Icarus Illumina XL 8-inch E Ink eReader with Android 4.2

[ernieh]

Originally Posted by iatheia

It's not on their website, you need to go to Settings, and then About Device or something like that. It will have a system update setting.

Not everything is about you, though. There are other issues that the device has that have nothing to do with the ones you listed.

I have been in email correspondence with them and as they said I must look for updates on the website my confusion could be excused. I will try settings thanks. Not everything about me duh, just adding a log to the fire!

[iatheia]

Well, their customer service is incompetent. I sent my device for repair since they couldn't figure out what was causing the lag from their end... All they did is wipe the device clean, reinstall the operating system and send it back. Big surprise, it still lags just as it did before. No communication from them during this process whatsoever.

I regret my decision of buying it. Would have preferred if they just kept the device and given me a refund.

[MathieuGi]

Originally Posted by 404 Not found

Hi, just to say : it seems "Docs" version 1.3.251.9 is working well on the device : it allows offline saving, editing and syncing. After trying several versions, I found that it was the only one working properly.

Am I right to guess that we may have other apps working with the same API frame ? :

Minimum Android version: Android 4.0+ (Ice Cream Sandwich, API 14)
Target Android version: Android 4.4 (KitKat, API 19)

I received today my brand new Illumina XL. As it is running Android, I was also expecting to use apps requiring Google accounts to work flawlessly.

I am in the same situation as yours : I would very much like to be able to use Google Drive.

Did you (or any of you...) have any luck or did you end up returning the device ?

Thanks for your feedback.

[404 Not found]

Originally Posted by MathieuGi

I am in the same situation as yours : I would very much like to be able to use Google Drive.

Did you (or any of you...) have any luck or did you end up returning the device ?

Hi, sorry for the delay : I managed to use Google Drive version 1.3.222.29. You can't do much with it though, there aren't many options, but I guess that's what docs for tablets looks like.. Also it can be a bit slow and buggy with docs containing more complex items such as tables... Still, you have the main formatting tools, and above all you can sync! And use offline then. My advice is to go with WPS by kingsoftOffice. It's a very complete and fast editor, and you can sign in many clouds to browse, download and save your docs, including Google drive. The one disadvantage is that it doesn't saves as Gdoc, but only as Word docx, but you can easily convert the file in your drive : 'open as docs' will not alter the formatting, for the most part. I also use GoogleKeep version 2.1.01, which works really well for a quick note, rather than Evernote which mixes up the formatting of your desktop edited notes.

[Onemack]

After 6 months of attempted use on and off, as an ereader only, I have other android devices so I was only ever interested in an 8 inch ereader.

Apart from the fact that the screen is shadowed all the time, the unit is slow and sluggish, the dictionary keeps reverting to other languages, the books are slow to load, the battery life is woeful with or without the Wifi, the google play app is severely limited, the Kindle app works fine except for the horrid shadowing of the text, there does not seem to be much wrong with this unit.
In fact it is so good that I am using my paperwhite all the time instead.

Can anyone out there in MobileRead land recommend an 8 inch ereader that actually works properly (I'll even settle for a 7 inch one), sell me a secondhand one perhaps???

John

[Dr. Drib]

Please make requests to purchase a unit in the Flea Market Forum.

Thank you for your understanding.


Don
(Moderator)

[iatheia]

They added firmware to run Google Play
http://faq.icarusreader.com/index.ph...198&artlang=en

Steps for update are somewhat convoluted, but they do work.

My main issue of the device not flipping pages correctly is, unfortunately, ever present, which is despair-inducing.

By the way, I tried flashing an operating system from various versions of Boyue, but that, unfortunately, crashes midway no matter which version I try.

[404 Not found]

Hi, updated, it's really nice to access playstore, but : I lost root access. Root checker said the device is still rooted and equipped with busybox, but Supersu wasn't in the NovaLauncher anymore.

So I downloaded Supersu from the playstore but, once installed and launched, it prompted blank boxes I couldn't read with choices like "CWM / TWRP" or "Normal". I found out it might be a problem of not up to date binaries (and here I have nooooo idea what I'm talking about), but I wasn't able to find a proper tutorial to updating, and maybe I should do it another way ? I still have adb fastboot on my computer..

Anyway I'm stuck : without rootaccess it seems can't send apps to SDcard nor edit in system folders, and with 1gb internal I'm already running out of memory... Any suggestions ? Thanks for attention

[iatheia]

Try reflashing it, but activate root before play store? Or try using SuperSu from this thread instead - https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=245888 as it might be more optimized for an eink screen?

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by 404 Not found

Hi, updated, it's really nice to access playstore, but : I lost root access. Root checker said the device is still rooted and equipped with busybox, but Supersu wasn't in the NovaLauncher anymore.

So I downloaded Supersu from the playstore but, once installed and launched, it prompted blank boxes I couldn't read with choices like "CWM / TWRP" or "Normal". I found out it might be a problem of not up to date binaries (and here I have nooooo idea what I'm talking about), but I wasn't able to find a proper tutorial to updating, and maybe I should do it another way ? I still have adb fastboot on my computer..

Anyway I'm stuck : without rootaccess it seems can't send apps to SDcard nor edit in system folders, and with 1gb internal I'm already running out of memory... Any suggestions ? Thanks for attention

Normal is what you should choose to update the binaries.

[404 Not found]

Originally Posted by iatheia

Try reflashing it, but activate root before play store? Or try using SuperSu from this thread instead - https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=245888 as it might be more optimized for an eink screen?

As to 'reflashing', I'm not sure what it means or what should be reflashed.. I've tried the 'Superuser.apk' from Toolkit6x already, same pbm as with that from the playstore :

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

Normal is what you should choose to update the binaries.

When I choose "Normal" I get what is probably an error message (it shows a blank white window I can't read..) with a single button "ok". When I press it, I'm sent back to the launcher..

The same thing happens if I choose CWM/TWRP, except that the window is bigger, and the "ok" button doesn't shut down Supersu.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by 404 Not found

As to 'reflashing', I'm not sure what it means or what should be reflashed.. I've tried the 'Superuser.apk' from Toolkit6x already, same pbm as with that from the playstore :



When I choose "Normal" I get what is probably an error message (it shows a blank white window I can't read..) with a single button "ok". When I press it, I'm sent back to the launcher..

The same thing happens if I choose CWM/TWRP, except that the window is bigger, and the "ok" button doesn't shut down Supersu.

After you update you usually need to root again. Use whatever method you used before to root, and then SuperSu should work properly or the binaries should update properly.

[404 Not found]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

After you update you usually need to root again. Use whatever method you used before to root, and then SuperSu should work properly or the binaries should update properly.

Apparently you were right : although Rootchecker would notify my device as already rooted, I used KeyRootMaster anew and it solved the problem.

Couldn't go through the former method though : using the Toolkit batch would return "adb server is out of date killing daemon started successfully" and I couldn't find any solution to that for "minimal" version of adb.

So I just pasted "Root_Master_1.3.6_Cekas_FIX.apk" from the Toolkit folder to my device and installed it. You have to insist a bit : the installer would first block it, but you can "install anyway". That made it.

Thanks again, both of you : you keep saving my life ^^

[jimrin]

Originally Posted by 404 Not found

Apparently you were right : although Rootchecker would notify my device as already rooted, I used KeyRootMaster anew and it solved the problem.

Couldn't go through the former method though : using the Toolkit batch would return "adb server is out of date killing daemon started successfully" and I couldn't find any solution to that for "minimal" version of adb.

So I just pasted "Root_Master_1.3.6_Cekas_FIX.apk" from the Toolkit folder to my device and installed it. You have to insist a bit : the installer would first block it, but you can "install anyway". That made it.

Thanks again, both of you : you keep saving my life ^^

BIG THANK YOU! I didn't have much luck with main.bat not seemingly working. I also tried your method to directly copy the apk file and try to install it but it complained that it was bypassing Android security measures, so it wouldn't let me install. Because of the poor contrast with the "Install anyway" text, I couldn't see it, but since you said you could install anyway, I tried getting the screen to refresh to try to find the option, and lo, and behold, it was there! Now I have a rooted Illumina XL!

By the way, so there is a way to change brightness of the text. Any way to change contrast? I'll post this as a separate question in case I don't see anyone commenting on lack of contrast.