PRS-T1 Disabling wifi standby and installing market apps

[cassull]

I recently bought and rooted a Sony PRS-T1. I followed the directions provided in the wiki and installed the Gingerbread market app. However, since I plan on using the ereader to read fanfiction, I want the wifi to be constantly on and not go into standby. Does anyone know how to disable the wifi standby?

Also, I'm not sure if this is normal, but I attempted to download some apps from the Market and saw that most of the apps that was available on my phone don't show up on the search results. For instance, I tried to download Dolphin Mini and I couldn't find it on the market. Is this normal? Will I have to look for apps via my computer for their apk files?

[bla]

Go to page 2 of the main screen .. tap on "wireless network settings" there is a check box for wi-fi standby

Please be aware that prolonged use of Wi-FI will eat your battery, I understand that you can operate the device while plugged into the wall charger ??? if true you may want to consider this if you plan to use the device on-line

[bla]

Sorry should have said tap on SETTINGS on page 2 first....

[delphin]

Originally Posted by cassull

. . . Also, I'm not sure if this is normal, but I attempted to download some apps from the Market and saw that most of the apps that was available on my phone don't show up on the search results. For instance, I tried to download Dolphin Mini and I couldn't find it on the market. Is this normal? Will I have to look for apps via my computer for their apk files?

Yes, this is normal for the Android Market. All apps on the market are supposed to be flagged as to device compatibility, and when you have a device which has only been recently hacked into the market many apps will not show up as being compatible with it's profile and will not be shown by the Market.

This was also true of the early rooted Nook Tablets.

There are a couple ways to address this -

One is to hack the devices profile so that it reports bogus information back to the Google Android Market server.

The other way to get the apps onto the Sony is to get a downloaded copy of the APK file as you mentioned and just sideload it from an SD card.

If you already have a phone or tablet that does see the apps you want in the market, you can just download and install them on that other device, then copy the APK file that is downloaded. Unfortunately, the Android Market app on most devices will delete the installer APK for an App after installation, but you can get around this by using an application like ES File Explorer to back up the Apps APK file to SD Card, and then copy it over from there to the other devices SD card using your PC or Laptop.

Another handy source of APK files for devices that don't have Google Market access is

http://www.freewarelovers.com/android

(though the files there are suposidly scanned for viruses, the normal cautions about APK files from non-market sites apply)

Be aware however that sometimes when the Market doesn't let you see an App, it's because there REALLY IS SOME KIND OF COMPATIBILITY ISSUE, so even if you get the APK file it may not install.

This is particularly true for the PRS-T1 compared to some other more generic Android devices because it has a number of features and limitations which are unique -

- Monochrome Screen with VERY, VERY, VERY SLOOOOOW update capability.

- Fairly low powered single core processor.

- Only 256Megs of Ram

- Unique buttons and Optical Multitouch Touchpad-

- No GPS, Gyroscope, Compass, or other Orientation Sensors.

- VERY limited internal app storage (only a few Megabytes)

That last limitation (only a few Megs of app storage being available) is one of the biggest issues, and the normal way of getting around it in Android 2.2 by moving the apps data to SD is broken on the PRS-T1.

There is an alternate fix that will work, which is Link2SD, but it's a bit more complicated to get working because you have to re-partition your external SD Card to have and ext2, ext3 or ext4 Linux partion after the normal FAT32 partition.

If you can deal with the above limitations, many simple apps will at least run (with some performance glitches due to the eInk screen) but others just flicker uselessly or crash due to an inability to adapt to the eInk screens slow update capability.

On the positive side, although the Sony PRS-T1 may be a bit limited compared to other higher end Android devices, it is probably the most capable eInk Android device.

Unlike the Nook for example, the Sony PRS-T1 does at least have Sound Capability and a reasonably good officially supported web browser.

So I hope that we will see a better rooted version of Android for the PRS-T1 in the future, as well as more apps that are tweaked to run well on an eInk device.

[multiprose]

my device goes on standby regardless of the box being tick or untick. hope you have better luck.