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What the point of having two seperate devices. I really want to get the new Google TV set box and I've been wanting to be able to stream from my tablet and phone directly to the TV for a while now. Why not just either add Google TV to the q or add the q functions to Google TV. Now I'm going to have to get the Sony Google TV set box and nexus q.
Also, side questions. Does anyone know if you can stream movies on the phone/tablet to the nexus q if its stored on the device and not Google play?
Google is going after Sonos it seems. However, the Q is strange (requires a Android phone/tablet to control it) and over priced. I really don't see a huge market for it unless they drop the price by a few hundred dollars.
Aye, for that much cash, I'd have thought it'd have more GoogleTV like features, unless this is just a Trojan Horse into the living room and those things can be added later (though without an hdmi input, that'll be interesting to see how).
No, I admit, I just don't 'get it' as a device when a GTv will do the same stuff, plus more, just without the amp. There's something missing in all this it feels like.
That's kinda what I meant, but didn't say. $300 to just stream video and music from play store is kinda stupid. $300 for Google TV that can do it= awesome
$300
Running on Galaxy Nexus hardware.
Only streams YouTube, Google Play Videos/Music.
Runs 'Android' but seems to have no real use beyond the line immediately above this one.
According to the data we have so far (that above), the Nexus Q seems to me to be a failure of Google to have any real vision if they intend to get into our living rooms. Honestly? No applications, no Netflix, nothing. Just YouTube and Google Play music/videos? That's pathetic. For $300? That's not just pathetic, that's an insult.
That is, unless Google is hiding more functionality in their sleeve. Which, if they have any intelligence at all (which we know they do), they most certainly haven't shown everything they intend to do with it yet. Although I could be wrong...give me this great looking device running on solid hardware and the full functionality of Android on my TV with my phone/tablet as a remote? Yeah, I'll spend $300 on it. Leave it as displayed so far? No thanks.
No Hulu, no Netflix, no local steaming. No buyers.
The reason for the price being $299 is due to it being 100% made in the US.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Worth it
I think it is pretty neat personally. I own a sony google TV and wish it had some of these features, but this thing is so king for parties. I also really like the fact that it is American made. Whenever you are talking about companies like Apple getting rich off of worker suicides at foxconn.
2Fast 2Low Customs said:
I think it is pretty neat personally. I own a sony google TV and wish it had some of these features, but this thing is so king for parties. I also really like the fact that it is American made. Whenever you are talking about companies like Apple getting rich off of worker suicides at foxconn.
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You sir are so right. Koush said on Google+ last night he has no use for it but will buy it solely because its made in America and gift it to someone. I commend Google for this move and will buy one too. Everyone claims to want their **** manufactured here, well prove it if so and step up and buy one, I will. That price designed, made and assembled here to me is worth it for the features it boasts.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
sirius b said:
You sir are so right. Koush said on Google+ last night he has no use for it but will buy it solely because its made in America and gift it to someone. I commend Google for this move and will buy one too. Everyone claims to want their **** manufactured here, well prove it if so and step up and buy one, I will. That price designed, made and assembled here to me is worth it for the features it boasts.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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kudos for making the device here. now all they need to do is make it a device I would want in the first place.
if the thing turns out to be less locked-down and more hackable than the google tv products, then I can see some serious potential.
94SupraTT said:
No Hulu, no Netflix, no local steaming. No buyers.
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Tell that to Sonos. Unfortunately, this is a high end market and I'm not sure how it can work given it requires a Android ecosystem.
I agree with what everyone else has said. It'd be a hard sell to make since it doesn't (as of now) have any support for third parties such as Netflix and Pandora. However, Google has encouraged "hacking" the device... so maybe they will leave such capabilities to people such as XDA devs to really put this device to use? Kind of a stretch, but it could add utility to the device without Google having to officially sign on board with third parties?
I appreciate this is manufactured here in the US but boy oh boy.
I would really like to see my Logitech Revue get revamped, even though I only paid $120 for it at Best Buy to get that and the camera I would like to see it get some updates in features. (cough cough SKYPE support)
This thing though, I could see it being nice to have on your desk or something? I don't get the connecting it to a TV thing unless you plan on using a home theater system.
We'll wait and see.
but that thing in the video where all the people are in the kitchen talking and everyones picking songs for the Nexus Q to play, that would just be irritating. No don't touch it, you can look at it. Don't change my song please. Leave it the fck alone.
I bet it's going to be a hacker's delight. If it was priced a little more sensibly, I would have bought it.
What if this turns into the next generation GoogleTV by developers? Imagine running latest version of CM on your TV? Now, that $300 isn't looking so bad after all.
You better belive some developers are drooling over this great hardware. Cyanogen said so himself on G+. Let's wait and see......
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
So what I could gather from the press conference is that it's a galaxy nexus without the screen, cell capability, storage space... but a proper hdmi output and usb...
maybe if it could be hacked to run an operating system off a thumb drive? I love Google tv but the hardware is so slow and low on memory... I dunno, but the "to make it open to general hackability" statement does show promise.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
I am looking for a replacement to the mad catz m.o.j.o console i had a refund on it but i want open android with superb graphics really,but the thing is i don't want anything too expensive or too cheap either,the problem is i don't know what models are best,or more importantly for this section of the forum what i can do in relation to getting a fire tv gaming and web browsing etc?Can i play games can more importantly can i sideload and also can i sideload downloaded stuff? Or possibly flash a rom on it?
PHYSC-1 said:
I am looking for a replacement to the mad catz m.o.j.o console i had a refund on it but i want open android with superb graphics really,but the thing is i don't want anything too expensive or too cheap either,the problem is i don't know what models are best,or more importantly for this section of the forum what i can do in relation to getting a fire tv gaming and web browsing etc?Can i play games can more importantly can i sideload and also can i sideload downloaded stuff? Or possibly flash a rom on it?
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Dont take this the wrong way, but to get everythihg you want you will need to custom build a HTPC with a computer. These android boxes are good and most are cheap, but they do have limitations and will not meeet all your expectations.
IMO, the FTV is the best box on the market in the under $150 category. If you are willing to comprimise, it should meet most of you expectations. All you questions are answered in this forum, so read up or use search.
byrdcfmma said:
Dont take this the wrong way, but to get everythihg you want you will need to custom build a HTPC with a computer. These android boxes are good and most are cheap, but they do have limitations and will not meeet all your expectations.
IMO, the FTV is the best box on the market in the under $150 category. If you are willing to comprimise, it should meet most of you expectations. All you questions are answered in this forum, so read up or use search.
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Had enough of pc's i am a computer repair technician,i want it for the lower power consumption but with nearing or par with console level graphics.Pc's are too expensive to run they are rubbish in small form factors they tend to burn out on the bridge on the board, or they come with cheap [email protected] psu's that cost a bomb for good one's in small form factor.If there's one thing i learned quickly it was never buy small form factor pc's if you want it to last or not to overheat.
But on the other hand android tv box's don't push the same high level temps because they are only passively cooled quite often as apposed to actively cooled,besides if i really want i'll cooling mod it like my k-r42 with 80mm fan and shimmed.
But basically i want an android unit that has gaming power beyond a mali400 and closing in on if not better than a snapdragon 8xx chip.I've looked at the huwaei tron but it's yet again a 4.2x android system with no guarentee my tv will be supported over hdmi properly i learned that from my mad catz m.o.j.o not outputting 1080p on my 1080p tv.So i may just hang on until k1 touches down in shops but it looks like they are not in a hurry although there is the mipad rumor,i think i'll be waiting until 2015 at this rate before a god unit comes out that has kitkat on it,i was wondering if any rockchip 8 core cpu's are out in tv box form yet,and if they have a heightened gpu to the mali 400? And was also wondering where they fit in terms of graphical power?
Firetv is anything but open. IMO android boxes are all underpowered and frustratingly issue laden. Pity as I too am wanting to buy something good... I bought a s89 tronsmart and it's not as good as I'd hoped. I was interested in the MOJO... Why did you return it, it's a lot more open than Amazon firetv surely?
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk
I've bought it as replacement for raspberry pi and was disappointed. Yes Fire TV build perfectly and has a good hardware. But software is a crap and no way for root by now, only hopes and blocking of update server. It's not clear for now what improvements OTA brings and if root will be issued. If you looking for a good device that works and not for fun reverse engineering hours. Try to find alternative.
May be once it will be a good choice but not now, unfortunately.
Sent from my LG-G2 using XDA Free mobile app
Rumored Android TV BOX... http://pulse.me/s/1jrW6M
God I hope that one IS true and GREAT!
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
I was 100% happy with my ouya, with stock OS, and then even better with CM11. performance was never a problem.
really the only reason I went for firetv was that I watch prime video A LOT. and between flash-plugin + pick-your-favorite-browser being way-EOL and a bit buggy, and the fact that it took literally 6-8 clicks/actions to go to the next episode of a show, vs 1 (or at most 2) clicks/actions on firetv (yeah first-world problems...)
ouya sales on amazon for $60 would still be worth it (esp they want like 50 bucks for just an extra controller) but at the 100 point might as well firetv or something else.
but honestly it all comes down to what do you want to do with it. oh wait I don't have to re-ramble all this...
http://www.xbmchub.com/forums/threads/21722-Fire-TV-vs-Ouya?p=185275&viewfull=1#post185275
Anyone who bought Amazon-anything devices and expect openness is definitely going the wrong path. Amazon has some great devices but it has a pretty strict walled garden environment (which, granted, is kind of pretty) where they are expected to stay. Amazon is somewhat similar if not worse than Apple in this regard.
Amazon's latest devices such as the Fire HDX and the Fire TV are amazing devices on their own right, but if you are not getting them because of what they can do out of the box but instead of what they 'should be able to do' and expect to hack/mod them, you are in for a disappointment. This is what differentiate them to Google's devices, where it can be a gamble whether a product can be 10x better or 10x worse in the few months following its release (see: Google TV vs. Chromecast).
With Amazon devices it's extremely simple. You go to the product page and look at what it's offering. If you're wowed by those, then get it, if you think that 'it has potential', then don't get it.
Newcron said:
Anyone who bought Amazon-anything devices and expect openness is definitely going the wrong path. Amazon has some great devices but it has a pretty strict walled garden environment (which, granted, is kind of pretty) where they are expected to stay. Amazon is somewhat similar if not worse than Apple in this regard.
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Yes and no - I bought this box because I wanted one device that did both amazon video and Netflix. Met expectations there.
But I also wanted to be able to use it as a front-end for music stored on my NAS. This is why I was never interested in Roku, might've been interested in the Apple product but don't remember it having Prime support, and kept using my Western Digital Live Plus for as long as I did - the access to files inside the walls is important to me.
By day 2, I had enabled ADB and sideloaded XBMC. Yes, I don't have root, but I have Amazon, Netflix and local files all in one place, which I like a lot.
From what I've seen, on the Fire tablets amazon doesn't block sideloaded apps, or I wouldn't have bought this device. It makes a decent HTPC device for my purposes, though, and is open enough for me. Of course I'd prefer root, but in this instance, not if having root broke the Amazon Video stuff.
My biggest complaint so far is that amazon doesn't give us a preference setting for how much bandwidth the box should allocate to itself. So I needed to do that with my firewall instead.
I'll be interested to see if Amazon makes Prime available for the rumored Google TV box. My guess is they will not. But if they do, and I'm within my return window when the device is fully announced...
Prime Music is finally here, I wonder if an update for the Fire Tv is near? I can't seem to find any music option on my Fire Tv, I guess my update block must be working...hopefully some other way to get access without unblocking.
I put my money on an update coming June 18th. That's the day Amazon is launching their smartphone. I'd imagine the Fire TV will interact with the phone in some way, so the Fire TV will need to be updated. We'll probably get Prime Music, CloudPlayer, and FreeTime along with smartphone interaction capabilities all at the same time.
fireTVnews.com said:
I put my money on an update coming June 18th. That's the day Amazon is launching their smartphone. I'd imagine the Fire TV will interact with the phone in some way, so the Fire TV will need to be updated. We'll probably get Prime Music, CloudPlayer, and FreeTime along with smartphone interaction capabilities all at the same time.
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Amazon is making a smartphone? My iPhone 5 is aging rapidly and I've more or less decided to ditch iOS next round...maybe I'll have a looksee at their new product.
deanemj said:
Amazon is making a smartphone? My iPhone 5 is aging rapidly and I've more or less decided to ditch iOS next round...maybe I'll have a looksee at their new product.
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A better bet would be the M8 or Nexus 5(6 maybe?). Amazon smartphone will have a pretty limited market where as the others will have Google Play store and Amazon App store if you want.
CiDhed said:
A better bet would be the M8 or Nexus 5(6 maybe?). Amazon smartphone will have a pretty limited market where as the others will have Google Play store and Amazon App store if you want.
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I appreciate the tip! I've grown incredibly tired of Apple's bull**** and the iTunes App Store's insane restrictive policies. I want a phone that isn't locked down like the stock iOS is. It's frustrating as hell.
deanemj said:
I appreciate the tip! I've grown incredibly tired of Apple's bull**** and the iTunes App Store's insane restrictive policies. I want a phone that isn't locked down like the stock iOS is. It's frustrating as hell.
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Kindles are pretty locked down compared to standard Android phones. Go Nexus or someone with factory bootloader unlock support for the best experience. The M8 is a great stepping stone into the world of Android phones for people coming from the iPhone. Like I said, you can use Amazon Music, Amazon App Store, Google Music, Google Play Store and just about everything other than Amazon Prime Video on a standard Android phone.
It looks like iOS is making some much needed improvements in the next release. Hopefully they get it right, competition is great for us.
CiDhed said:
A better bet would be the M8 or Nexus 5(6 maybe?). Amazon smartphone will have a pretty limited market where as the others will have Google Play store and Amazon App store if you want.
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deanemj said:
I appreciate the tip! I've grown incredibly tired of Apple's bull**** and the iTunes App Store's insane restrictive policies. I want a phone that isn't locked down like the stock iOS is. It's frustrating as hell.
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CiDhed said:
Kindles are pretty locked down compared to standard Android phones. Go Nexus or someone with factory bootloader unlock support for the best experience. The M8 is a great stepping stone into the world of Android phones for people coming from the iPhone. Like I said, you can use Amazon Music, Amazon App Store, Google Music, Google Play Store and just about everything other than Amazon Prime Video on a standard Android phone.
It looks like iOS is making some much needed improvements in the next release. Hopefully they get it right, competition is great for us.
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Perhaps creating a new thread on phones or pm'ing each other might be a better option than derailing this one? Nothing personal, just seems to be happening a lot around here.
To stay on topic, has anyone had any luck with getting prime music to work on the fire tv? I was able to sideload and update the app, but it doesn't seem to be working well...
I am a very early adopter of the Fire TV. One issue with set top boxes that really sticks in MY CRAW is how they can market a device for gaming then provide no storage to keep them? At its release this was suppose to be added to Fire TV and unless I'm missing something still no support?
Fire TV is not alone Android TV devices , Madcatz Mojo, have slots for expansion then provide a OS that does not support it? I just can't see the Logic!!!! You ask me to buy games? Where am I suppose to put them do a uninstall daily or weekly? You should not have to modify the device?
Am I the only one who is missing something here? Can anyone explain the thought process behind this? There has to be a reason I JUST DONT SEE IT?
My fire TV sits in the closet
I agree. Terrible device. Just send it to me.
artkrime said:
I agree. Terrible device. Just send it to me.
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:laugh: Please dont get me wrong I am not saying Fire TV is bad ! Just want the ability to store my games local?
wastate2014 said:
:laugh: Please dont get me wrong I am not saying Fire TV is bad ! Just want the ability to store my games local?
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I didn't buy 2 of these boxes for gaming. But, yes I think you have a VERY legitimate gripe. The only reason I bring it up is the other nite I was watching the news and saw people were suing Apple over the new iPhone.
I didn't follow-up on it & 'really only just thought about it when I read your post, but they're basically mad because Apple promises x amount of storage without making it clear that the OS takes up a significant amount. I don't have a iPhone but I'll bet the provider has some immovable bloatware as well. THEN their only solution for you is to upgrade for a substantial fee or pay for cloud storage.
I've pointed out it seems like a crime to have such little space to start then take another 30% or so away from the user. (Yes that's almost exactly how I put it) Now we may find out if it IS a crime.
But I bought this to root it and attach external storage. To be honest, even if it came with double the advertised 8gb, it still wouldn't make a difference to me.
The current FireTV is unrootable though. So there iż no way to extend storage. I am slowly thinking of moving to Nexus Player - it's at least open although it has an awful remote.
Magnesus said:
The current FireTV is unrootable though. So there iż no way to extend storage. I am slowly thinking of moving to Nexus Player - it's at least open although it has an awful remote.
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I would wait for Razer's $99.00 upcoming Forge TV MUCH nicer specs same price:good:. Still don't know if it will support storage?
I know most on this forum have no issues modding a device which I am all for. Should it not come standard without the need to mod? Amazon needs to step up to the plate!
Nexus has no wired network unless I'm wrong. At the price they are I also would like to argue over storage but for now I just made my box a 1 trick pony Xbmc and some streamed TV etc and use something else for the rest. I can't buy any games or videos there's no room for paid apps
I recently bought the Oddworld: Stranger game for my AFTV. While my system is rooted, I am not currently using the best method for external storage (4TB drive to be here today), so it would download the game, but then tell me I didn't have enough room to install it.
I ended up resetting my AFTV because I it ended up I needed like an extra 300mb to install the software. Really stupid on Amazon's part. They need to put in usb storage for unrooted peeps.
I guess in my case I am looking at this device without a Mod whatsoever. I am trying to understand Amazon spending Hugh $$$$ + on developing games to market on Fire TV where am I suppose to put them??? I just cant wrap my head around how this is good business sense? Really this is more me venting with frustration as calling Amazon support is useless on this matter heck half of them did not understand what I meant about external storage
Example: Bard Tale alone can be 1.8GB at that rate you are out of space within a few large games?
You do have a very valid point regarding storage. With the current unrootability of newer FTVs it sucks not having the storage expansion. That should be something built into the system. I was lucky to get a new FTV that was rootable after Christmas and now I have it all hooked up. I have probably over 100 games installed on an external WD My Passport with 320GB storage. I installed the Ouya Everywhere apks, with a modded launcher, the Google Play Store, and Nova Launcher. It took some tweaking, but most everything works awesomely. The FTV is a great little device with enough power to make it a usable gaming system. The lack of storage and now unrootability may be its downfall though. The average user is not going to even bother with rooting, let alone the mods needed to expand the storage. Amazon should rethink this for its FTV2.
wastate2014 said:
I guess in my case I am looking at this device without a Mod whatsoever. I am trying to understand Amazon spending Hugh $$$$ + on developing games to market on Fire TV where am I suppose to put them???
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Amazon recently released a nice game made by their studio - Tales From Deep Space - but it's only available on Fire Tablets, not on Fire TV. I don't know what they are thinking, really.
Check out this guide for moving app data/obb files to external storage (requires root): http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-move-and-run-amazon-fire-tv-apps-from-an-external-usb-storage-drive/
This lets you have more than just one or two big games at a time.
just wondering, are any of those large games actually supported by the AFTV(as in downloaded directly from Amazon's limited Fire TV app store)? or are they ones that exist on other platforms(and not vetted to run on the AFTV) that you side loaded?
The big games (in terms of file size) I have from Amazon are all the GTA titles. I also installed KOTOR from Google Play.
tekweezle said:
just wondering, are any of those large games actually supported by the AFTV(as in downloaded directly from Amazon's limited Fire TV app store)? or are they ones that exist on other platforms(and not vetted to run on the AFTV) that you side loaded?
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Well, I got my 4TB drive that I hooked up to my aftv using the method that copies the /data folder over. Love it so far, but dang copying stuff from my computer to the aftv with that drive is slow. Thinking I should boot up a linux livecd, hook the usb HD to my computer and copy stuff over that way.
As for games, it depends. If I'm buying the game, i prefer an Amazon Fire TV version. Otherwise I'll try to located a pirated version of it (from a trusted uploader on torrent sites) to test out. And then generally I buy the paid version, but not always. Sort of hard to put money out for GTA SA when I've bought that game like 5 times for various systems so far. And still haven't finished it.
Anyways, Amazon was stupid to put only 8gb of ram in their system and needs to get rolling with usb storage support. While it's not necessarily a gaming machine, for android devices, it's actually a really nice gaming device.
Do you mean this method? http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-tv/general/mounting-external-usb-to-data-t2889319
You all got me thinking about trying it, so I switched this evening. It seems like a better option because some games don't keep their bulk in the data/obb files so there's nothing for FileMount to move.
Mrreg said:
Do you mean this method? http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-tv/general/mounting-external-usb-to-data-t2889319
You all got me thinking about trying it, so I switched this evening. It seems like a better option because some games don't keep their bulk in the data/obb files so there's nothing for FileMount to move.
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yes, did method 1, all the data. Got a fast drive, so only limitation is the usb speed. Seems to be okay so far. No complaints.
It is a joke what amazon did with the storage, they said 8bg but when you open the box you have 5.49 space and out of that you have only 4.85gb available to use.....what nonsense! They really didn't think AFTV was going to do well cuz they said gaming was just an added bonus for the AFTV but i suppose once they saw it was one of the hottest item selling on there site they decided add more games.
i use aftv just a media center to run xbmc, i am not prime member.
They are forcing auto updates on AFTV and the latest firmware are not root able as of today. At this point they have 4 options, either wait and see if user will pay for could storage or released a firmware updates which will allow user to use the external storage via USB or come out with AFTV2 with bigger hard drive or discontinue the AFTV.
I for one will not pay could storage or will pay for apps, why do i have to pay for the same app again if i already bought it on google play store, Amazon probably notice that user are not willing paying for the same apps 2x, which is why they offered that $220 free apps bundled during the holidays to keeps folks happy cuz most folks were probably going to return it cuz that $99 device will cost you more cuz u have to buy all the apps again.
Thank you
tekweezle said:
just wondering, are any of those large games actually supported by the AFTV(as in downloaded directly from Amazon's limited Fire TV app store)? or are they ones that exist on other platforms(and not vetted to run on the AFTV) that you side loaded?
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This is a very good point. I have not added any Mods to my Fire TV the only games come directly from Amazons Store. Little experiment: load all of your standard TV apps. Then go into the Amazon store and just see how many games (Amazon only) you can download and install? Many are rather large 500MB+? Then if you are not technical I would bet many would find it hard to dig down into settings to find how to uninstall? Yeah your games are in the cloud but the bandwidth to keep downloading these games is crazy? In addition I stream ALLOT about 1.2TB a month and I pay extra after 1 TB so every time I download it again its costing me money.
Mrreg said:
Check out this guide for moving app data/obb files to external storage (requires root): http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-move-and-run-amazon-fire-tv-apps-from-an-external-usb-storage-drive/
This lets you have more than just one or two big games at a time.
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I think your missing the point New boxes are un rootable by software alone and even so Jo Public should not have that necessity to buy games on a "games console" 1 or 2 big games and your stuffed. D
As it stands it does not fullfill the promise.
That would be me!! lol. Amazon made me an offer I couldn't refuse -$159- I got the free year of prime- I paid for it last year by accident and ended up getting a lot of use out of it, so this made it easy. And the phone was $60 (after putting $99 towards prime), and I opened an amazon CC which gave me $40 in an instant credit- so this phone was $20 in the end!! plus taxes of course.
Before I pulled the trigger I looked to XDA to see where development was for this phone- and it looks like it is picking up and starting to move- so I will be getting this new fire phone tomorrow!!! I have to confess I have been using an iphone 5s (JB of course!) for the last year and a half and have been missing the challenge of rooting, romming, and making the best out of the hardware that is lacking due to poor software.
My plan is to put on the latest update and add google play market- leave it unrooted for now and see how it goes. But I am keeping my eye on beta CM11 and seeing how far it goes with CM 13 possibly in the future!!
@ggow- you seem to be very ambitious with this phone!!!! You are doing some great work and I am following your development closely :good::highfive:. I have never used safestrap before, but I may just have to give it a whirl. You make it very tempting
Why was I interested in this Fire Phone??? I bought a kindle 7 hdx last year and hacked that to run google market and it turned out to be a pretty great tablet that I also got a great deal on. It has the fire OS running along side google market with a great launcher running to swap back and forth. So kindle, instant videos, amazon music, and all the google apps too. It's specs were very close to the ipad mini and was a third of the cost. I gave it to my daughter to use in NYC running on att and she has had no complaints with how I modded it. And she is not very techy! :silly:
I am getting a little bored with my 5s and wanted a bigger screen- I passed on the 6+ since we are no longer getting subsidies and $850 for a phone seems ridiculous!! I don't know if 0.7 inches will make much of a difference, but for $20, I just had to find out
I have a Fire Stick TV also and I want to see how they work together. Very excited to receive this phone tomorrow.
Even after all the horrible reviews I read and watched on you tube!! Hopefully these modifications developed here will make it great!
Geez!!!! 75 views and no comments? Come on people- loosen up and let me know if you love your fire phone or hate it or Hate me cause I got it so cheap:silly: Please share your experiences with your Fire Phone. By now it's a year old, but still looks like a great phone for $60. I am basically a really cheap bargain hunter and wait for things to go on sale. This was really a good one.
Share what you did to make it a great phone! Would love to benefit from your experiences.:highfive: Do you love the Fire OS? Do you love the Market? Or CM11? Please share And I thank you in advance:good:
Great phone for the money. If throw yourself into the Amazon ecosystem the fire OS works quite well but I think only Jeff Bezos has done that so far. I'm using it with a custom launcher at the moment but when cm11 is final I might adopt it.
sashusmom said:
Geez!!!! 75 views and no comments? Come on people- loosen up and let me know if you love your fire phone or hate it or Hate me cause I got it so cheap:silly: Please share your experiences with your Fire Phone. By now it's a year old, but still looks like a great phone for $60. I am basically a really cheap bargain hunter and wait for things to go on sale. This was really a good one.
Share what you did to make it a great phone! Would love to benefit from your experiences.:highfive: Do you love the Fire OS? Do you love the Market? Or CM11? Please share And I thank you in advance:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since you asked:
The hardware is incredible for the price. The antutu benchmark puts it slightly faster than a galaxy s5. However, the bells and whistles (extra cameras, 3D, etc) are irrelevant at best. -- The os is terrible. It works well enough but is far behind other smart phones' os. Also, Amazon's wish to completely control your "experience" gets in the way of good hardware. If you root and then add gapps and the google now launcher, the phone is better to use, but still feels wrong, especially when certain apps can only be added through amazon's app store. -- Finally, I'm still irked by the locked bootloader. It was at this stage I put it in the drawer to use as an emergency backup - or maybe a "mini-gamer" for kids.
Then came ggow and his work to bring CM11 to the phone. Thanks to him, I now use it as my daily driver. I have added Xposed Framework with a few modules, all my favorite apps, and the phone is great! The only annoyance is that there are very infrequent random google play services stops which quickly correct themselves leaving a msg that needs to be swiped away. This is no big deal and ggow might have this fixed by the time you read this. Ggow also mentioned bypassing lollipop (CM12) and looking to "M" for his next major upgrade. How this will happen with a locked bootloader I don't know, but all praise to the person who brought my firephone backed to life.
Enjoy your firephone.
I bought the Fire Phone 6 months ago (I think, don't remember), when it was $189 (and a year of Prime). Having a phone with those specs at $90 was a great deal and hard to refuse. Bought it, got it, and the first day of using it I was amused with how different it was from stock Android. I had a Nexus 5, which got stolen, and I wandered with a low-end phone until I bought the Fire Phone. The Fire Phone couldn't be more different from the Nexus 5, software-wise. I saw the lock screen, toyed with it and thought: "Wow, it moves depending on where I look it from, nice!" (my first lock screen was the one with the time made from the stars and the moon with below it) but also "Did Amazon really need 4 cameras just for that? It might drain my battery" and "Which real-world use could I give to this feature?"
Yes, it was nice to see how things moved thanks to the Dynamic Perspective feature, at least at first; then, like all novelties, my attention to it faded and eventually I disabled it. Having my battery drained wasn't worth for a feature I wasn't paying attention to and which the only real-world use I could think of was showing it to some friend to surprise them a for a little time. And because this phone doesn't have a removable battery, I couldn't afford to lose it for some gimmicky feature.
Then I saw the Carousel, which is the home screen where the most recent apps are shown, with the notifications below it. They were affected by the Dynamic Perspective too. I hated that dotted pattern they used for the Carousel, and then I tried to change it for, say, whatever picture this phone could've come with.
I went to Settings, and was surprised to see, first, that that annoying dotted pattern was there too, and then that there wasn't a way to change the wallpaper. I thought "Come on, it's 2015, every OS in the friggin' world has a way to change the wallpaper. It's the most basic form of customization. Even Apple (which I don't hate), with all that walled garden feeling, allows you to change the wallpaper." But Amazon's FireOS didn't (I haven't ever seen a Kindle Fire tablet). My phone shipped with version 3.6.8, and we had to wait until May to see such a basic feature with the upgrade to 4.6.1. I got annoyed by that, but there was nothing I could to about it.
I checked the pre-loaded games, which make heavy use of the same Dynamic Perspective. I half-liked the Planet Blocks game and played it for a while. After that, I forgot I had it and remained hidden.
Then I went to the Appstore to see what was new. I knew the Appstore didn't have any Google app, and understood it. Amazon had an equivalent to every Google app and, even though I didn't like how they looked, they got the job done, and that was what mattered. Downloading and installing was what I was used to, and updating was a breeze.
But I guess I missed some apps that weren't on the Appstore and was lazy to not sideload all of them. I needed to see good ol' Google on this phone, so I went to XDA and checked if there was a way to sideload Google Play Services. After all, underneath all the Amazon skin and no traces of Google, FireOS was Android at the heart (3.6.8 was based on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, which was pretty outdated even then). There was a way to install Google Play Services, and there was a way to root the phone too, but only if you were brave (and foolish) enough to downgrade to 3.5.1 (it was a bad idea, because if you did that, there would be problems with the Amazon account registration and also some nasty overheating issue). So, I stayed with just installing Google Play Services. It went smoothly and finally got Google. With the Play Store I'd be able to download and install SwiftKey and maybe Google Now Launcher or Nova Launcher.
I got no luck with SwiftKey. It installed, but then you couldn't use it unless you activated it via ADB. After that, got SwiftKey. And about launchers, they worked, except for widgets (which weren't supported in FireOS) and the wallpaper (there was a way to change the wallpaper in Nova; you could choose the image, but it never worked; you had to like the black background because it was the only option). I checked other launchers, some supported widgets (not all widgets, but some) and some found a way to change the wallpaper. I stuck with Buzz Launcher, which made the phone look and work most similar to Android.
I hoped Amazon would sometime hear what users here at XDA (and everywhere else) had to say. The Fire Phone was a great piece of hardware, but its software was a bummer. People were trying to google it but all you could do was sideload Google Play Services. The bootloader was locked (and still is), and the Towelroot method for rooting didn't work for 3.6.8, so downgrading was the next stage for googling up the device. I remember seeing some guys here at XDA offering some money to the first person to unlock the bootloader, and some people sending a letter to Jeff Bezos himself to unlock it and then also a Change.org petition, taking the example of the HP TouchPad tablet (it saw new life after HP unlocked its bootloader, after which people flashed Android instead of the built-in webOS, becoming the second-most selling tablet of 2011). It never happened.
Then it was the question if the phone would ever receive a FireOS 4 update (based on Android 4.4 KitKat), given its lackluster sales. It finally happened on May, and came with very necessary changes to help customize the phone.
This new version would eventually be rooted via Kingroot, which is a very shady-looking app for rooting. It worked, and then there was a way to change it for SuperSU, a more reliable root app. With all the long wait, knowing a developer found a way to flash a ROM even with the locked bootloader was a relief. I flashed it as fast as I could. Now I'm using Cyanogenmod 11 and it's great (no trace of Amazon). It's still beta (the developer uploaded the first build just 4 days ago), but it works pretty well right now, and it'll only get better.
Now we can use a phone that has a great price and good specs with a great OS to match. To the people out there wondering if the phone is worth the price (right now it went back to $449 and comes with a year of Amazon Prime, with $99 alone, so the phone's real price is $350), no, it's not, you could get a OnePlus One at that price (which comes with Cyanogen OS), or a Moto X, or a Xiaomi Mi4, or many other great phones below $350 (and then if, and only if, you want Amazon Prime you can subscribe). When it gets a big discount, which happens from time to time (last one was this week and the price went down to $159), it gets more attractive (especially if you were going to subscribe to Amazon Prime). The phone has many gimmicky features which are really useless, uses an OS that is difficult to adapt to, and is overpriced most of the time (no wonder Amazon failed to sell it at launch at $199 with AT&T contact, or later at $649 unlocked, or now at $449), but may be a great deal when bought at discount (this week the real price of the phone was $60, and at that price you cannot get any smartphone off-contract) and if you're willing to tinker with the phone and flash a ROM (Cyanogenmod 11 is the only one right now, but might be more in the future), it makes a pretty good phone.
A quad-core Snapdragon 800 CPU, with Adreno 330 GPU and 2GB of RAM, a 13MP rear camera and 2.1MP front camera, 1080p recording, 32GB of built-in storage and now the ability to flash Cyanogenmod 11 for just $60? I'd buy it.
Wow!! Great responses guys. I thank you for taking the time to offer your opinions and I really look forward to receiving my Fire phone
Got my Fire phone!!
I really like the screen- overall size of the phone is not really bigger than my 5s but the screen real estate is a little bigger. It's not so lite that you will drop it or so thin you will drop it either. When I use my 5s bare, I have a hard time hanging onto it. It's in a wallet case that I can get a good grab onto. I like a little heft to it and it does feel good in your hand.
I have the incipio folio case on this fire phone that I got for $10 from ATT online store. That was a really good deal. Also did a screen saver just because I like them and the protection from minute scratches they provide.
So, on my Amazon account it was registered to me and the free prime was added on. When I went to set up the phone it requires you to register again to your account and I got all errors that it couldn't be done at this time, blah blah blah. I researched it and apparently this was a big problem at launch too.
So I updated it to the latest of 4.6.1 (820) and tried again, same deal. It just wouldn't register. So I de-registered it on my computer, and tried again on the phone, no go. You can't use the phone without it being asso. with an amazon acct- no apps at all are usable, even the preinstalled ones. So I chatted online, they couldn't help me and wanted to have their Fire Team support call me back- but I couldn't at that time so I will deal with it tomorrow. I'll have to search this forum and see if there's any info about it.
In the meantime I got the google apps working so now I at least have a pretty good list of apps, but no amazon services working yet. I still have to add a sim card and check the basic call functions- since it is a phone.
The benefit of picking up a phone that is a year old is you guys have already tackled the tough parts of rooting, modding, roms, etc. I checked out this forum before purchasing and was pleasantly surprised that you just made the break through just this week for CM. I may have to check that out! I have the att Mega and that poor orphan phone is so crippled most guys just walked away. I Love it for it's 6 inch screen size. The iphone 6+ was in my thoughts but can't justify that price tag. My mega was a penny when we still did subsidies.
I thank you all for your perseverance and hard work and your stick-to-it-ive-ness:good: This could actually be a decent phone with all the modifications. I am hoping I can leave it as is and swap between the Fire OS and the Nova launcher. Hopefully I'll get it registered correctly tomorrow. It's nice getting back into android after apple. I like them both- but I do get bored.
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So even though it is 3 am here, I just got off the phone with fire phone support and I was told it was a system wide outage and there are many people having this problem. They will get back to me!! I won't hold my breath here
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Talked again to amazon and I am "on the list" to have this registration fubar sorted out. She took additional info- my mac address on the phone specifically, and supposedly this will be fixed OTA magically. We'll see.
I do have a working sim in and phone calls work fine. I have issue with the tinny sounding speakers that are suppose to be stereo- Sounds terrible- especially with music clips ringtones. Pandora sounds bad too. I did read the reviews about the sound and it appears to be true.
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So Amazon finally fixed the registration problem OTA. I can now access my Amazon stuff. Problem solved.