Used Androids

[Paul L. Mohr]

Nabil will know what this is about.

Anyway, I wondered if anybody has a used Android device that I could buy from them. I have all kinds of neat stuff that I buy, but when the fun is out of it and something new and better comes out it becomes litter that I can't seem to get rid of.  So I wondered if somebody has an old Android toy that I could buy or a place they know where I can get something that I can play with and then discard after the joy fades.

I wonder how long it will be before this means something else.
"My android quit working and it did all the cooking and I haven't eaten in days as I don't have an app in my brain for cooking."

"""
public abstract Location getLastLocation (GoogleApiClient client)
Returns the best most recent location currently available.
If a location is not available, which should happen very rarely, null will be returned. The best accuracy available while respecting the location permissions will be returned.
This method provides a simplified way to get location. It is particularly well suited for applications that do not require an accurate location and that do not want to maintain extra logic for location updates.
"""

[Bailey Mader]

I have a Galaxy Tab 10.1 Wifi, Galaxy Note II (cracked screen, still works fine.), and a Galaxy S III

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[Tim-S]

I have a Galaxy Relay with a dying flash module, a dead USB controller, and a broken USB port. You are welcome to have it free. It even comes with a spare battery -- which is needed, since the only way to charge them now is with an external charger (not included).

[Paul Mohr]

I would like that and Bailey, I am interested in your stuff and sent an email to you direct but since this getting more complicated I will respond here.

I have a 19" TV computer monitor with a built in DVD player that I got because somebody  thought it was broken, but it isn't and has really good color as well as being DTV ready and 1920x1040 I think. I don't want it as I have several 50 and 60" monitor/TV setups as well as a dozen smaller flat monitors. It is free to a good or bad home. I would leave it in the hack rack, but that is starting to spread a bit and I don't want to clutter the space unless somebody either wants it or the space accepts it as a donation.

On Wed, Nov 25, 2015 at 11:42 PM, Tim-S <t.she...@gmail.com> wrote:

I have a Galaxy Relay with a dying flash module, a dead USB controller, and a broken USB port. You are welcome to have it free. It even comes with a spare battery -- which is needed, since the only way to charge them now is with an external charger (not included).

[Nabil Hanke]

As we migrate more functionality into the garage space, I'd like to build a virtual port hole through the wall that would be perfect for it.

[Don Cady]

So this is a tube TV?

Best buy will take anything under 32".

[Paul Mohr]

It is a brand new flat screen

[Paul Mohr]

Thanks Ray, that old Android was just what I needed to understand how all this stuff works.

Certainly more to learn, but that is what makes it fun.

[Paul Mohr]

For whoever might be interested,

After many hours of study and experimentation with the Android system , I can give an overview to anybody who might be interested in making an app or using the Android to "sideload" an application.

Part 1 Setting up.

1. Install eclipse and AndroidSDK and adb ( android debugger) and open a sample app from Google

2. Connect phone with computer with an otg cable and enable debugging and development

3. configure adb on Linux or iOS

4. run in eclipse ( select physical device )

5. The application is on the phone and can be used.

Part 2 Creating an app.

After reviewing various open courses from universities it seems that CS76TV from Harvard is the best and gives the clearest description of how the Android operating system works and how applications are to be used and constructed.

If you can program in Java, can troubleshoot the odd glitch here and there, it is a fairly simple process.

I suppose it wouldn't hurt to understand XML or APIs.

As part of this I looked into the history of CDMA ( code domain multiple access ) and that is an interesting setup with history back to the 1930's

Also, I don't recommend doing this on Windows as it is far more trouble to sneak around the various roadblocks that exist to maintain the walled garden.

[beernutz]

Interesting.  What roadblocks did you encounter with Windows?

[Paul Mohr]

The biggest problem is getting the adb to talk to a phone because of the usb driver. I am using Windows 10 and no driver exists for that AFAIK unless you use one provided by people who do roots and considering that the single click Android root kit that can easily be found is actually a trojan, I did not want to expose my system just to get this working. Beyond that it would likely be other problems and on Linux it just works(tm) and is automagically installed. I also do not like installing binaries without source considering that the digital world gets more hostile every day. I really doubt that Microsoft is really keen on being inter-operable with Android and it has been my experience that even if you get things working a forced update can break the development environment and cause problems with programs that are not MS certified. I have done that and it was $50K some long time ago and is probably more now.

No disrespect to Windows as it is a great machine for people who like to play solitaire or other games, as they just play.

Many people who do Android development suggested that Apple or Linux is the way to go ( even warning students off using MS as a development machine ) and it is what most tutorials use to explain the process, including those at MIT and Harvard.

So there is a lack of (trusted) step by step documentation for using Windows with Android, which is the added problem. There are also many step by step tutorials for Windows that are no doubt an invitation to have your system bricked by a binary.

Linux and iOS are more friendly development environments.

I have written device drivers and applications for Windows, but it becomes a very expensive process and the APIs tend to mutate with every new version ( requiring re-writes and re-distribution + $$).

[beernutz]

Good information.  Thank you!

[Paul Mohr]

Have done several Eclipse and Android Studio apps and  find Eclipse to be more friendly because my open source origins and linux leanings.

Have been able to do GPS location and present the information with greater accuracy than the inherent GPS request by averaging over time to get a location that is about a 1/2 meter.

Showed the app running at Maker Space on a Samsung Galaxy II and now to test on a note pad with a section that phones home to my server on the web using "GET" and responding with a node.js instance that logs to an SQL or MongoDB using the SQL in the GET or maybe a flat file database  or maybe a cookie, IDK.

Will try all and see which is most reliable/fastest/scalable/simplest to implement

Further Testing the OpenGL ES 2.0 context needed with Google "Cow Anatomy" app modified to a 3D print object and some sort of interesting model like a Valve Half Life scene or Portal or Half Life mod or blender movie scene to test graphic render speeds.

Was going to do a screen shot of the app running with the GPS coordinates, but really GEOIP is already possible and a small bit of personal ambiguity is probably best to maintain
41°35'4"N, 93°38'33"W AREA515

It seems very simple to do, but others might be frustrated by the process
30 years of programming experience and familiarity with XMl, java ,shell, and a dozen other languages might color my perception of the difficulty

Couldn't have done it without hardware to test on, so thanks very much Ray, Bailey, Nabil, and Tim

Ooh, altitude, need to add that

[Paul Mohr]

Just to finish out this topic before going on to Apple apps
Problems with Ubuntu versions of Eclipse and other software forced me back to Windows and so removed the handy USB driver that Windows installs and installed adb again and it works.
It would seem that this is not really easy, just seems that way to me.
Skills that are probably needed to deal with development of this type of project would be minimum
Windows, Python, java, bash, Eclipse, Android Studio, adb, Linux, C, gcc, maven, git, json, bson, xml,  gradle, groovy, OpenGL, OpenGL ES, matrrx math, wireshark, html5, javascript, libGDX, as well as various hardware issues, and probably numerous others,
Then it is easy :)

​A complete game running on Android that works in html5 and on iPhone

<snip>