Retired androids... dedicated media players? - Off-topic

Forgive the noob question, but I have several older android cell phones, I think it'd be neat to turn them into wifi enabled dedicated music players. I.e. no apps, less services to run. Are there such roms? How complicated would it be to build a rom with no cell radio, but bluetooth and wifi only? Would it be as easy as stripping a rom that exists for the phone to its bare essentials? What are the primary challenges in building a stripped-out rom for a individual legacy phones? Is there such a thing as a universal Android rom? Or, short of a full rom, a full launcher replacement that acts solely in this fashion?
I mean, if I have an old Verizon cell, and I'm on t-mobile or at&t, it seems a fate less worthy for a device that could still perform such a basic function as a music or media player.
I'm just thinking, that's all.
And if no such thing exists but is certainly possible, i'll probably become a new developer.
Lol

My old SII sits around the house as a dedicated music / radio streaming device. There's not really any need for a special ROM, just flash something light like CM or AOSP and remove anything not needed. Put it in airplane mode to disable the radio and leave wifi on, job done.

Related

Do you think bluetooth or LED will ever work under Hero

The reason I ask is not at all to be critical of the development going on with Hero, on the contrary, I think it's going very well. However, today is my last day to return the G1 I got 14 days ago. I love Hero and want to use it on a device with a hardware keyboard. The G1 is the only option for that, but I use bluetooth every day in my car. It's a must.
So, I forward the question, are you guys making progress? Can we count on it getting done or should I take this phone back to t-mobile today?
I'm quite confident for the LEDs. The Hero builds are not such a radical departure that we've all been left stranded in the atlantic, so to speak. When it boils down to it, they're still just Android-1.5, with some extra HTC glue on the top.
However, if you're in doubt, why not return it and get the Hero (when it's released)? HTC's software keyboard is easily the best I've used, so the loss of a hardware one wouldn't sting so much. Sure, you'd have to wait for root, but at least you've have a no-nonsense Rosie.
Magic 8 Ball says: "maybe"
in all honesty no one even knows for sure if Hero is coming to tmo. That might be a factor as well. Really though it's still android..and the g1 is a great phone..we don't know anything about the hero phone from a reliability/battery life/heat standpoint yet. It could prove to be the next iphone 3gs.
Keeping it
Ok guys, I'm keeping the phone. That means I got 2 years of Android goodness ahead of me on this G1. Keep up the awesome work Hero guys, and please get bluetooth running. The rom is fast enough now, and bluetooth's the only thing keeping me from jumping over.
Thanks for the help.
afflaq said:
It could prove to be the next iphone 3gs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love my Dream but that's a big no-niner-niner.
Wii60 said:
Ok guys, I'm keeping the phone. That means I got 2 years of Android goodness ahead of me on this G1. Keep up the awesome work Hero guys, and please get bluetooth running. The rom is fast enough now, and bluetooth's the only thing keeping me from jumping over.
Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Having gotten bluetooth 98% working under Hero rom I'm pretty confident I'll have a solution soon. I have a feeling that with LED's non-functional and tying up the I2C bus with requests to turn on/off the leds which end up failing, this is causing bluetooth to not be able to disable the uart clock, which coincidentally has to be done over the I2C bus. I know, it sounds like a foreign language just be rest assured a fix for both "SHOULD" be coming soon.
Any news?
15 days passed... got any more progress on bluetooth and leds? Please say yes
Is there any workaround?
josevtome said:
15 days passed... got any more progress on bluetooth and leds? Please say yes
Is there any workaround?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
be patient. why not downgrade ur phone to a rotted cupcake if bluetooth is soo important. hero is nice on the eyes..but in your case it seems like you need function.
cyanogen is a solution.works well.
Right now, I'm using a Rogers dream firmware, and it works really nice. It has about 80% of Hero (mostly HTC Framework, HTC boot animation/sound, and several apps such as the HTC Music app, and the Hero Java JBED (loving it, lots faster than the Netmite J2ME) just without the Rosie/Sense/TouchFLO (yet...), and its associated mods), and 100% of the G1/Dream compatibility (LED's, WiFi, Bluetooth, Audio, etc.)
And there are Hero themes for the Rogers Dream firmware that aren't unlike those of 'lite' Hero builds (without any Sense). Twidroid, Twidgit, and a weather/clock widget would make it indistinguishable in function, for the most part, from a real Hero.
Though I am hopeful for development on the bluetooth issue, and there's a topic (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=527027) that seems to be making progress on this issue, I can't use a Hero ROM until the bluetooth is functional, as I use my G1 as my main music player, and I don't have a wired pair of headphones to use with them (some kid stole them from me, including the adapter). I do have an iPod bluetooth adapter, but since my iPod 5G, with custom themed Apple OS, Rockbox and Linux, crashed (unsurprisingly), it's not of much use to me currently.
TylTru said:
Right now, I'm using a Rogers dream firmware, and it works really nice. It has about 80% of Hero (mostly HTC Framework, HTC boot animation/sound, and several apps such as the HTC Music app, and the Hero Java JBED (loving it, lots faster than the Netmite J2ME) just without the Rosie/Sense/TouchFLO (yet...), and its associated mods), and 100% of the G1/Dream compatibility (LED's, WiFi, Bluetooth, Audio, etc.)
And there are Hero themes for the Rogers Dream firmware that aren't unlike those of 'lite' Hero builds (without any Sense). Twidroid, Twidgit, and a weather/clock widget would make it indistinguishable in function, for the most part, from a real Hero.
Though I am hopeful for development on the bluetooth issue, and there's a topic (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=527027) that seems to be making progress on this issue, I can't use a Hero ROM until the bluetooth is functional, as I use my G1 as my main music player, and I don't have a wired pair of headphones to use with them (some kid stole them from me, including the adapter). I do have an iPod bluetooth adapter, but since my iPod 5G, with custom themed Apple OS, Rockbox and Linux, crashed (unsurprisingly), it's not of much use to me currently.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
are you using the RogHero build? i forget the dev... ah just checked it's Maxisma. hopefully the hero stuff is done soon with BT, cuz i know LEDs are working on some builds now because i really wanna show my dad (who is so not a techie person) that i can run something besides the Dream stuff on my G1 lol. good luck to all those trying to port the Hero ROM to the Dream...
I think I'm using a soulife build, as my /system/build.prop has:
ro.build.display.id=CUPCAKE.eng.Soulife.20090522.075548
I forgot exactly, as I usually keep my update.zip's on the computer except for a couple important ones.

Bluetooth controls for Timeriffic using Donut ROMs?

I'm (very) new to Android, so I may have misunderstood some things.
I have rooted and flashed the latest CM, and that is running well. I note that the cooked ROMs tend to offer us things in a 1.6 base that would otherwise require >= 2.x.
I use Timeriffic, at a minimum, to switch my phone to mute/vibrate while I'm at work.
I am also using it as a partial power/battery management tool. ie. I have it set the phone to Airplane mode from 11pm-7am.
Timeriffic does offer the option to toggle Bluetooth automatically, but its disabled for me, which I'm guessing is b/c I've read some things that suggest that the API for this was not released until 2.0, thus progy's don't support it.
Question I have is whether
a) the app is simply detecting the OS version and assuming the feature isn't there
b) OR is the feature is something that can be back-ported into 1.6, altho then app in question may/not still realize its there and offer the user this control.
And/or is there any other 1.6 compatible time-based scheduler that offers the ability to control Bluetooth. Given my druthers, I would only enable it for 4-5 hours/weekday, and then all weekend, the times I am likely to be in my car, where I would use my BT headset.
thanks,
Mike

[Q] Completely Disable Radio

Hello all,
I have an old Samsung Captivate laying around that I have turned into a media center remote control. There is no SIM card in the device and there likely never will be in the future. I have loaded Slim ICS (gotta love ICS!) on it and it runs great, but what I would like to do is COMPLETELY disable the cellular radio. I have no need for it and I know that having the radio active, even if it is not connected to an AT&T network, is still draining battery slightly. I want to know if there is some modem out there that I can flash that will be able to shut the cellular radio off totally, or at least give me the option to turn it off. I know this may sound dumb, but please bear with me. I basically just want to eliminate unnecessary hardware. I would also like a way to physically disable GPS if possible, but that's another topic for another day.
Thanks in advance to anyone who even takes the time to read this thread
-Steve
You can use airplane mode.
Or can't you just delete the modem?
Sent from my ICS Samsung Captivate
Here is a ROM that was the same idea.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1093696
A guy on the last page says he just uses TiBu to freeze all the MMS and Phone stuff in Sliim ICS.
Just deleting modem will probably disable the wifi. That rom listed above had the basic idea. You could just use airplane mode and have working wifi.

[Q] Turn a galaxy S3 I9305 into a ipod touch like MP3 player

I have just received a new galaxy S5 so i would like to turn my old S3 into an ipod touch like mp3 player.
The only functionality required is a long battery life, the ability to play music from internal storage, home server and internet (via wifi only, no cellular connection will be available so i would also like to remove all of the apps associated with calling, messaging etc.)
Dose anyone have any recommendations for Firmware, Kernels and Apps to help me achieve this.
I am currently running SlimKat 4.4.2 Build 4.8.
I have found a mod to disable Cell services and remove the associated apk's, I will be testing it out shortly.
What it does:
Removes unnecessary apps (Messaging.apk, Phone.apk, TelephonyProvider.apk, Mms.apk, TelocationProvider.apk)
Completely turns off cell radio on bootup
Installs the radiooptions binary in case your ROM does not include it
Prevents emergency calls and 911 calls (good for giving your kids your old phone to play with)
Unfortunatly i can't post links but the mod is on rootzwiki [MOD]Any phone, any ROM: Wi-Fi only mode (disable cell radio)
Spud2233 said:
I have just received a new galaxy S5 so i would like to turn my old S3 into an ipod touch like mp3 player.
The only functionality required is a long battery life, the ability to play music from internal storage, home server and internet (via wifi only, no cellular connection will be available so i would also like to remove all of the apps associated with calling, messaging etc.)
Dose anyone have any recommendations for Firmware, Kernels and Apps to help me achieve this.
I am currently running SlimKat 4.4.2 Build 4.8.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks very much for sharing Thank you very much for sharing
Why don't you resell it, buy an actual ipod and get some extra cash??
lovetatfitties said:
Why don't you resell it, buy an actual ipod and get some extra cash??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone was found on the side of a major highway with a cracked screen and has had the IMEI blocked, so its not really worth selling it.
I was just trying to make as much use of it as i could.
Oh, fair enough. What about Airplane mode and then activate WiFi? After that you can activate the power saving mode on CM 11. I have 0 experience with kernels for this phone so I'm doing my research atm (That's why I found this thread on the first place).
Also, right now I'm looking at the Sound Mod AC!D Audio Technology maybe you're interested in this too, I don't know how this mod affects battery life as I haven't tried yet but it is supposed to increase the sound quality by A LOT.
This is all new to me as well this is my first attempt at modding anything android (apart from installing pre-made roms, etc)
Thanks for the sound mod ill give it a test run.
Flight mode works to a point, while the phone is in Flight mode the cell radio is still active and searching for emergency signal therefore still using battery (as can be seen in battery stats as cell standby).
Because my phone is IMEI blocked and i always have my S5 with me i have no need for the emergency signal on this device so i would like to find a way to totally disable the cell radio. I just had the thought of taking the rom from a tablet device that has no cell radio to begin with and see if that works on the s3.
Flight mode works to a point, while the phone is in Flight mode the cell radio is still active and searching for emergency signal therefore still using battery (as can be seen in battery stats as cell standby).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it doesn't The only ones that did that were some Nokias. Try this, set network to GPRS/2G only, and then enable airplane mode. Remember the i9305 has a external modem due to the 4G, made by qualcomm.

Is this the best place to ask about Moto Z3 (non-play, XT1929-17)

Hello,
I'm very new to android roms
Well, I did a little bit of that back in pre-2010 times and some times with my samsung galaxy nexus, but I assume things have changed a lot since then.
I have many XT1929-17 Z3 non-play and a couple Z4 XT1380 and a few Z2F
I want to try many things,
Download all firmware from each phone, and upload firmware to a phone (I guess that's the flash device and radio firmware , not sure)
Make setup a phone to my taste, make a backup so I can continue messing around without having to go through the entire setup process again !
Next, I have the crappy verizon firmware, I would like the stock android or Z3 motorola stock firmware instead of the verizon one ! WIth all the non-erasable bloat- and spy-ware
Next, I am stuck on Android 9 forever, I would like to try android 10/11/12 especially if the moto mods and gestures are still working. Really, just android 10 would be great, the only thing I really want is darkmode notifications and settings !
After that, if there are roms for those, I would like to try lineageos, grapheneos, pixel experience and the other popular firmwares that are made for many phones.
I would like the fastboot and adb windows 10 offline drivers to remote control all aspects of the phone. (I will be using many of those phones as wifi cameras and I'm trying to reliably stop and start recording 240fps video with wifi remote control)
Oh, and I would like to try just plain linux on those phones, if that's even possible. Even if that's just cpu/ram/wifi. I'd like to use one of them as a mini server
I think that's pretty much all I want to try with these phones, do you have advice on how to do this on Moto Z3 non-play ?
Thanks !
you cannot run linux on android smartphone, except you're talking about "linux" on top of "android kernel" which still provides full hardware HAL access. the overhead is nearly the same as running android, so no point in this. but here you go.
https://docs.ubports.com/en/latest/porting/introduction

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