Hisense A5

[Question Mark]

Originally Posted by kandwo

Can I safely remove all the Chinese programs? Will this somehow destabilize the phone or cause any problems with system updates? I also want to completely disable/remove the Vision thing that wants to appear on a swipe to the left from the main screen.

I don't believe that you can disable or uninstall Vision as it seems to be their OS. However, most of the other apps which it came with such as their app store, I either uninstalled or disabled. I don't think you are able to uninstall or disable essential apps unless you root your device.

My advice would be not to load it up with too much essential stuff yet. Then try disabling or uninstalling as much as you like or are able to do, a couple of apps at a time. If it starts acting funny, you'll know which apps likely caused the problem. A factory reset could then bring any uninstalled apps back. You could re-enable any disabled apps. You would then know which apps not to delete and you wouldn't have lost too much information with your factory reset.

Originally Posted by kandwo

What apps have you installed in the stead of the built-in ones? I would want to use as much open source software as possible - if it's available on f-droid it's a huge plus. What keyboard, caller, etc, work well with the e-ink screen? I don't quite trust the inbuilt stuff, and want to deactivate it in as far as that is possible.

I've got a bunch of ereading apps. My primary one is Moon+ Reader Pro. Have a variety of dictionary apps, mainly for Chinese and Japanese. I use GBoard for my keyboard and Google's TTS engine for text-to-speech. I like the @Voicealoud app when I am having the phone do my reading for me. I use OsmAnd and Here We Go for maps. F-Droid and the Aurora Store to get apps. I use a variety of browsers. I disabled the native browser after installing the ones I wanted (Firefox, Brave, Opera...). I use FX for file management. That's about it.

[kandwo]

Originally Posted by Question Mark

I don't believe that you can disable or uninstall Vision as it seems to be their OS. However, most of the other apps which it came with such as their app store, I either uninstalled or disabled. I don't think you are able to uninstall or disable essential apps unless you root your device.

My advice would be not to load it up with too much essential stuff yet. Then try disabling or uninstalling as much as you like or are able to do, a couple of apps at a time. If it starts acting funny, you'll know which apps likely caused the problem. A factory reset could then bring any uninstalled apps back. You could re-enable any disabled apps. You would then know which apps not to delete and you wouldn't have lost too much information with your factory reset.



I've got a bunch of ereading apps. My primary one is Moon+ Reader Pro. Have a variety of dictionary apps, mainly for Chinese and Japanese. I use GBoard for my keyboard and Google's TTS engine for text-to-speech. I like the @Voicealoud app when I am having the phone do my reading for me. I use OsmAnd and Here We Go for maps. F-Droid and the Aurora Store to get apps. I use a variety of browsers. I disabled the native browser after installing the ones I wanted (Firefox, Brave, Opera...). I use FX for file management. That's about it.

Thank you for the recommendations!

I've now managed to get moon reader on there, and goldendict 2.3, which seems to be a modified pro version - it has a much improved design! The problem I have with moon reader is that it doesn't look good on e-ink. I've changed the font colour to black and the background to white, but it still seems a bit grainy and out of focus. How have you configured it to look good? Or are you content with the standard look?

Overall, happy with the device so far. It seems even faster than my Nova 3. Opening aard2 and goldendict from within a reader and getting back to the text is really snappy.

I was a bit worried about the lower PPI, but it looks really good; it doesn't look any worse than my Kindle or Nova 3.

Listening to music is a joy. Drives my headphones really loud and clear - fantastic sound through Spotify! I don't really know what the hifi option does and if that's the reason for it, but I'm happy with the sound.

I haven't yet tried using it as a phone, but I guess I'll try some calls later. I've heard some worrying reports about SMS not being delivered. Hopefully, that's not going to be a problem.

[kandwo]

Is there an option to use custom icons on the A5 Pro? The BW screen obviously doesn't show colour, so I have installed Frost from F-droid, but I see no option in the settings to change icons...

[tarlcab]

I'm sure you can install a launcher with themes like most other Android tablets.

[jsp56]

Hi,

I just finally pushed the boat out and bought a Hisense A5. Crossing my fingers now that it will work for what I need it to do. It arrives in a few days. I bought it from Cect with the international operating system.

Jen

[Anghirrim]

Originally Posted by jsp56

Hi,

I just finally pushed the boat out and bought a Hisense A5. Crossing my fingers now that it will work for what I need it to do. It arrives in a few days. I bought it from Cect with the international operating system.

Jen

Take care on what you do with it then.

People who purchased the stock/regular firmware version are facing issues recently in rooting it (cf XDA thread).

The International firmware version comes with no possibility to update the phone anyway, so you should be all good. But be careful if one day you want to update it manually using the TF Card method.

[jsp56]

Thanks! I don't think I want to do anything complicated. I've got to the point where I can't buy any non-LED mobile phone any more except by switching to e-ink, so I've decided to give it a go. If it only makes calls and sends texts and never does anything else I will be perfectly happy.

[kandwo]

Originally Posted by jsp56

Thanks! I don't think I want to do anything complicated. I've got to the point where I can't buy any non-LED mobile phone any more except by switching to e-ink, so I've decided to give it a go. If it only makes calls and sends texts and never does anything else I will be perfectly happy.

I have the A5 Pro and it's great. I can't use it as my main phone, however, because it drops SMS and calls at random, so I can't rely on it. Calling works fine, though.

I have heard of other people having similar problems with the A5. Make sure to test it out before you rely on it for messages.

Telegram works fine, though. There I seem to get notified of all messages.

[jsp56]

Thanks, I will make sure to test it.

[jsp56]

The phone seems to take quite a while to come. I actually didn't realise it was being posted from China. It was posted on the 3rd and is now still in China. Quite exciting really, to think of it coming all that way.

[jsp56]

Hi,

My phone has arrived now and I wondered if I could ask a question?

I just wondered if turning the light to "off" actually means that it is completely off? I get headaches from LED lights and I turned the light off on the phone, but could still feel that something in the screen was affecting me. I just wondered if anyone might know?

Thanks!

[kandwo]

Originally Posted by jsp56

Hi,

My phone has arrived now and I wondered if I could ask a question?

I just wondered if turning the light to "off" actually means that it is completely off? I get headaches from LED lights and I turned the light off on the phone, but could still feel that something in the screen was affecting me. I just wondered if anyone might know?

Thanks!

Test it in a completely dark room? My Kindle Paperwhite 3 still has the frontlight on when on 0.

I just tested my A5 Pro and it's completely off. It uses the default software, though. I know there was a bug with the frontlight turning on during calls (this is a setting that can be turned off, but I think it was bugged in the international version). I have understood the international version to be a bit buggy, but make sure to test it out.

[jsp56]

Thanks, that's really good to know. I'll test it with my camera on a long exposure in the dark. That should tell me, without me having to look at it. :-)

[kandwo]

If anyone else experiences problems with not receiving text messages, see the solution here: https://old.reddit.com/r/eink/commen...receiving_sms/.

I can now finally start using the A5 Pro as my main phone!

[armanleftarm]

Originally Posted by kconan

I wanted to thank Joscha from chinahandys for the tutorial to root and install google playstore.

https://youtu.be/T9CWR7SwgTM

https://www.chinahandys.net/hisense-...guide-english/

It's very easy to follow. Now my A5 is more useful, for free.

I hope such a guide comes out for the A7.