Android on Kobo: "Tips and Apps"

[sambo.]

my Kobo Aura HD is on it's way! can't wait to get Android onto it! (I chose the Aura HD after reading Angor00's blog)

my main questions:
1: How's battery life under Android?

2: is it possible/advisable to flash Android to the HD's internal SD card and forgo the Kobo firmware altogether with single-boot into 'droid? does this require cracking open the case or can it be done over ADB from a command line?

this thread is AWESOME! thank you so much to all the code-gurus who've donated their time & skill on this project! i'm no code-g33k, but i'll be a keen tester very soon!

[embryo]

Unfortunately, I can only answer your questions for the MarekGibek's image (Glo and Touch), that I use.
Aura HD uses two different images (phj's and angor00's) that may behave differently.
Check the first post.

Originally Posted by sambo.

my main questions:
1: How's battery life under Android?

Comparable (Nickel is a little better), but only if you do comparable things, mainly, only read.
More playing around in Android, less battery life...

2: is it possible/advisable to flash Android to the HD's internal SD card and forgo the Kobo firmware altogether with single-boot into 'droid?

Of course you can. There are different images for single - dual booting.
Check the first post.

does this require cracking open the case or can it be done over ADB from a command line?

You have to open the case, so you can flash the internal SD card.

[sambo.]

Originally Posted by embryo

You have to open the case, so you can flash the internal SD card.

Some search-fu on the forums and it looks like I'll have me a 32gb aura in due course.

Goody!

[embryo]

Originally Posted by sambo.

Some search-fu on the forums and it looks like I'll have me a 32gb aura in due course.

Aura and AuraHD are not the same model.
There is no Android version for Aura yet.

[downeaster59]

I just received my new Kobo Aura HD today. I went through the steps of Angor's method. The rebooting and backup seem to have proceeded as expected. The backup after the second set of files were flashed took about fifteen minutes. My Aura HD sees the micros card. But... maybe my timing isn't good, but I cannot get Android to boot at all. I slide the power switch over till the white light comes on. (Sometimes even this takes a few tries). I press on the light button and release the power switch. Sometimes I hold on to both. I still boot into stock firmware. I wouldn't mind at all if the sd card automatically booted into Android. I could simply use a second card for Kobo stock if needed.

How could I check if the installation of Angor's files is correct? Or, how could I troubleshoot to see if something else is wrong? Thanks!

[downeaster59]

Well, let me ask this: are all the Aura HD images at the start of this thread dual boot? If I used one of the others, would my Aura HD just boot into Android? Dual boot isn't that important. I just want to try Android on my device. Thanks for your help.

Edit: I tried downloading Embryo's revised version of the other Aura HD image, and my antivirus program went nuts no matter what I clicked!

[embryo]

First of all, to dual boot you have to "Press and Hold" the light button and then (while holding) "Slide" the power button ON.

Originally Posted by downeaster59

Well, let me ask this: are all the Aura HD images at the start of this thread dual boot? If I used one of the others, would my Aura HD just boot into Android? Dual boot isn't that important. I just want to try Android on my device.

The Dual boot images are noted as such.
All the other are for single (Internal SD) boot.

I tried downloading Embryo's revised version of the other Aura HD image, and my antivirus program went nuts no matter what I clicked!

You have to download a .7z archive, not an .exe file.
This archive contains an .img file only.
Be careful, because you have to pass through a lot of ads (free hosting drawbacks)
You can try this more direct link.

[sambo.]

Originally Posted by embryo

Aura and AuraHD are not the same model.
There is no Android version for Aura yet.

Lucky I meant HD, as that's what I ordered

[downeaster59]

[QUOTE=embryo;2804775]First of all, to dual boot you have to "Press and Hold" the light button and then (while holding) "Slide" the power button ON.

Thanks for your reply. I have done the "press and hold" that you suggest. Do you keep holding the light button after the Aura HD starts up? I've tried different combinations but seem to have missed the magic one so far.

What I may try is to do a factory reset and start over, in case I had a bad download, and then follow Angor's instructions and try again. I keep thinking I have missed some simple step.

Sometimes when I slide the power button on, the light doesn't come on. I need to try two or three times before it does. I don't know if that's normal.

[downeaster59]

I reset and followed Angor's instructions step-by-step, but I still cannot boot into Android. I press and hold the light button before sliding the red start button over. If I release the start button too soon, the white light goes out and nothing happens. If I hold onto both buttons a little longer, the white light goes out and nothing happens. If I release the light button right away, I boot into Kobo. Then, I have problems getting the Aura HD to start at all, and end up having to do a soft reset to start it. Maybe there's something wrong with my device. I like the Aura HD for a number of reasons, but one of the two big reasons for choosing it was the possibility of this dual boot! I'd welcome any suggestions.

I'd rather not try opening up my device and flashing the internal SD, as I would prefer the dual boot. I'd like to be able to use the stock reader, too.

[peyton]

Does anyone tried to install android on Kobo Mini already ?

[lohtse]

anyone managaed to get this (dual boot) running on the touch original N905 Built in memory not micro sd version?

[downeaster59]

I finally got in to Android! Here was my problem. I was using a 32 gb microSD card. There was no unallocated space at the beginning of the card. I didn't know this was a problem. I couldn't boot with that card. I had another card, an 8 gig one. I tried that one. Oddly enough, when the image was copied over, there was about 27 megs of unallocated space at the beginning. When I put in the card and turned on my Aura HD (simply pressing the light button and then the start slider briefly) it went right in to Android. So, anyone who is having problems booting, it may not be your button technique. Check for at least 25 mb of unallocated space at the beginning of the card. This might be good to add to the OP.

Great work, Angor! And many thanks to Embryo and others on this thread!

Edit: I neglected to say why that problem arose. When I used MiniTool to work with the partitions, I used the move/resize tool to expand the main partition. I didn't realize that this tool expands the partition in both directions if there is unallocated space on both sides! Using the Expand Partition tool only increases the size of the partition in the direction you are actually dragging it!

[jayshahs]

Hi. Thanks for the detailed information. I am using a 16gig card and have followed your instructions, allocating most of the unallocated space to FAT32 (but leaving about 100mb after reading comment above).

The system keeps on restarting on the 'System Startet' screen however, flashing black and white after a few seconds. The image I am using is [MarekGibek's]+++ dualboot version.

Any advice? thanks

[embryo]

Originally Posted by jayshahs

Hi. Thanks for the detailed information. I am using a 16gig card and have followed your instructions, allocating most of the unallocated space to FAT32 (but leaving about 100mb after reading comment above).

The system keeps on restarting on the 'System Startet' screen however, flashing black and white after a few seconds. The image I am using is [MarekGibek's]+++ dualboot version.

Any advice? thanks

If you already applied the patches for dual booting Glo (fix-udev-tgz.zip and dualboot-android-glo-touch.zip), you can try to just flash the image on the external SD and try to boot.

If it boots OK, then you can try to resize the partitions.

With MiniTool, use "Move/Resize" to drag and move the Ext4 partitions to the end of the unallocated space.
Then, as downeaster59 said, use the "Extend" action on the fat32 partition, and drag the slider all the way to the right.
Apply and good luck ...