Quote:
Originally Posted by jra166
I purchased the cracked Android DPT-RP1 from GoodeReader. I did not have a lot of expectations or needs, I only needed one feature to truly work and work well. That is VNC Viewer so I can use it as a wireless monitor. I am a writer and only need it for typing in a word processor. Browsing the internet is a distant second feature I wanted.
Here are some thoughts.
1. Google PlayStore. I was able to register my gmail account into the PlayStore and I do have access to the PlayStore, but it only works for about a minute at a time. It automatically updates itself and the update locks up the Playstore. I have to go into the application manager and uninstall the updates. I told google not to update any apps automatically in my account settings, but it still does. So I have to go through this process anytime I want to install an app from the PlayStore. Any ideas to fix this would be appreciated.
2. Apps. Apps are hit or miss. Some work flawlessly. Others slow down the device. Others won't work at all and crash while opening. PLEASE NOTE: I WILL NOT TEST APPs FOR PEOPLE. Every time it locks up, I wonder if it will ever come back. I am keeping only the apps I NEED on this device and can't have or use on another device.
3. Keyboard. The keyboard that pops up is a chinese keyboard with English options. There is a toggle to switch back and forth and I often have to indicate that I need the English version. When I kill all apps to free up memory, it resets the keyboard and I have to go into Input options and choose the correct keyboard.
4. Dragging files from my computer was more difficult than I thought it would be. Plugging it into my computer, it did not show the typical android folders that I was used it. In fact there was nothing there, but it did have about roughly 1 gig of space so I dragged files over anyway. In the File Browser, I had to select 'UPLOADER' and this is where it put the files. Took me a while to find this, It was a toggle in the bottom left corner to choose SDCARD or UPLOADER. I can then copy and move files back and forth.
5. E-Ink Wireless Monitor. This is the reason I bought the device. As a writer, my dream machine is an e-ink word processor with a Thinkpad keyboard. So I built it with a Thinkpad x301 and DPT-RP1. VNC VIEWER is solid on the hacked DPT-RP1. With that being said, there is a delay. Part of it is the Virtual Machine delay, part of it is the e-ink delay. Combined, it is a considerable delay but not not enough to deter me from using it.
Other valuable apps that I am using that WORK!
- Button Savior (Pre-Installed) with home button, back button, page up, page down.
- Floating Toolbox - An app drawer which expands on demand. It floats and stays on top of all other apps or documents. At any moment, I can tap it and switch to another app.
- Kaspersky Battery Life - Essentially a task manager which I use to kill apps to save battery and prevent slowdown. I can exclude apps such as 'Button Savior and Floating toolbox'
- White Screen by bkalman - Basically a page refresh to eliminate ghosting. Ghosting isn't as bad as I thought it would be on the DPT-RP1, but every once in a while, especially when using VNC VIEWER, it comes in handy. Select it and the whole screen goes white, and tap anywhere on the white screen to disengage it.
- Moon Reader Pro - Is there a better app for epubs? I don't think so, and it works flawlessly.
- Lightning Browser - My favorite e-ink browser. Increased contrast setting makes a huge difference on an e-ink screen.
In Summary:
After 3 days with the device, it is much more buggy than I thought it would be and surprised by how many apps DON'T work or lock up the device. Wi-Fi does kill the battery considerably more than when the Wi-Fi is off.
The apps I needed to work, VNC VIEWER and LIGHTENING BROWSER, both work great. Again there is a delay, but I expected it because of the nature of VNC technology and eink tech. I am overall happy with my purchase. Additional thoughts and some pictures to follow at some point. |
Thanks for such a detailed response! I already had a device and was able to root it with the XDA guide. In regards to your ponts:
1. I didn't worry about installing the play store and play services on mine, and thanks for letting me know it wouldn't be particularly useful. I do have F-droid and it runs beautifully. For anything else, I've just been using apkmirror or downloading it to my phone or an emulator and copying the apk.
2. The most interesting thing I've found in regards to apps is that MS Word and Onenote run just fine. That is, until you try drawing with the pen, then they crash. As do most pen apps, and the few that do work have terrible lag, as in over a second between drawing and it showing up.
3. Not sure what's up with your keyboard as mine defaults to English. Probably something about the firmware being modified in China, where as I'm modding the US firmware.
4. I actually haven't tried enabling the USB storage while booted in android, but it is pretty easy to enable from recovery mode. As of now I've found it easy enough to just use ADB and Android Commander.
5. Have you considered trying apps like iDisplay or Splashtop XDisplay? I don't own either but they might run faster than VNC. Of course most of the delay is probably eink itself. It updates pretty fast when writing with the stylus; I wonder if someone will figure out how to make the rest of it run that quickly like they did with the Nook back in the day.
Now, I use mine mostly for writing notes that involve lots of math so I use the stylus, and would love to sync it without the crappy desktop and android clients. It's pretty stupid that sony's official DPT sync app requires android 6 while this runs 5.1, so you can't even install that app on it. What would be awesome is if someone could take janten's dpt-rp1-py and make an android GUI for it that could run on the DPT itself. Even better if it can sync directly with google drive and/or dropbox. One problem with that is it would cut storage in half since you're storing every PDF twice, but that can be solved by just syncing certain folders with the app- you put your textbooks on there with the crappy software and use the app to just sync notes that don't take up much space, and set it up to delete old notes if you want. I don't have the expertise or the time to create something like this but it would def be useful.