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I would like to create a custom rom for the fascinate to use as a head unit in my car. Due to financial reasons I now have a banned esn. so i am now going to try to go this route with it. I am thinking of using the app Car Home as a home replacement. I don't need a modem except for wifi maybe. I want to get rid of sms, mms, browser, gmail, dialer, contacts, etc... Pretty much all i want to do is have a core android operating system that can play videos, music, maybe some games via blue tooth controller, gps (i know i will have to use an app with down loadable maps), and anything else that might be useful in a car. The concept is to replace the head unit, not be an addition. any thoughts or help on this would be greatly appreciated. I am thinking of basing it on this rom http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=919864 of course with JTs permission.
Please post your opinions of this. Any feedback is welcome. Any help is definitely welcome.
I know you're looking for help with the ROM, but just wanted to bring up some things you'll want to consider with the integration into the car.
First, you will need an external amplifier to power the speakers. The headphone jack doesn't have enough power to driver real speakers. The headphone jack also only has Left and Right, so you could control balance but won't be able to control fade with the phone. You would need something external if you would want that.
Also, you will probably want some way to trigger the phone to know that the vehicle is on. If you powered the phone constantly, I am not sure how you would accomplish this. In this case, you might need to stop/start the music manually and lock/unlock the screen each time you leave/enter the vehicle.
I was thinking you might want to tie phone charging to vehicle ignition to tell the phone that the vehicle is on. Don't directly tie the vehicle ignition line (12V) to the USB port on the phone (5V) - you will damage your phone. I have heard good things about Tasker (I haven't personally used it), but it makes me think you could trigger music playing based on charging state. When the charger comes on, the music would start. When the charger goes off, the music would stop, and the screen would turn off/lock (assuming "Stay Awake While Plugged In" is selected). The one downside to this is that if you leave your vehicle for a long time (i.e. - vacation), the phone will die and you will have to charge it up for a while before it will work again.
I really like the idea you're going for. Best of luck with it.
3.5mm plug to dual rca on the amp, most all aftermarket amps have L/R rca speaker inputs, oem may just be wires I'm not sure, I'd take a car charger for your phone apart and hardwire the two leads in it to 12v pos and neg...fairly straightforward, actually a pretty good idea, tuning may be a whole other aspect, you need probably at minimum 1.5v rca input for decent sound, guessing a headphone jack comes nowhere near that (measure with multimeter on full volume)...I would make sure you have voodoo sound and use analog volume om the app at 0db (or as high for little distortion)...keep us updated, you're going to have to do a little Google research
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Over on the eris forums cookieman made a super stripped down mp3 player rom for the eris. Maybe you csn talk with him a bit to get you started.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=979808
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA Premium App
I'd definitely recommend tasker to help automate some functions. I use it for multiple different things, including one that detects when my Bluetooth is connected along with 3.5 jack and power. I have that activate a custom state for my phone that turns on the GPS, sets the display to not turn off and other misc tasks associated with what I want the phone to do while in the car.
I've installed a Parrot Asteroid (digital media head unit with hands free calling) in my wife's VW Passat and think it might be one of the best purchases I've made this year. Install on the Passat (2001.5) was almost plug and play. The only change I had to make was switching Battery and ACC on harness. The antenna adapter (unpowered) is a standard item and was available from a local source.
With CM9 (nightly 0508 currently) USB and Bluetooth tethering work.
Contacts are shared with the Asteroid and voice dialing is accurate (the Parrot seems to grok what I am saying).
Music selection (media on SDHC card in Parrot) via voice is failrly accurate but I have noticed a few inaccurate responses.
Hands-free calling is crystal clear and the music quality is awesome.
Some have reported buggy or defective units, but I have had no trouble with it over the last week with my I777. We'll see what happens with my wife's iPhone...
I am considering same setup into my 2004 Passat. Thanks for posting the picture, that certainly clears my concerns about how does it look in the car as the console is same as yours.
How is sound compared to original VW radio you had before?
Do you mind if I ask you to share with us what components went into your install beside of course the Asteroid? Especially what adapter for the wiring harness you used.
I am using (primarily) Galaxy Nexus on CM9, so I'm pretty confident hooking the Asteroid to the phone shouldn't be a problem. Thanks in advance!
Edit: forgot to ask about button backlight - from what I see on the Internet it seems to be white, is it adjustable so it can be made to match the OEM backlight on the Passat (red)?
leobg said:
I am considering same setup into my 2004 Passat. Thanks for posting the picture, that certainly clears my concerns about how does it look in the car as the console is same as yours.
How is sound compared to original VW radio you had before?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my opinion (these things being subjective), the sound is excellent. Like most Android devices, the Asteroid has a built in equalizer and other sound tweaks. Much better than stock.
Do you mind if I ask you to share with us what components went into your install beside of course the Asteroid? Especially what adapter for the wiring harness you used.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe all B5.5 Passats use a ISO connector for the stock stereo. The included Parrot wiring harness adapter works out of the box. I only had to flip Battery and Switched Power (ACC). The Parrot adapter is designed to allow quick changes to these leads and this is documented in the included instructions. The only thing I had to buy was the antenna adapter. I picked that up for about $15 US. I used the unpowered version.
I am using (primarily) Galaxy Nexus on CM9, so I'm pretty confident hooking the Asteroid to the phone shouldn't be a problem. Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CM9 works quite nicely with the Parrot with one caveat. Bluetooth audio was great (both music and hands free calling). No problems with pairing so far. I tried connecting my SGS2 USB storage to the Parrot but it is not recognizing the SGS2 mass storage (micro SD card). This is not a show stopper for me as I have a 32GB SDHC card installed in the Asteroid.
Edit: forgot to ask about button backlight - from what I see on the Internet it seems to be white, is it adjustable so it can be made to match the OEM backlight on the Passat (red)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No such luck from what I have seen. You have have a choice of white, white, or white. You can adjust the intensity of control backlight and LCD backlight for 'Day' and 'Night' modes. 'Day' and 'Night' modes are toggled by a long press on the 'Parrot' button.
The Asteroid is not perfect but it seems to be the only device of its kind at the moment. I am surprised that more car stereo companies are not leveraging Android into their equipment lineup. Both OEM and aftermarket vendors seem to be utterly clueless when it comes to emerging technologies. Who uses CD (or for that matter DVD's) anymore?
When we bought our Passat I was shocked and appalled that the head unit had a CASSETTE deck! There was a CD changer in the trunk but that meant pulling over to change CD's. Clueless, utterly clueless...
In any case, good luck. The install is pretty easy. Do some research on some of the issues some seem to experience with the Asteroid. I have not seen any major problems on firmware 1.5 as yet but your mileage may vary.
*Edit: One other thing -- the Asteroid does not fit flush with the dash like the stock head unit. It sticks out approximately 1/4 inch. Aside from doing major work to modify the dash, I could not think of any way to make the Parrot fit flush. It does not bother me, but it may pose aesthetic issues for you. I actually have grown to like it. It makes finding controls easy without taking my eyes off the road.
Oh -- and one last thing. This 38 second video is priceless for removing the stock head unit.
http://youtu.be/KNSYBSGzUuQ
One last edit -- here is the antenna adapter. $7 through Amazon.
http://goo.gl/39rIO
Thanks a bunch!! So your 2001.5 came with the singe DIN unit. B5.5's 2002 onward ship with double DIN unit, so I would need to find a tray to place in (and fill up the gap) which will be very handy as I could keep the phone (or other junk in there. I've heard Parrot is coming up with a double din unit with slightly extended functionality: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/08/parrot-asteroid-ck-asteroid-nav-asteroid-2din-infotainment-sys/. They mention late 2012 availability, wondering if I want to hold my horses for that one. Since it doesn't have physical buttons to require backlight, there won't be an issue with the look, but I like the buttons and especially the rotary ones, so this (for me) is as disadvantage as much as advantage. And probably the cost will double. Though integrated Google maps navigation would be terrific! Decisions, decisions...!
Yeah. The stock unit was single DIN. I believe you can buy the pocket if you have a double DIN OEM head unit and want to install a single DIN.
I like having physical controls -- perhaps I am getting old. The lack of apps does not particularly distress me.
I'd like to use the Parrot UNIKA steering controls interface but it does not look like B5.5 Passat is supported yet.
By the way, I'm listening to one of your (Canadian) exports today -- a band by the name of Elliott Brood from Toronto. Not bad for Canadian hacks. ;-)
http://www.elliottbrood.ca/
All the best,
Edward
I am not able to code so I write here.
There are many Apps out there witch will make the Android Smartphone become a WiFi Trackpad oder Keyboard.
But there is so far no App which underutilized the camera and LED Light to emulate a real mouse. This would be great because it would be a good option to control f.e. a game which is streamed via Remote Desktop onto a tablet. The tablet itself is attached via HDMI to the TV and the PC is in another room. So you would have less lag on the mouse. A BT or 2.4GHz mouse is not an option because of the distance.
What I think is that it should be possible to use the camera sensor and the LED light to track the movement of the smartphone (maybe also use the accelerometers). An optical mouse works mostly the same way. Maybe you would need a special underground (like a grid which you might be able to print at home) as the software might need it to track the movement.
Unified Remote
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Relmtech.Remote&hl=en
No; Unified Remote will not do what he asks. Note that he said there are many apps that will let you use the smartphone's touch surface as a trackpad. That would include Unified Remote.
There are no apps that do what you want because it would be pretty much impossible. The LED flash, assuming the phone has one (not all do) is not a precise laser, it's a bright light. It also eats battery like a mofo. But aside from that, the camera could not track the movement by watching reflections from the flash. Not accurate enough for mousing, at least.
Your best bet (aside from using the screen as a track pad) would be to utilize the accelerometer, but that would be horribly inaccurate. And that's your second-best option after the touch screen. The camera is not even an option.
Exactly. Unified Remote, GMote, Droidmote isn't what I thought of. Why do you think the camera won't be able to to this job? OK, it wouldn't be a 1000 dpi gaming mouse but with a lower resolutiobn I think it should work. At least with an aid like a printet grid as a mousepad. I think of the first optical trackballs which also needed a dotted ball to detect movement.
And I know it wouldn't be easy and would not work with every phone out there. If it would be easy it propably would be around.
I haven't tried this personally, but it does exactly what you're describing:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1157472
Its a project which hasn't seen development for awhile.
Im sorry if im not really understanding this but why not just use a real mouse... from what your saying you want to make ur camera and the led light to act as the mouse laser / sensor.. for 1 im pretty sure the camera isnt fast enough to pick up fine motion
Show me a mouse that works via wifi... BT or 2.4 GHz doesn't work on distance.
Mr. Mozuse is nearly what I looked for. But now with the phone lying flat on the table and not holding it in the air.
Has anyone had any luck finding something like this? This would be extremely useful for those of us carrying around laptops but who hate to use the built in trackpad and would rarely pack another bluetooth mouse. Lay my phone down and using it as a mouse would be so useful.
Use Smartphone as a mouse
I am a student and I usually use a BT mouse in conjunction with my laptop at school but on occasion, for example today, I forget to pack my mouse into my bag. I personally don't like track pads, and I think it would be nice to have a backup option.
I have the Samsung Galaxy S5 and I was wondering if instead of using the LED flash, what about the heart rate sensor, red laser, for your light source. The red light is more focused and would require less power.
Its true this concept would NOT have High resolution but it should be accurate enough for the average user.
Rather then just saying it wont work, Is there anyone that has tried to make it work?
Can't we use lesser autofocus sensor ?
I don't know much about coding and tech things but is it possible to use lesser autofocus sensors ?
nothing new on this front? any unstable sources available? i could have a look at it
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!
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.