Installing Android on other devices

It’s the open-sourced nature of Android that has enabled it to proliferate so widely, but it’s the touch-friendly interface that has had it so eagerly embraced by so many.

This has enabled anyone that wanted, to direct their intellectual powers to porting Android to any device they want.

This has lead to disgruntled owners of Android devices that have waited a few months too long for OS updates to create their own updated builds.

Owners of devices with outdated or dead operating systems – such as Windows Mobile – have devised builds of Android of their own.

While people who just fancy the damn challenge have done it for perfectly functioning devices, such as the iPhone 3G.

Robot spares

For this example we’ve picked the HP TouchPad, there was a lot of noise about this in mid-2011. HP announced it was dumping its WebOS division and there was a fire sale on its only tablet the HP TouchPad.

This runs WebOS, which, while in itself is a fine OS, has very limited third-party app support. With the death knell sounded for WebOS the challenge was on to create a working build of Android.

The renowned hacker group, CyanogenMod took up the challenge and delivered a working alpha in a month.

So how do you go about replacing the OS on a device? It’s just like replacing an OS on a standard PC but with the added complications of gaining the right access to the original OS; having the tools to inject a replacement boot-loader; and having access to a replacement OS with the correct drivers in place. Sounds tricky, doesn’t it?

Thankfully the internet is a vast and varied place, inhabited by helpful and intelligent types. Sites like http://xda-developers.com and http://rootzwiki.com host communities of avid Android fans, dedicated to creating builds of Androids for specific devices. These gals and guys have created an armoury of tools that people can easily reuse for a host of devices.

Missing a pillar

Three basic pillars are required: a copy of the target OS for the device; a system to inject this onto the device; and a boot-loader to kick start the device with the new OS.

The injection stage is interesting as it usually hijacks the manufacturer’s built-in firmware upgrade or recovery process. Most devices provide a low-level recovery mode that involves holding down a combination of hard buttons as it’s turned on.

With the HP TouchPad this is the Volume Up button. For other devices, such as the iPhone this is initiated via the software itself.

Beyond that initial process, of course, a build of Android is required, ideally but not necessarily with all the device drivers in place. As with Windows, lacking a driver doesn’t necessarily break a device but renders that part – be it the GPS, Wi-Fi or audio for example – useless or in other cases semi-functioning or often functioning but lacking power-saving features. If you jump onboard a part-done build you’ll often find such issues.

Last, the boot-loader kicks the whole thing off. For some devices, usually those that cannot be flashed, this is a one-time process that has to be rerun each boot. The HP TouchPad gets the best of all worlds as it can be partitioned and have a multi-OS boot-loader installed called Moboot.

You won a brick

Do be aware there is a chance of bricking your device. We strongly advise backing up your data and any files on it. It’s well worth fully charging the device beforehand and leaving it plugged in as well.

Once the ‘upgrade’ is initiated don’t interrupt it, even if nothing seems to be happening. Once Android is in place there can be issues with Android Market and it will often need installing separately, but we cover that below.

On some devices it may also block many apps as the device isn’t correctly recognised. This can often be fixed by clearing and force stopping the Google Services Framework and then the Market via application settings.

Beyond this there’s a world of Android enjoyment to be had. The Android 4.0 source code has been released too, so we’re expecting a slow update for many devices to the tasty Ice Cream Sandwich.

Disclaimer: Future Publishing Limited provides the information for this project in good faith and makes no representations as to its completeness or accuracy. Individuals carrying out the instructions in this project do so at their own risk.

Installing Android: How to do it

Part 1: It’s easy, like brain surgery

1. All your fault

Let’s be up front, this is third-party alpha software that replaces the boot-loader and installs Android. Things can go wrong and if they do it’s all your own fault. We strongly suggest you back up.

Select Launcher > Settings > Backup to secure at least your settings. We’ll outline later uninstall and emergency recovery options that could save a seemingly bricked device.

2. Get ready

First, make sure your HP TouchPad has at least 2GB of space free. It’s usually not an issue.

Next, you’ll need your USB data cable to hand and download the required files from the RootzWiki page. Four files are essential: ACMEInstaller ZIP, CM7.1.0-tenderloin-a3-fullofbugs-signed ZIP, Clockwork Recovery ZIP and the Moboot ZIP.

Only extract the ACMEInstaller.

3. Get even more ready

You will also need to download the HP TouchPad Novacom driver, this is usually part of the SDK but you can grab just the driver from here.

If you don’t have Java installed grab that as well from http://java.com and run the JAR file you just downloaded. This installs the driver required to access the HP TouchPad in its recovery mode to inject the new boot-loader.

Part 2: Wipe out WebOS

1. Fire the files

Boot the HP TouchPad into WebOS as normal. Attach it to your PC via the USB and mount it as a drive. Open My Computer, locate the HP TouchPad and in the root create a cminstall folder.

In to this copy the three unextracted ZIP files: moboot, update-cwm, and updatecm-7.1. These represent the Moboot, ClockWork Recovery and CyanogenMod Android files.

2. Moment of truth

Eject the HP TouchPad from the PC as normal and power it down. Turn it back on while holding the [Volume Up] button. As soon as it’s on a large white USB logo should appear.

Connect the HP TouchPad to the PC and it should be detected as new hardware via the Novacom driver. If the TouchPad isn’t recognised you need to get the Novacom driver installed. Try a reboot if you haven’t already.

3. Install Android

Extract the ACMEInstaller file to the desktop. Select Start, type ‘CMD’ and click ‘OK’. In the command prompt type ‘CD desktop’, press [Return] to change directory to the desktop.

To start the Android install, type the following line into the command prompt. If Novacom cannot be found, locate the Program Files > Palm > SDK folder and copy it to the desktop: novacom boot mem:// < ACMEInstaller

4. Android activate!

After a moment of nothing, a stream of Linux command lines should appear. This install process will go on for ten minutes or so, after which the HP TouchPad will reboot. Ignore the boot-loader and Android will start.

Play to your heart’s content but a big omission is the Android Market, but we can fix that and it’s an excellent introduction to the ClockworkMod Recovery Mode.

5. Moah apps!

Legally Android Market cannot be distributed with CyanogenMod Android. Download the package from http://gooinside.me/gapps. Connect the TouchPad to your PC as a drive and copy this ZIP file to the root.

Eject and reboot the TouchPad, at the new Moboot boot-loader use the Volume Button to select Boot ClockworkMod and press the Home button to start.

6. The Market is open

ClockworkMod enables you to do all manner of low-level recovery and update things. Use the [Volume Button] to navigate to ‘install zip’, the sdcard refers to the internal storage. Use the [Home] button to select.

Select ‘Choose zip from sdcard’, select the gapps ZIP file you saved to the root. Confirm the warning, select ‘Reboot system now’ and let it reboot into Android. Now you have full Market access.

Part 3: Disaster recovery

1. Recovery options

The ClockworkMod Recovery provides a number of recovery and restore features that can help reset and fix problems. Access it from the Moboot boot-loader using the [Volume Button] and [Home] button to select.

Options that can fix locking and freeze issues include: Wipe Cache Partition, Advanced > Wipe Dalvik Cache and Wipe User Data. The last one will reset Android to factory defaults.

2. Refresh Android

Within ClockworkMod Recovery you’re also able to reset CyanogenMod Android by effectively getting it to reinstall Android on top of itself.

Boot into WebOS, mount it as a drive and copy the CM7 fullofbugs ZIP file to the root. Eject and reboot the TouchPad and start ClockworkMod Recovery. Choose the ‘Install zip’ from sdcard option and select the Zip from the root.

3. Android begone

If you decide Android’s not for you the good news is that an uninstaller is available. We can see this being automated in the future but even in the alpha stage it’s nothing you’ve not already done.

Download and extract the Uninstaller Zip file from the RootzWiki TouchPad website. Open a command prompt, change the directory to the Desktop and type: novacom boot mem:// < ACMEUninstaller.

4. It’s all gone wrong

The above step takes a few minutes for anything to happen but will restore your device to its pre-Android state, recovering partition space.

There is one last recovery option with WebOS Doctor found here. You’ll need your HP WebOS account details, at least five per cent charge and Java installed. The entire reset process shouldn’t take more than half an hour.

Touch in Windows 8

Ubiquitous access to touch-enabled devices is going to mean every Windows game developer on planet earth will be looking to integrate touch features into their latest release.

So we can take a look at how touch-enabled systems will run Windows 8, enhance your gaming experience and generally make the world a better place.

There’s simply no arguing that Microsoft – publisher of the single most important OS on the planet – has been utterly routed by the more nimble Apple and Google.

It may have released touch-enabled systems years ago with Windows Mobile and Windows Tablet Edition, but in its usual blinkered this-is- to-sell-more-Windows way managed to kill the market dead for these and many other innovative products. Anyone remember Microsoft Smart Display? Or project Courier?

This time around touch will be different. Microsoft doesn’t have to innovate, phew, as Apple and Android has done all of that for it. We can just sit back, relax and wait for the touch-enabled, app-store-integrated, widget-brandishing, button-sliding progeny of Windows to make its appearance.

The odd thing is, it’s really rather exciting. For the first time we’re going to have the chance at a genuine ecosystem of Windows devices to choose from: moving from Windows phones, to Windows tablets up to netbooks and laptops and then desktop systems. All touch-enabled, all interconnected via Windows Live and all offering the same touch games and applications.

Next generation hardware is already appearing so let’s take a look at how touch-devices work with Windows 8, existing and future games.

The gloss-black MSI all-in-one flares into life. The remnants of an ancient BIOS briefly shows itself – still infecting even this most modern of machines – before a Metro-style pale-blue OS boot menu presents itself. Its uber-modern fine sans-serif type couldn’t be more removed from the chunky fixed-type on BIOS screens of old.

Tap the extra options and you see a selection of recovery and boot features, before going back and tapping the frame-less Windows 8 button to start it. Within seconds a widescreen HD mountain vista is displayed, the date and time boldly displayed in that stylish new Segoe typeface.

A swipe up reveals the Windows user accounts, ideally tied to Windows Live accounts they will take your preferences, avatar images, email, documents and apps with you to any device you use. Tapping one brings up the visual lock-screen – a personalised picture that requires you to motion over areas you’ve previously selected to gain full user access.

Security passed, the new Windows 8 Start Menu springs forth; this living breathing menu emanates life, as individual app cards update and refresh themselves. Feeds show real-time posts and games show online players stats.

The expansive, horizon-style Start Menu can be effortlessly scrolled through, with a tap here you can check your tweets, a tap there you can scroll through your latest news streams.

Media Center makes it a simple job to flick through menus of media and choose the music, photos and films you want to view. Tap the latest Windows Store, grab a game and enjoy gaming in a new way.

Hands on with Windows 8

The release of Windows 8 will simply solidify this touch journey but for now models, such as the MSI Wind Top AE2210 or the Dell Inspiron 2320 – both all-in-one models – elegantly show the touch-enabled future that awaits as they can have the Windows 8 Developer Preview installed on them.

We know the Developer Preview was really a beta version but even so, the semantics of a number of gestures were a little unnecessarily obscured. Using it you get a better idea that the demo at last year’s Microsoft Build conference while live had been well practised and orchestrated.

We regularly ran into issues trying to switch between apps and the dock system seemed limited and frustrating to use. But it’s hard to complain about something that hasn’t even been released in an official form. Even guessing, there’s no chance of a Windows 8 release until summer 2012. Microsoft has a lot to sort out before then beyond just getting a swanky touch-interface working correctly.

The Windows Store is probably the easiest, cross-device migration of settings and is another easy thing to sort via Windows Live accounts.

But it’s the often overlooked elements of life where pleasure can really be taken, like reading on the toilet or removing an annoying bogey from your nose. Our old-friend Windows Media Centre is an excellent touch-enabled bit of software.

Whether that’s through luck or flaw we can’t say, but flicking through films, music and photos is a lovely experience. One we’re sure could be made even better if a little style and thought was put into it.

The Media Center photo screensaver is still one of the worst experiences we’ve had besides hiding under our bed covers as children listening to our parents fight.

Windows playtime

Where our real interest lies is with gaming. Touch on mobile devices has ushered in a new way to game. While we’re not expecting the same paradigm shift on the desktop, access to casual mobile games will always be a good thing, but we do expect touch elements to start drip feeding into triple-A titles.

The splendid thing is we can already try some of these features out on existing titles, that have been either knowingly or unwittingly enabled for touch gaming. The richest area of gaming for touch-aware titles is the hated casual game, you can stop making hissing noises. Some people – we imagine a few of those that have racked up over half a billion downloads of Angry Birds – actually do like what we deridingly call ‘casual’ games.

With many Flash-based browser games designed for easy mouse input, or more likely for touch-aware input, these are all able to work flawlessly with a touch PC. We’ve already mentioned the most obvious casual game: Angry Birds. This has a free PC version online at chrome.angrybirds.com that works on any HTML5-aware browser and plays beautifully on touch-screen equipped PCs and on a much larger scale than any tablet or phone could hope to manage on its own.

We did run into a few odd instances with Internet Explorer, it has its own touch-controls built in and a wrongly-placed finger can have you browsing off to other locations. Equally well-equipped are the flash-based games to be found over at www.popcap.com the likes of Bejeweled and Plants Vs Zombies, these Flash games again work perfectly on a touch-enabled PC.

It’s also worth pointing out the browser add-in Swiffout.com that enables you to run embedded Flash games full screen. It’s a bit hit and miss, as in it’ll sometimes seem like the game isn’t doing anything.

If you think there’s a big selection of casual games available online now, just you wait until Windows 8 hits the streets. We’d expect most Windows Phones games to be quickly ported, that’s if they’re not natively supported from day one, while dedicated Windows 8 Tablet games are going to quickly appear.

If casual gaming is your thing, if nothing else children gobble them up like space-dusted cake, then expect a flood to come in from Android and iOS devices.

Touch in mainstream games

Fortunately, touch is coming to mainstream gaming too. Well, it’s actually already here but it’s either surreptitious or else it’s accidental, but we’re still claiming it’s real.

The formats that are going to gain the most outside of the casual arena are adventures and strategy games. You may have spotted that both of these have the advantage that they’re not necessarily the fastest paced of games.

The big issue, particularly for RTS games but can even affect adventures too, is that a quick-tap is equivalent to a left-click and a long-tap performs a right-click. This effectively eliminates the ability to do quick right-click actions.

Most dedicated touch devices have developed alternatives, such as the two-finger tap or hold one finger down and tap second. Unless a game is developed with touch in mind, you’re stuck with what Windows 7 has to offer, and that’s limited.

Even with these limitations many adventure games and less hectic strategy games play wonderfully on a touchscreen. If anything we love the switch you can make between active moments using the mouse and more contemplative sections using the touchscreen interface.

The same type of system goes for some RPGs as well, though many tend to lean heavily on mouse and keyboard. Non-combat areas such as inventory management, spell casting or crafting can all take advantage of touchscreen input.

One genre of gaming that we’re not expecting touch to have an impact on is first person shooters. This a PC genre that is very much going to stay a realm of the mouse and keyboard. That’s not to say touch systems aren’t able to run them, and in a similar way to RPGs we can see room within FPS titles to add extra interactivity into the game world by using touch within environment.

Take Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which has a world littered with supposedly interactive elements from touch newspapers to hackable door locks. To make these mouse accessible the game almost has to cut away from the world so you can click on the right parts with the mouse, with a touchscreen they’d be no need and you could directly interact with the game world.

The same goes for any games with in-world elements, while touch could be used for physical game-world interaction. So picking up and manipulating items via touch to complete physics puzzles or just completing a weapon loadout.

None of this in itself is going to change the world, but it’s certainly going to change how you play in your gaming worlds.

Touchy me, touchy you

Like us, many of you will be thinking ‘I’m never going to lean forward and touch my screen’. You’re probably right, it’s a lot of effort and not entirely natural thing to do, especially when sitting down.

We’re sure touchscreens will appear but direct touch could well be limited to tablets and all-in-one systems. However, Kinect and the Acer Aspire Z5xxx range, with their front-facing cameras, show a way of interacting that cuts out that bacteria filled touching business with seemingly reasonable precision.

We used the Windows 8 Developer Preview and those two up-to-date all-in-one touch panel PCs mentioned previously: the MSI Wind Top AE2210 is a lovely Intel Core i3 2100 Sandy Bridge graphics, 20-inch unit, which sells for a little over £650.

The Dell Inspiron 2310 is more up-market with an improved Intel Core i5 and Nvidia GT 525M graphics chipset. This has a little more muscle but is also a little more pricey, selling at around £799.

Interestingly both use what we suspect is the same two-point touch sensor. We suspect this is an IR-based system as they both detect finger movement before contact is made and there was vague issues with accuracy at the extreme edges of the screen.

That aside both worked flawlessly with the Windows 8 Developer Preview OS indeed they were both as fast as when used under Windows 7. Tablets and phones are going to continue to be the main focus for touch, but we’re waiting to see what trickles down to the PC.

You remember that story by that Scandinavian dude? The one where the world is made of crepes and silver monkeys would ride unicorns across the globe in an allegory about something or other?

No, neither do we. It’s possibly made up, the flashbacks from a weekend in Thailand, or a dream. Either way, there are more important things to be talking about, like the fact Google is looking to bust Android out of its mobile phone prison (oh, and tablets. And home entertainment systems. And fridges. And… oh, FINE. It’s not confined at all).

But we are excited about anything that a) is from the future and b) can make us more like a Terminator, and a project Google’s working on with Oakley to put a heads up display in one lens of its sunglasses.

The word is these little wonders would essentially have a single core processor and around 8GB of storage, plus allow you to take pictures with a front facing camera which, let’s be honest, would make you the coolest spy kid in TechSchool and would in no way get you punched in the face and have your ultra-expensive specs stolen.

Or you can wear them snowboarding or something. Whatever, we’re not your Mum. Do what you want.

More worrying is the notion you can navigate through the menu by wobbling your head – a particularly vibrant session with Girls Aloud’s Sexy No! No! No! could have us accidentally wandering onto a lewd website or two. Well, that’s our story and we’re sticking to it.

Let’s face it – anything that stops us looking like this will be a boon.

I just called to say hello…

You’ve got to give it to Nokia – the company has realised that its user base is dwindling so rapidly that nobody will be using a Finnish phone to call at all in the future, and has come up with a clever solution.

Screw talking or texting – soon you’ll be able to share a greeting by tapping phones together and walking on quietly… conjuring up some frankly terrifying images of a bald, fat man coming up to us, tapping our phone then walking away, only for us to read ‘I live in your phone now, and we are married. Oh, and buy milk.’.

There’s a strong chance this is all a made up prank, given that Nokia is saying it’s fed up with noise pollution and it will speed up its engineer’s days by 175% or some other odd stat – but then again, this is the same Nokia that thought this was a good idea. We don’t know how to react any more.

iPad? BB10? MMMMMMmmmm…. Nice

Ever wanted to spend a minute or so being whisked around the sights and sites of London while being simultaneously blasted with info on forthcoming operating systems and gadgets?

OK, but have you ever wanted to do it with some funky techno-jazz in the background and a frankly laughable attempt by a presenter to pretend he’s in a house? WELL! Have we got (two) treats for you:

YouTube : www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl4fkbbNq4UYouTube : www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOyXNH6SblE

And finally…

Comments on this oddity are welcomed on our twitter feeds: @TR_Phones and @TR_tablets

Sony may have been a little late to the tablet game but its stand at CES 2012 showed that the company was thinking hard about how to make its tablets stand out from the crowd in the future.

One concept, which was shown off behind a case was a Sony Vaio tablet, complete with wireless keyboard. The tablet looked a little thicker than that of an iPad and had an oval shape.

The keyboard was backlit with glow in the dark keys. Interestingly, there was a Windows key on the keyboard, which would suggest that it will be a Windows 8 tablet.

A Sony rep told me that even though this was a concept, if it was launched then its looks wouldn’t change all that much. They also explained that the back of the tablet has been designed to give you extra grip when holding the thing.

Sony also showed off another tablet which looked like an Eee Pad Slider – the keyboard dock however is actually detachable.

Both of these concepts have been given the Vaio branding which is also a sign they will be Windows 8 – as Sony’s current crop of tablets, which run on Android, haven’t been given the Vaio moniker.

HP has unveiled the HP Envy 14 Spectre Ultrabook, which is the latest addition to the growing number of Intel Ultrabooks launched here at CES 2012.

Hours after Intel’s Ultrabook press conference, which promised touchscreen portables, and tablet hybrids, the HP Spectre is a more traditional laptop, which is aimed at bringing Ultrabooks to style conscious media consumers.

At 14-inches it’s slightly bigger than most Ultrabooks making it great for watching movies or viewing pictures, but it features a super-thin bezel, which doesn’t add any bulk.

The panel itself is a stunningly bright 1600×900 Super-TFT , making it a better laptop for movie watchers and entertainment lovers, than the Toshiba Portege Z830 and Lenovo IdeaPad U300s Ultrabooks of this world.

The HP Spectre measures 20mm thick when closed, which makes it the chunkiest Ultrabook we’ve seen so far. The limit set by Intel for 13-inch Ultrabooks is 18mm, but as HP has crammed in a 14″ panel, they’re allowed to build in the 21mm or less category. It won’t slip into a bag as nicely as the competition, but it’s still looks great.

As well as being thick, it’s also heavy for an Ultrabook, and the HP Spectre weighs 1.7KG, which is svelte in terms of most portables, but with most of its peers weighing 1.3Kg, we did notice the step up.

All of these measurements combine push the boundaries of what we’d expect an Ultrabook to be (the Toshiba Portege Z830 measures just 15mm and weighs 1.1Kg) but there’s no denying that the HP Spectre is a superb piece of kit.

We didn’t get to run any tests on the HP Envy 14 Spectre, but HP told us they expect 9 hours battery life. If that bold claim is true, then it could turn this into a real contender.

The Spectre looks sublime, and the black glass lid adds a new level of class, which makes it immediately attractive. It’s certainly not an Apple MacBook Air clone like many Ultrabooks, and looks all the better for it in our opinion.

There is a drawback, however, and the black glass isn’t just a magnet for fingerprints, it’s a Death Star sized tractor beam. Simply examining the sharp, strong edges which define the Spectre were enough to spoil the gleaming look, and have us reaching for a cloth to wipe them away.

Under the hood there’s an Intel Core i5 or Core i7 processor, a 128GB hard drive, which is standard for an Ultrabook. Unlike the Asus Zenbook and Acer Aspire S3, there’s a full range of connectivity, including 2 USB 3.0 ports, Ethernet and HDMI.

Call us greedy, but while it feels like one of the most solid and highest quality Ultrabooks we’ve seen so far, we can’t help feeling a little short changed.

The increased size should pay off with a larger hard drive, more RAM, or even a more powerful graphics option. With Samsung doing just that on their new 530U Ultrabook, it looks like the HP might have a problem on its hands.

While the look and feel is certainly premium, so is the price. HP is asking a whopping 1299 Euros for the entry level Intel Core i5 model, so don’t expect the Envy Spectre to compete on price. UK pricing is still to be confirmed.