ProjectXFire.com

Still Around

Russ — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:44:26 +0000

Yes, I am still around, but been busy last few weeks with work kicking into high gear. I plan on getting something out in the next week or so. Well, I will try.

Lot has happened this month… Apple released iTextbooks, or whatever they are calling it, CES happened (though nothing really jumped out at me) and Amazon pushed out another update to the Kindle Fire (which means I am not sure the root method I have posted still works).

Stay tuned.

Goodbye 2011 – Hello 2012

Russ — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 01:27:29 +0000

Root the Kindle Fire How-To Updated

Russ — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 22:42:13 +0000

Got the how-to updated for post 6.2.

Head on over there and check it out.

Quick Update

Russ — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 19:26:47 +0000

Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays to all!

Just a quick update. Installed Liberty 3 ROM on my Droid X, and loving it! Except for a random reboot that I need to figure out…

Amazon pushed out an update to the Kindle Fire which breaks the root method I have posted. The good thing is I have a brand new Kindle Fire (my brother’s) to play around with! Need to root it and get the Google Apps setup, so updates coming soon!

Check back soon… hopefully int he next day or so… depending on how my hands treat me…

ADW EX Launcher on the Kindle Fire

Russ — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 23:05:35 +0000

So I was using the GO Launcher, but when ADW EX went on sale for the 10 billion app downloads, I had to get it! $0.10 was a steal! See the screens below:

The widgets I have are 2x Weather Channel widgets, 4x from APPY Geek, and the Beautiful Widgets super clock widget. There is also the Calendar widget, but I am having issues getting it come up with the Agenda view. For references, the icons on the dock are “Contacts”, “GMail”, “App Drawer”, “Kindle Launcher” (default Kindle Fire launcher), “Browser”.

I am loving ADW over GO Launcher. Seems to be smoother and has a lot more options to it.

Android Market Recognizing the Kindle Fire

Russ — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 19:14:13 +0000

So I noticed something interesting the other day when I was browsing the Android Market from the web. The market is recognizing the Kindle Fire and displaying it proudly:I wonder how Amazon feels about this? Though, since it is so easy to root the Kindle Fire (see the Root the Kindle Fire page), I don’t think Amazon cares all to much, though I am sure they prefer if you use their market.

Kindle Fire Updated

Russ — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 18:41:51 +0000

Amazon pushed out an update to the Kindle Fire a few days ago. Bad news, it breaks root. Good news gaining root is still easy and it doesn’t modify any of the Google Apps files added to the system\app\ directory.

Rooting the Kindle Fire

Russ — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 20:06:21 +0000

So, I was able to get a majority of the Google Apps going by simply finding the APKs from the web or off my DroidX, transferring the APK to the Kindle Fire and installing it. This doesn’t work for getting the Market or the Google Calendar and Contact sync working. To get these working you will have to root the Kindle Fire, at least temporarily, to gain access to the /system/app directory on the Kindle Fire.

Head on over to Root the Kindle Fire page. You will need to have the Android SDK installed first, but thankfully that is pretty easy. Head over to Install Android SDK page.

More to come on getting the Market and Calendar/Contact sync going.

Much Progress Made on the Kindle Fire

Russ — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 09:11:45 +0000

More stuff later… sleep!

Kindle Fire

Russ — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 21:13:15 +0000

So, I got my Kindle Fire on the 15th and have been having fun with it ever since!

Used it so far to stream some videos using Amazon Prime, play Angry Birds (it is cheating on a larger screen, I swear!) and generally poking around to see what I can do with it.

After playing around for a little bit, I got sideloading apps working. Sideloading is the term that is used to describe installing third party applications that are not available on the Amazon App Store. Thankfully, Amazon made it pretty easy to do!

Sideloading How-To

Find the APK for the app you want to install on your Fire. There are a couple of different ways to do this. You can use ASTRO File Manager to backup the app from your phone or use Titanium Backup (if you are rooted) to do the same thing. I used Titanium as I am rooted and had a fresh backup to work from and it was simple to transfer the APK to my desktop so I could drag it over to my Kindle Fire.
Get the Kindle Fire ready. To do this access the menu (by tapping on the upper right corner of the screen). This brings up your menu. Select “More” and browse down to “Device”. Tap to enable “Allow Installation of Applications from Unknown Sources”. Now browse the Amazon App Store for a File Manager. I used ES File Manager.
Now transfer your APK to your Fire (I just placed it in the root of the Kindle Fire so I could find it easy). Just plug it into your computer and it appears as Removable Storage. After transferring disconnect the Kindle Fire. Use ES File Manager to browse to the APK file and tap to install.

You are good to go now! No rooting needed for a majority of the apps out there. I suggest your first app to sideload is Dropbox so you can easily transfer APKs to your Kindle Fire.

Is the Kindle Fire an iPad killer? Or Galaxy Tab killer? No. I wouldn’t call the Kindle Fire a tablet, but a more powerful eReader that just happens to be running a stripped down version of Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

A note: the Kindle Fire does not come with the Google Services Framework. So getting Google Apps to run is a little bit trickier. I will post something later on that. So far I have GMail running, but it looks like I will have to root to get some of the other Google Apps to work.

More to come!