[roebeet]

As always -- USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. This is a modded firmware, based on the SmartQ R10 Android 2.1 firmware. I've tested it on my own device with no issues flashing it, but YMMV. Make sure you have a copy of the restore utility, in case you need it. I found what I believe to be the root cause of the v2.0 failures and repackaged the data settings. I hope this corrects the problem (tested on my own R10 with no issues, so far).

Based off of their original 2.0 firmware:

Altered SmartQ R10 v2.0.2 Android 2.1 firmware Link: http://www.mediafire...t33wee5kzbbczye
md5sum: 0bedfcb440dc42e265af6a2706d2ea3c
(updated 4/03/11)


Changelog:

(2.0.2) Added fix for DroidDream vulnerability, added fix for original Angry Birds (no more white boxes - thanks to ameth in the SmartQ MID forum!)
(2.0.1) Total revamp, using their 2.0 fw. Added Aldiko 2.0, auto-rooted, GB keyboard built-in. Removed Launcher Pro (you can use the Market, if you want to get it).
(1.0.3) Incorporated 1.5.x fixes, but kept the 1.0 firmware base as I feel the 2.0 SmartQ firmware is still unstable.
(1.5.1) Removed more Chinese apps that were not needed for an English speaker, also replaced ES File Explorer with Astro (my own preference).
(1.5.0) using the pulled 2.0 SmartQ firmware - some devices work, some will fail so keep that in mind. Added YouTube app, updated several of the original 1.0.0 apps I added. Also included a working Gingerbread keyboard, but it needs to be sideloaded to work.
(1.0.2) fixed the home button issue

Pre-req: Learn and understand how to use the restore utility, in case something goes horribly wrong and you need to back out. Version 1 recovery link is here, with instructions: http://www.mediafire...fe3oojqxtm33lx3

03/11 EDIT: SmartQ released a version 2 recovery tool which works MUCH better, for me. Link is here: http://www.smartdevi...pdated-tool.rar

-------------------------------------------

What is this?

An altered firmware file for the the SmartQ R10. I made the following alterations from their 1.0 Android firmware:

- Rooted
- English Language default
- US Country default
- Removed most of the Chinese applications, and the Chinese keyboard
- Adds an additional Gingerbread-based keyboard option
- Added other choice applications such as Aldiko, Kindle, HomeSwitcher, Startup Manager and Task Manager (easily removable, if you don't want them)
- Added Atrix Honeycomb boot logo


Detailed Instructions:

- BACKUP ALL USER DATA. This firmware update wipes everything - all your user apps and user data. Please be aware of this.

- Extract the two SmartQ* files from the zip file into the root of your microSD card. So you should see two files there:

SmartR10
SmartQR10_AD

- Insert the device into the R10 (if not already present), power off the device and ensure the AC Adapter is attached.

- Power on to firmware update mode by pressing the power and volume up keys simultaneously for several seconds. You should see the firmware update program run, and then reboot the device after 10 seconds. If you get a failure error (which can happen occasionally) just power down and try again.

- Upon reboot, the device should show a green Android logo after 5-10 seconds, then a status bar within about 30 seconds. About 50% of the time this does not happen - you might get no logo at all, or the green logo with no status bar. In either case, wait about 60 seconds and, if nothing happens, power off and power on again. This usually works on the second reboot.

- After you see the status bar at the bottom, it will continue to increase and should complete within a few minutes. Then, you should see the flashing Honeycomb logo and finally the Android UI.

Also, the calibration is usually very bad after an update like this. I would recommend running the calibration tool. Instructions for touch calibration: Reboot the device, press and hold the volume down key when the green Android logo appears (and not before), then follow the calibration instructions when it shows up. Then powerdown / powerup to complete. I would also recommend using a stylus or a paper clip to calibrate, as it's much more accurate if you do it this way.

Backout:

You can use the original SmartQ R10 1.0 firmware to undo the change -- it wipes everything, including user data.


Caveats:

To improve the free memory, I would recommend using Startup Cleanup Pro (included in the mod) to block most of the gapps from loading on start - this can free up about 20MB of RAM, from what I've seen.

Hard coded to Eastern Standard (I had to pick something). Just go into the Data and Time settings to change it to whatever you want.

The Android market seems to get "stuck" with the first app download attempt, sometimes. I've found that rebooting the device, going back into the Market, canceling the download retrying usually fixes it.

I'm still having stability issues, even with 2.0x firmware / mods - sometimes my flashes are good, sometimes I get a blank screen on reboot. If you have the same issues, just backout to either 1.0 stock or my 1.0.3. I still think there's something not quite right in their 2.0 bootloader or kernel.


----------------------------------------------------------
Archives:

Altered SmartQ R10 v2.0.1 Android 2.1 firmware Link: http://www.mediafire...vmxyzb43mo6njg3
md5sum: 52cae60307df4df60245cb11b282da5d
(updated 2/21/11)
Altered SmartQ R10 v1.0.3 Android 2.1 firmware Link: http://www.mediafire...wxm3cjjd5bi6fhb
md5sum: 164b1ece86a3d6b28c7112cf5bfc8f42
Altered SmartQ R10 v1.5.1 Android 2.1 firmware Link: http://www.mediafire.com/?jwkb1n91ji0n9zl
md5sum: f0088983bb4d2d7ba1520dbbc5f7b4e9
Altered SmartQ R10 v1.5.0 Android 2.1 firmware Link: http://www.mediafire.com/?f9vxx018c4zbqtk
md5sum: 86e4c2264d8ff06afb37eb529e1f0c6e
Altered SmartQ R10 v1.0.2 Android 2.1 firmware Link: http://www.mediafire.com/?jlpmaln4r5l28ah
md5sum: 626839bea1c25e67a29fccec37e9517e
Altered SmartQ R10 v1.0.1 Android 2.1 firmware Link: http://www.mediafire.com/?j7kfu9nc3b3yg6f
md5sum: d8eec4999a879882ddc817a7e88d3c5c

This post has been edited by roebeet: 03 April 2011 - 09:42 PM

[peafield4]

Top work, i will look forward to giving it a bash.

Not sure if you managed to acquire the official borked v2.0 but i have sent you a PM with a linky attached

[roebeet]

I got it, thanks!  And I managed to get it loaded up - I think the bootloader was screwed (would explain the need for a restore utility, if they used the wrong bootloader).

EDIT:  Created a 1.5.x mod based off their 2.0 Android 2.1 firmware - from what I can gather, everything was OK except the bootloader and possibly the data partition.  I was able to mod it successfully so that it would work.  But since it's really a "hack" of their 2.0 firmware, I'm calling mine 1.5 for now.

[wheatbix]

hi can i flash APad Aoson MI88 with the firmware? or can it only work with smartq tablets? btw you sound like a smart guy how would i find a stock recovery for the APad Aoson MI88 because i can boot it up into clockwork but i can't boot into os 2.1 eclair. and i havn't backed up the system.img, recovery.img etc so i have tried so many types of custom roms but they just don't work on my tablet do you have any suggestions? i would like to restore it back to the stock one if possible if not then i would like to run a custom rom but i don' know any that are compatible with it. i would really really appreciate any help.

[peafield4]

Roebeet,

Keep them coming!

I have an issue with the 1.5 it has stalled on the upgrade in the same position as the official borked 2.0?

Did you package the right fw file in the 1.5! - Cant see any other reason why it would fail if you have it working. What could the issue be?

Oh well back to 1.02

Regards

[roebeet]

Quote

Roebeet,

Keep them coming!

I have an issue with the 1.5 it has stalled on the upgrade in the same position as the official borked 2.0?

Did you package the right fw file in the 1.5! - Cant see any other reason why it would fail if you have it working. What could the issue be?

Oh well back to 1.02

Regards

I never tried the "real" 2.0, so I had assumed that their bootloader was probably broken (it's a different file size than their 1.0 firmware).  I took an educated guess that this was the problem. Sorry about that!

My 1.5 has:

- stock 1.0 bootloader
- stock 2.0 kernel (which is newer than the stock 1.0)
- (mostly) stock 2.0 rootfs.  I made my usual alternations here.
- (customized) 1.0 homefs.  I used 1.0 here because their 2.0 had serious issues with alterations that I attempted.

I guessed that either the bootloader or homefs was to blame for the firmware failures, but going to your testing that doesn't seem to be the case.  I'm honestly not sure why it works for me, then.

I figure that they'll have a real 2.0 out shortly after they return from the Chinese New Years, perhaps in a week or so?  Until then, there's always 1.0.2 as you mentioned.    Btw, I ran 1.5 at least twice on my device with no issues, so I don't know why it's not consistent.

Quote

hi can i flash APad Aoson MI88 with the firmware? or can it only work with smartq tablets? btw you sound like a smart guy how would i find a stock recovery for the APad Aoson MI88 because i can boot it up into clockwork but i can't boot into os 2.1 eclair. and i havn't backed up the system.img, recovery.img etc so i have tried so many types of custom roms but they just don't work on my tablet do you have any suggestions? i would like to restore it back to the stock one if possible if not then i would like to run a custom rom but i don' know any that are compatible with it. i would really really appreciate any help.

Most likely it will only work with the SmartQ R10 -- the hardware is unique, as well as the NAND setup.  I tried the reverse when my R10 was borked (using other devices ROM's) and it failed badly - so bad that I didn't even have a boot screen anymore - but luckily the USB mode was still working.

The R10 doesn't even have a normal Android FS - only one MTD with "android" for the name.  No boot, recovery or kernel mtd's.  It's using UBIFS so I suspect something is going on under the hood that's unique to the R10.

[peafield4]

No worries, appreciate your efforts!

Are you sure you didn't mix the stock 2.0 with yours in the 1.5 update, thats the only logical reason if you have had it installed twice? - Maybe try a re upload 

Just keep working on Froyo, Thats the ultimate prize as far as i am concerned 

Cheers

[roebeet]

Quote

No worries, appreciate your efforts!

Are you sure you didn't mix the stock 2.0 with yours in the 1.5 update, thats the only logical reason if you have had it installed twice? - Maybe try a re upload 

Just keep working on Froyo, Thats the ultimate prize as far as i am concerned 

Cheers

I'll try it again tonight, just to be sure.  And agreed on Froyo - it seems to be what everyone is waiting for.  If my eBay items don't sell, I'm going to use one as a dev unit to see if I can get Froyo working.  Right now I don't want to touch them as I want them pristine in case they do sell.

EDIT:  Yeah, the upload is definitely the correct one - it has the modifications I mentioned. I have no idea what's borking these devices, then.  I guess SmartQ doesn't either, at least not yet.  Very bizarre.

[wheatbix]

Most likely it will only work with the SmartQ R10 -- the hardware is unique, as well as the NAND setup.  I tried the reverse when my R10 was borked (using other devices ROM's) and it failed badly - so bad that I didn't even have a boot screen anymore - but luckily the USB mode was still working.

The R10 doesn't even have a normal Android FS - only one MTD with "android" for the name.  No boot, recovery or kernel mtd's.  It's using UBIFS so I suspect something is going on under the hood that's unique to the R10.
[/quote]

thank for the reply.

that sounds like complicated shit i have no idea what an android fs mtd uubifs eh oh well. will the smartq r10 work for my tablet coz its got a larger screen than mine 9.7inch mine is only 7inch will it still work? also i was wondering my tablet is a telechip 8902 does that mean i can flash any firmware but it has to have the same chip model? i have been looking at the imito im7, apad. m701 will these be compatible with my tablet?

[roebeet]

Quote

thank for the reply.

that sounds like complicated shite i have no idea what an android fs mtd uubifs eh oh well. will the smartq r10 work for my tablet coz its got a larger screen than mine 9.7inch mine is only 7inch will it still work? also i was wondering my tablet is a telechip 8902 does that mean i can flash any firmware but it has to have the same chip model? i have been looking at the imito im7, apad. m701 will these be compatible with my tablet?

imo, probably not.  the chipset might be the same, but other things are different like the touchscreen, the battery, the tactile button etc.  You'd probably never boot to Android because you'd get stuck at either the bootloader or kernel.  And even if you did boot Android, things would probably be broken.

Case in point, my R10.  At one point, I flashed a generic Telechips ROM onto it, and it actually booted up.  However, the screen was totally borked.  the only reason I knew that Android was working was because adb was working.

[roebeet]

EDIT:  This is an interesting update.    I had three devices, as some of you already knew.  I ran 1.5.x on two of them, and they worked flawlessly.  However, I tried it on my third device (which is up for sale here, btw) and I have the same issue others do, where it gets stuck at 75% and then the bootloader is borked.  My first device, which works with 1.5.x, is the one I'm keeping and the 2nd one, which I just sold on eBay, also works fine with 1.5.x.

What this is telling me is that these devices may not be 100% the same.  Maybe there are two board revisions and one works fine with the 2.0 (and my 1.5) update and the other does not.  It would definitely explain a few things.

It can't be anything else, as I have the metrics.  Same firmware, same microSD being used, etc.  The only difference is the actual device, so it must be a hardware difference.

[peafield4]

Hi Roebeet,

Any news on Froyo?. Looking to get flash working on this device so i can access Tvcatchup/BBC Iplayer etc. Do you have a method to get flash 10.1 working without froyo?

Cheers

[roebeet]

I've tried Froyo attempts about once a week, then I go back to stock and I just get the darn thing to boot up.    >

As for Flash, I don't think we'll ever see it.  Flash is only for Cortex-based CPU's, or so I've heard.  Even with Froyo, I don't think we have Flash in our future.

[roebeet]

BUMP'd for new version. I think(?) I finally figured out where the issues were coming from. At least it's working on my R10.

[peafield4]

Working here all good!! How did you get the official youtube app working?, i could never get it to install.

Love the boot up movie too.

Appreciate the hard work man keep um coming!

[peafield4]

Do you know of any way i can tether my iphone to my R10? i mean in the wifi sense using an app called mywi.

I have read that android does not support ad-hoc networks. But some tabs have managed to be cooked to be able to able to connect.

Any ideas?

Cheers

[roebeet]

peafield4, on 27 February 2011 - 03:09 PM, said:

Do you know of any way i can tether my iphone to my R10? i mean in the wifi sense using an app called mywi.

I have read that android does not support ad-hoc networks. But some tabs have managed to be cooked to be able to able to connect.

Any ideas?

Cheers

Try this -- I might add this to the next revision, given that I now have it rooted in the firmware (I avoided adding it previously, because of the lack of root, which this requires):

http://forum.xda-dev...ad.php?t=754961

You'd have to push it up via adb, as update.zip files do not work on our device. As for YouTube, I found the apk somewhere on either XDA or Slatedroid. It's a hack of the Froyo apk to allow it to run on Eclair.

This post has been edited by roebeet: 27 February 2011 - 05:36 PM

[peafield4]

That Sounds Promising. I will wait to see if you add this to your next build as i am not so clued up on the steps required to do this myself.

Thanks again

[roebeet]

peafield4, on 27 February 2011 - 05:59 PM, said:

That Sounds Promising. I will wait to see if you add this to your next build as i am not so clued up on the steps required to do this myself.

Thanks again

Just an FYI, having terrible problems with 2.0 and my R10 again (this hasn't been the first time). Refuses to flash, even the newer stock one. Right now I'm back on a 1.0 mod because of this.

It seems to be the kernel, going on trial and error. It flashes, reboots and then just a blank screen after the white screen with the logo. A repeated reboots don't fix it. Then flashing to 1.0 it "just works".

Also, a heads up to all R10 users -- I purchased an OTG adapter here: http://www.dealextre...er-2-pack-50944

It's a two-pack for $2.20 shipped (takes at least 2 weeks, as it's coming from Hong Kong). I can use a USB keyboard on the R10 using this adapter, and my HP and Sandisk thumb drives work. The thumb drives should up under the /SCSI folder and assuming that the app (like a video player) can view the /SCSI folder, files will play. I already tested music and an MKV file and they work for me.

Definitely a good $2.20 investment, imo.

This post has been edited by roebeet: 02 March 2011 - 10:42 AM

[roebeet]

IMPORTANT malware alert for anyone with an Android 2.1/2.2 device (especially Market enabled):

http://www.androidpo...-open-backdoor/

I'm trying to patch up all my ROM's, and this is no exception. In the meantime, please be aware of this.

If you have adb access, you can plug up this hole yourself, using these instructions: http://forum.xda-dev...ad.php?t=977154