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Install Google Play Store, Services, Framework on Amazon Fire 7″ 2015 without Root

In order to follow the steps in this guide you will need to first make sure you have turned on USB debugging (see bottom of guide) and have installed the PC ADB drivers (troubles? see bottom of guide).

  1. Download this file containing all the necessary files needed.
  2. Extract the files from the zip file.
  3. Open the folder location you extracted the contents to.
  4. Run the file named “1-install-Play-Store.bat” and simply follow the instructions.
  5. When completed, reboot the device and you will now have all the necessary Google apps.

Enjoy!

Questions and Help?

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Remove Lock Screen Ads from Amazon Fire 7″ 2015 without Root

First you need to enable Developer Options if you haven’t already, you can do this by going to Settings > Device Options and then tap on Serial Number several times. Then once they have been enabled, go into Developer Options and enable USB debugging by checking “Enable ADB.”

Second you need to make sure you have installed ADB and PC ADB drivers on your computer, you can install them by downloading them from here. If you have problems installing those, then install this alternative set instead from here.

Once that is installed, connect your Fire to your computer and open up Command Prompt to use the following ADB commands and type in the following:

adb shell
pm hide com.amazon.kindle.kso
exit
adb reboot

That’s it. You should no longer see anymore ads on your lock screen.

I want the Galaxy S6

2 years ago, I preordered the Galaxy S4. Then the Galaxy S5 was announced and I preordered that too, especially for the camera.

Now the Galaxy S6 is coming out, of course, we all know a yearly release. I’ve owned the Galaxy S (Vibrant), the S4 and S5 and now I really want the S6.

I’m pretty sure I’ll get it, and here are the leaked specs for the phone, highlighted in bold are a big deal to me now:

  • 64-bit eight-core 14nm CPU which is 50 percent faster
  • 5.1-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display with a 577ppi density, stunning outdoor visibility, super dim mode for late night.
  • A huge 20 megapixel OIS camera sensor and a 5 megapixel f/1.8 front-facing camera with real-time HDR
  • 32 / 64 / 128GB of storage
  • 2550mAh battery
  • Built-in wireless charging
  • Four hours of usage on a 10 minute charge
  • Quick connect charging
  • Samsung Pay: works with 90 percent of existing magnetic stripe payment terminals, and NFC payment terminals
  • Metal and glass body
  • Gorilla Glass 4
  • Cat 6 LTE

Source: BGR

How to root an RCA 7″ Voyager RCT6773W22

This root method should work with similar RCA tablets and other alike tablets that were released over Black Friday 2014.

The main method to root is with a tool called Kingo Root, available to download from http://kingoapp.com. Here is a mirror for this file is ever necessary: android_root.exe

  • Step 1: Download and Install Kingo Root
  • Step 2: Turn on USB Debugging on your RCA or like tablet.
    • In order to do this you need to turn on Developer Options by going into the Settings Menu and going down to “About phone”. After that, scroll down until you find “Build number” and tap this seven times in a row until you get a dialog telling you that Developer Options have been turned on.
  • Step 3: Plug in your RCA or like tablet via USB into your computer.
    • You might need to install the USB drivers at this point for your device to be recognized. It should auto install after plugging in your RCA or like tablet.
  • Step 4: Open Kingo Root and follow the instructions to root the device.
  • Step 5: Profit! You are now rooted. If you’re not sure what to do with root or what you can, you can start by improving your battery life by installing Xposed Framework with Amplify and Greenify.

Time Warner Faster YouTube Method Blocks Google Play

Recently a post was made by a guy named Mitch on his website on how to make YouTube Faster on Time Warner Cable. What people may not realize though is that blocking these IP addresses (below) will indeed block you from downloading on Google Play if blocked network wide.

This means you will be unable to update your apps if you have an Android phone or if anyone else attempts to and is of course connected to your WiFi at that time, again this only matters if you are blocking these IP addresses network wide from your router.

Sure, you can always switch to your phones network to update apps, but why use that bandwidth (and likely slower) if you do not have to as well as if you have a bandwidth limit or even unlimited. There are probably more services by Google that might be effected by blocking these IP addresses too, but I have not come across one yet or may have not realized yet.

The IP addresses that you are asked to block are these below. I have not tested which IP address it is specifically yet (lazy) however I believe it is the first one as far as the location goes.

173.194.55.0
206.111.0.0

Just simply remove these IP addresses from your router to simply regain back the ability to download from Google Play again. If you still continue to want to block these IP addresses and get a faster YouTube; if it works for you, then just block them on your each specific computer instead.

My Next Android Phone

I normally don’t upgrade to another phone until at least 2 years later. I always purchase I phone that will last me 2 to 3 years at a time but it is hard to pass up such a phone as the Galaxy S2.

This is likely going to be a pretty big upgrade in some ways, small in others, when compared to my current Galaxy S phone, the Vibrant. I just hope that Samsung can provide us with more frequent updates on the T-Mobile version than what they never did for the Vibrant.

Why I didn’t get the Nexus S

I was really considering getting the Nexus S, even though I just bought the Samsung Vibrant back on its release date on July 15th, 2010. I usually don’t upgrade phones very often, I take very good care of them and only upgrade to phones I actually love and will use for a long time.

I really wanted the Nexus S but only prior to learning all about it and what it does not have which is really upsetting. One great point was that it was running 2.3 and that updates will come straight from Google themselves and I won’t have to deal with Samsung any longer. I have put up with them all this time, I constantly flash unofficial (or if ever, official) updates of rom updates to my Vibrant too, so it is not like I am running an outdated version of Android such as JL6-2.1. I am currently running the unofficial stock Froyo JK6-2.2.

Here are the reasons why I won’t be getting the Nexus S, and why keeping any Samsung Galaxy S phone (Vibrant in my case) is better:

  • No 720p recording — It IS a hardware limitation, it is not software. You won’t ever be getting it.
  • No Gorilla Glass — Why not have it? I take excellent care of my phones and their screens, however, mistakes happen, I love to know that I would have a great protective screen to protect me from most accidents (even if they are not mine).
  • No microSD card slot — I still have yet to exceed or need more than my 16GB + 2GB sdcard in my Vibrant, however, knowing I can always add more space and switch the sdcard is a plus with the Vibrant, the same cannot be said about the Nexus S.

Now the Nexus S also has the following over what most Galaxy S phones, including the Vibrant, do not have:

  • Front Facing Camera (FFC) — This is not a big deal to me, it would be awesome to have but it is not going to make me switch seeing as the top 3 above, concern me more.
  • NFC chip — I likely would only use this 1 time just to play with it and see how cool it is. However, not many places do this anyways plus I would likely either forget about it or just opt to not use it this way.
  • Flash — I wish prior to getting the Vibrant that it had flash, especially coming from a camera in the past that had it, but not my last camera, the G1. But seeing how great the night mode is on the Vibrant camera, and how rarely I take pictures at night, this is not a big deal even if it would be nice to have.

Froyo coming to Vibrant and Captivate mid-October

Normally I would not write on such a story that Froyo is actually finally even coming to the Vibrant but this is just one of those times where if you put all of the Samsung news, Facebook updates and official tweets together, that you just think that this is actually true and finally going to arrive for us Vibrant users on T-Mobile.

Now, before I finally get to this story that will make you further believe it, you may already know or not that 2.2 Froyo was leaked for the Captivate. However, you cannot flash this or other versions on the Vibrant, even if the Vibrant barely different than the Captivate. I recommend waiting for the official build, even if leaked before OTA over custom roms unless others have made aware that are safe to flash and no issues reported.

Before I get to the story, this is what one of the Official Samsung Twitter accounts tweeted:

T-Mobile & Samsung hear your questions about timing of Vibrant update. Look for more info on OTA next week. Thank you for your patience.

Scott Young from TalkAndroid made a post today stating that he had bumped into someone from Samsung and after a while of talking he finally asked when Froyo was coming to the Galaxy S. He stated “mid-October” for the Vibrant and Captivate. Though he pointed out that it will take a little longer for the Epic 4G and Fascinate to get Froyo because they have CDMA. On another note, 2.2 was leaked for the Captivate as I stated above if you didn’t know.

Now this is coming from me, but Samsung did promise to have 2.2 shipped out to all Galaxy S phones by the end of this year, so even if you had to wait another few weeks for you Epic 4G and Fascinate users, you won’t have to wait long as long as they fulfill their promise. I am sure they will.

Source: TalkAndroid.com

Remove Layar from Samsung Vibrant (or other devices)

I usually do not mind bloatware to begin with, and I almost never use them either anyways. But after a while, you just want a clean device after having a while to play with it. Especially a Samsung Vibrant for how great this phone is, not just the screen.

I just wanted to take the time and explain to you how you can remove Layar and other “bloatware” applications that either T-Mobile, AT&T or others provide to you with your Galaxy S phone (Vibrant, Captivate, etc) if you want them gone for good. Now you will need root to do any of this. Rooting your phone is extremely easy and safe.

There are many methods to root your phone, you can look over at the XDA forums for easy ways to do it for your device. One quick method to root is by using the One Click Lag Fix app found in the Android Market. Do not let the name fool you, and you do not need to use the lag fix to get root either. You can unroot with this app or any other app, at anytime. Though there is no reason to unless you are sending the device back to T-Mobile or your carrier.

You can remove most bloatware with Titanium Backup which is free in the Market. You could also use Root Explorer however that is not free in the Market. So if you are in this same scenario and do not want to pay for Root Explorer than this easy method will work for you. You can also back up all of these apps with Titanium Backup in case you ever decide to want to use these again and want them back.

When you are removing applications, make sure you know what exactly you are removing. I take no responsibility if you remove something you should not that could lend up to messing up your phone or bricking it.

Use Terminal Emulator if you do not already have it, if not, you can grab it from the Market. Then in Terminal you are going to type of the following:

su
rm /data/app/com.layar.apk
rm /system/app/Layar-samsung.apk

Then there you have it, you have successfully removed Layar. You can actually use this method to remove other apps as well if you are unable to uninstall them in Manage Applications in your phone or with apps such as Titanium Backup.

If you are unsure of the application name, you can use this ‘ls’ command to find it.

su
ls /data/app/
ls /system/app/

Gowalla going nowhere, fast

This will be a short post because I could rant on Gowalla, its staff and decisions all day long. Gowalla is going nowhere, fast. Here is just a brief reason as to why.

Earlier today Gowalla tweeted the following: (which are exact copies from FourSquare’s features)

More fun: you can now add notes & recommendations to spots in your trips, plus create twice as many trips as before!less than a minute ago via webGowalla
gowalla

Now, I do not care about the above features, nor will I probably ever use them. However, back on March 17th, 2010 Gowalla tweeted (and shortly later deleted) the following tweet. Which when they first tweeted this, I laughed to Michael about because 2 weeks is more like 6 months to Gowalla when it comes to anything on the Android phone. Gowalla puts their priority into the iPhone and fails hard with the Android. However, just recently, Android passed iPhone users. Will anything change though because of that? No.

Anyhow, like I said already, there is a lot I can write about Gowalla and will save that for another time. But if Gowalla wants to succeed, they need to start making such easy features more wildly available and ready right away, not months later. It took Gowalla way too long to produce a working Gowalla app, after many failed promises it finally arrived and was dreadful. The mobile site was much better than the first initial releases (before beta). Finally they have a working app for the past 2 months but it lacks many features and design issues that the iPhone clearly does not have.

12
2015 Mistical.com
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