the G5: on Celso Azevedo's website you can find all the modded Google Camera versions, with precompiled settings for the G5 too.
The last month I used it I switched from the stock Oreo ROM to a LineageOS-based one (DotOS, if I recall correctly), and it became surprisingly faster, even tough that meant sacrificing the FM radio and the IR remote.
Now I'm considering to buy an HDMI adapter and use the G5 as an Android tv box, if the chin proves to be reliable enough to keep the phone charged while it is sitting behind the TV.
tremalnaik said:
Hi,
I gave up some months ago using the G5 as the chin started to randomly fail and not let me charge the phone. While I was using it I replaced two batteries, repaired multiple times the fingerprint sensor connectors on the motherboard and replaced the camera glass. Vibration motor started to fail too (squeaking instead of vibrating, I think I killed it playing Hooked On: COTD on the EKA2L1 emulator), and of course GPS was, and always had been, just barely working.
Despite all this, it was a great phone, especially shooting photos in RAW format: if you want to spend a minute or two to improve the photos you take, Adobe Lightroom for Android is the best software to make any decent picture taken with the G5 look as good as if it was shot on an iPhone.
In my opinion, by the way, the stock LG camera app is better than the other third party cameras, with only Google Camera being better in some occasions, albeit a bit buggy on the G5: on Celso Azevedo's website you can find all the modded Google Camera versions, with precompiled settings for the G5 too.
The last month I used it I switched from the stock Oreo ROM to a LineageOS-based one (DotOS, if I recall correctly), and it became surprisingly faster, even tough that meant sacrificing the FM radio and the IR remote.
Now I'm considering to buy an HDMI adapter and use the G5 as an Android tv box, if the chin proves to be reliable enough to keep the phone charged while it is sitting behind the TV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, thanks for your input, very thorough, appreciate it. I'm pretty much in the same camp as you, although mine does charge though it's chin is a bit loose. I've got a back case on, which is tight and helps keep the phone together, kind of a cheat method.
I'm only using as I cannot currently afford to buy something new, and want something with a decent camera but with LOS support too or rootable. I have been looking at some used Pixel phones, but its about price.
Anyway, I was happy with proshot app, as I like photograpy and it gives great manual control and decent pics but seeing how newer phones are so much better, I have recently gone back to trying gcam (previously it would crash often), which you mentioned.
Playing around with v8.6 and it works suprisingly well and produces some really great photos better than proshot, although slow at times, especially the processing time.
v.8.7 worked but even slower with some features kept crashing it.
I'll have a go at lightroom, never thought about it before. Thanks.
Incidentally, what phone you got next? Also, great idea to repurpose G5 as android TV.
Have you got that running and if so, what rom is usable, especially to have HDMI out and does charging work at the same time?
After the G5 I got an Asus Zenfone 8: small, powerful processor, OLED screen, 3.5mm audio port and easily rootable. It's not a cheap phone, but I was lucky enough to find one used for 390€ (spending more than 400€ for a phone is unreasonable for what I use it for).
To repurpose the G5 as a media center, I will go back to the stock Oreo ROM, as DotOs (and I suppose all the LineageOs-based ROMs) doesn't support the HDMI out.
I've bought a Choetech xch-m180 4K Usb-C HDMI adapter, that "should" (I'll believe when I see it, but I've seen videos of it working as expected) be capable of 4K output and battery charging. I already have a USB-C to HDMI adapter, but without battery charging, and the phone lasts less than one hour, so permanent installation is impossible with that one.
Then I'll install a media center like Kodi (if it can be controlled using another phone via Bluetooth or WiFi) and Tasker to shut down the phone's screen without locking it.
The hardest part of the setup will probably be dealing with the restrictions that each app imposes on phones with root or HDMI output.
tremalnaik said:
After the G5 I got an Asus Zenfone 8: small, powerful processor, OLED screen, 3.5mm audio port and easily rootable. It's not a cheap phone, but I was lucky enough to find one used for 390€ (spending more than 400€ for a phone is unreasonable for what I use it for).
To repurpose the G5 as a media center, I will go back to the stock Oreo ROM, as DotOs (and I suppose all the LineageOs-based ROMs) doesn't support the HDMI out.
I've bought a Choetech xch-m180 4K Usb-C HDMI adapter, that "should" (I'll believe when I see it, but I've seen videos of it working as expected) be capable of 4K output and battery charging. I already have a USB-C to HDMI adapter, but without battery charging, and the phone lasts less than one hour, so permanent installation is impossible with that one.
Then I'll install a media center like Kodi (if it can be controlled using another phone via Bluetooth or WiFi) and Tasker to shut down the phone's screen without locking it.
The hardest part of the setup will probably be dealing with the restrictions that each app imposes on phones with root or HDMI output.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the update. That Zenfone seems great value for what it has, especially with an OLED and 3.5mm, which I need, you've got it at a great price. In the Uk it's much more £600/€680 and very hard to find it used/refurbished, I can get a Sony Xperia IV for less, refurbushed and 12 months warranty but still too much for me.
Thanks for the other info too. I'll be interested to know how your G5 android project works out.
@tremalnaik Well, I bit took the plunge and found a good deal on a Xperia 5IV.
Brings back memories of my xperia Z3 compact, which I still have, used as a shared media/internet with lineage 18.1.
This new Xperia 5IV wioth its long slab design is so different but very usable.
Superb cameras, especially with their camera styled apps.
I can even use Gcam for better night shots.
Plus the needed 3.5mm jack AND Sdcard slot.
Hopefully, in a few years lineage will be available on, but unlikely to be a popular device due to cost though a great device for them to port one over with all it's extras.
Now, need to repurpose the G5, after I've transfered everyhig over and my phonbe cover arrives. I dont know why companies make such expensive/slipper styled backs, as so mnay people put on covers. Or just make the back more durable.
davestuarts said:
@tremalnaik Well, I bit took the plunge and found a good deal on a Xperia 5IV.
Brings back memories of my xperia Z3 compact, which I still have, used as a shared media/internet with lineage 18.1.
This new Xperia 5IV wioth its long slab design is so different but very usable.
Superb cameras, especially with their camera styled apps.
I can even use Gcam for better night shots.
Plus the needed 3.5mm jack AND Sdcard slot.
Hopefully, in a few years lineage will be available on, but unlikely to be a popular device due to cost though a great device for them to port one over with all it's extras.
Now, need to repurpose the G5, after I've transfered everyhig over and my phonbe cover arrives. I dont know why companies make such expensive/slipper styled backs, as so mnay people put on covers. Or just make the back more durable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish I found a good deal for an Xperia phone as well: it was my first choice, but any Sony device is really expensive here in Italy.
3.5mm jack is a must for me too, especially when it's the only way to listen music on a 14 years old car.
I wouldn't put much hope on Lineage for future upgrades though: while the developers take an honourable effort in keeping old phones up to date, most of the times any extra hardware feature of the phone will be hard to implement. If you take the G5 as an example, in 7 years nobody found a way to make the IR blaster or the FM radio to work, and neither VoLTE, HDMI, etc. due to the lack of documentation on how these functions are integrated in Android.
Going back to your previous post, I finally received the HDMI adapter and it works like a charm. Here's what I had to do to make it work:
-Connect the adapter to the tv, to the phone, and to a suitable USB plug (for some reason if I connected the USB power plug to the USB port on the tv, the adapter glitched, so I had to connect it to the router's USB port)
-Change the DPI settings to make the phone think it's running on a large screen
-Dowload a tv launcher: I found Simple TV Launcher to be simple and reliable
-Download TV version of the apps you need: Aurora Store has a convenient spoofing feature so I chose to make the phone appear like it's a Sony Bravia TV to download TV apps
-Download an app to control the phone usimg another phone as a remote. "Bluetooth keyboard & mouse" would be the best, if only Bluetooth wasn't a totally unreliable technology (out of three phones I tried to use as remotes, 2 had terrible lags, and another one wasn't able to connect at all). So my next choice was Zank Remote: not as good for non-tv apps, but as it works through wi-fi, it actually works. It can even be used like a rudimental wiimote to point at the screen.
-as I don't want to see ads on Youtube and I'm too lazy to try to compile ReVanced Youtube, I went for NewPipe: it's definitely not optimised to work on TVs, but it works.
So far I've only tested it with RaiPlay (national TV's online platform) and it works really well. My phone is rooted and I don't have any other movie platform subscription, so I don't know if this setup could work with Amazon Prime or Netflix. By the way I could test it with AceStream (the primary reason I wanted to make this setup, so I don't have to turn on the pc and stream from VLC to the Blu-Ray player connected to my not-so-smart TV), and it works flawlessly.
The hardest part of the whole setup is to shut down the backlight of the G5's screen while HDMI is connected: I had to use a shell script and automate it with Tasker. Still I haven't found a way to stop the HDMI out if the phone is locked, to save energy: if I lock the phone, the adapter will actively output a black screen to the TV, so it's likely wasting energy for nothing.
tremalnaik said:
I wish I found a good deal for an Xperia phone as well: it was my first choice, but any Sony device is really expensive here in Italy.
3.5mm jack is a must for me too, especially when it's the only way to listen music on a 14 years old car.
I wouldn't put much hope on Lineage for future upgrades though: while the developers take an honourable effort in keeping old phones up to date, most of the times any extra hardware feature of the phone will be hard to implement. If you take the G5 as an example, in 7 years nobody found a way to make the IR blaster or the FM radio to work, and neither VoLTE, HDMI, etc. due to the lack of documentation on how these functions are integrated in Android.
Going back to your previous post, I finally received the HDMI adapter and it works like a charm. Here's what I had to do to make it work:
-Connect the adapter to the tv, to the phone, and to a suitable USB plug (for some reason if I connected the USB power plug to the USB port on the tv, the adapter glitched, so I had to connect it to the router's USB port)
-Change the DPI settings to make the phone think it's running on a large screen
-Dowload a tv launcher: I found Simple TV Launcher to be simple and reliable
-Download TV version of the apps you need: Aurora Store has a convenient spoofing feature so I chose to make the phone appear like it's a Sony Bravia TV to download TV apps
-Download an app to control the phone usimg another phone as a remote. "Bluetooth keyboard & mouse" would be the best, if only Bluetooth wasn't a totally unreliable technology (out of three phones I tried to use as remotes, 2 had terrible lags, and another one wasn't able to connect at all). So my next choice was Zank Remote: not as good for non-tv apps, but as it works through wi-fi, it actually works. It can even be used like a rudimental wiimote to point at the screen.
-as I don't want to see ads on Youtube and I'm too lazy to try to compile ReVanced Youtube, I went for NewPipe: it's definitely not optimised to work on TVs, but it works.
So far I've only tested it with RaiPlay (national TV's online platform) and it works really well. My phone is rooted and I don't have any other movie platform subscription, so I don't know if this setup could work with Amazon Prime or Netflix. By the way I could test it with AceStream (the primary reason I wanted to make this setup, so I don't have to turn on the pc and stream from VLC to the Blu-Ray player connected to my not-so-smart TV), and it works flawlessly.
The hardest part of the whole setup is to shut down the backlight of the G5's screen while HDMI is connected: I had to use a shell script and automate it with Tasker. Still I haven't found a way to stop the HDMI out if the phone is locked, to save energy: if I lock the phone, the adapter will actively output a black screen to the TV, so it's likely wasting energy for nothing.
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Sorry, thought I had replied to your last message. Yeah, got lucky with the Sony, they're expensive in UK too. Last few years with the corrupt goverment and brexit has caused all prices to jump, only rich or corrupt exist easily.
You're right about Lineage or other custom rom being available for the Sony, as you said, they never figured out the IR blaster for the G5, theres always hope tho ha.
I've been trying to use the G5 as a android box but my issue is the battery drain. Its the old battery and the HDMI dongle with the charging port cannot sustain the battery with screen on, so it dies and also it gets quite hot.
I've been looking at apps or scripts to turn off screen while using, but cannot find anything yet. Theres an app on my Sony phone thats for gaming, it allows the charger to be plugged in, but not charge the battery instead it simply powers the phone, so it dont get hot and you can game for longer. I need an app like that.
My other option now is to take appart the phone, connect a third party battery which is big, like 5000mah and just leave phone open. I could also attach a heatsink or something to the phone internals to help with heat. I'm not bothered with leaving phone open.