PLEASE TAKE NOTE THAT I HAVE MOVED TO ANOTHER SITE. ALTHOUGH I WILL STOP BY HERE FROM TIME TO TIME, CONTINUED AND FURTHER SUPPORT WILL BE A LOT QUICKER FOR YOU HERE:
******
http://androidrevolu...erpad-3-tab-10/******
HOW TO OBTAIN ROOT
As the topic suggests, this is an effective, trouble free, pc free, way to root this device.
*************!!!IMPORTANT!!!*************
When you "root" your device, you are granting yourself "root access" to any and all files both visible and non within your tablet. You have the freedom of changing ANYTHING possible with this kind of access along with permanently bricking your tablet.
if you do not know what bricking means, please go outside, bring in a brick, and attempt to use it as your tablet...
This is bricking.
Although there is an extremely slim chance of ever bricking your phone using this method, I will not be held responsible for damages to your device by redistributing this easily and readily available information listed all over the free web
I am currently unsure if rooting the device messes up any custom recovery that may have been present on it.. I do not know? I don't even know if it had a custom recovery to begin with.. However, I DO know that attempting a factory reset failed for me however having only tested it after the device was rooted.
That being said..
Here's how you do it
STEP ONE: Enabling USB Debugging
In order to root this, you must have usb debugging enabled. On almost every android platform, this would be located under /Menu/Settings/Applications/Development
However! It does not appear to be here? As a matter of fact, you can't find it anywhere..
Here's what you need to do.
Go the android market from the device.
Please thank Slate Droid member
Danny Backx for creating the following app. It has simplified this process! It will also give you a quick run down of your Tablet's technical info and help you identify what you have exactly. it is called
ShowVersions and is found in the Android Market. Please rate the app and leave a review should it be successful in turning USB debugging on for you.
Once installed, launch the app. It will immediately give you info on your tablet, and provide you with a gray button to take you to "Development".
Here you can activate USB debugging by placing a check in the USB debugging box.
It will ask you if you wish to do this and just click ok. I always leave this option checked. It is extremely useful.
Great! USB Debugging enabled!
STEP TWO: Downloading and Launching Z4ROOT
I do not own Z4Root, but many thanks to the author for making root so easy for many devices. It used to be available in the app market until it got knocked out by google. It is still readily available all over the internet including several different android communities.
For simplicity sake, I have it uploaded to my drop box and all you need do to download it is click here:
Z4ROOT 
For those who are downloading this to a pc first who's anti-virus type utilities go into overkill and stop the download by miss-identifying the apk as a virus, I have provided a link to the file in "zipped" format in an attempt to trick the system:
Z4ROOT Zipped
For this file, you will need to unzip it first with a zip utility such as 7Zip or Winzip. After unzip, you can transfer the apk to your tablet.
After you have installed Z4Root, launch it. You have the option the Permanently root, or to temp root. Permanently does not mean you can no longer "un-root" the tablet if you chose to, it just means it will stick after reboots. After you are rooted, you can actually go right back here and click the available option: Re-Root or Un-root.
After you click root permanently, it will put you in a waiting type mode for a minute or less. After this time, the device should automatically reboot, and eventually come back to your home screen.
Done!
You should be rooted! Go into your apps and see if Super User is present. If it is, you are rooted friend.
Super User is your defense. It basically acts like "windows defender" and makes you confirm use of "root Only" apps but you only have to confirm it once or twice (usually only once).
Now that you have root access, you can begin the process of amping this tablet.
Watch what you do.. All it takes is deleting or moving the wrong files and you could be stuck in a bootloop, screen freezes, brick, etc.
I will be posting more to Post #2 on what can be deleted, backed up, or converted to a user app as they way it came when you purchased it is seriously messed up!
REMOVING BLOATWARE AND MEDIA
*****The following information is for rooted devices only*****
Please remember that what you do here can either negatively or positively effect the performance of your Tablet and can lead to bricking or bootloops if you are not careful
First thing's first.
Go to the Android Market and download (free app)
Titanium Backup.
This is an amazing application and I HIGHLY recommend it for all rooted devices.
Once downloaded, launch the app.
It will need to obtain root access so Super User will now kick in and ask you if you wish to grant it access. tap yes.
you may get re-directed to a changelog or introductory page the first time but just go ahead and click on or go back.. Whatever needs to be done to take you back to the original home screen of the app.
Take a minute here to get an overview of the information it's providing you.
For what we are going to do, I want you to focus particularly at the storage/space information listed at the very bottom.
Now the actual Operating System itself is stored in the "System ROM" section. You basically have a small dedicated amount of space for the operating system to move around in. As you can see, it's a little tight..
The next section just you know, is the amount of space dedicated for your app installs. It should be a generous round about of 1.07BG. That's pretty nice
Of course what's listed next is your internally hidden/built and mounted sd card... From what I understand, it's another micro sd card mounted inside. This is basically like, your built in storage space since it most likely didn't come with an external micro sd card (at least mine didn't)
and lastly, the Ext. SD card is you external tft inserted micro sd card.
What we are going to attempt to do is free up some breathing room for the system!
If your tablet is like mine, it came with all kinds of apps that you would never use yet are unable to uninstall! Whats worse, is some of those apps are user apps installed in the system directory when they shouldn't be and so are taking up unnecessary room. For example: Mine came with Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja installed as a system app and those two together (if I remember correctly) use up around 25-30MB of space alone!
Here's what you need to do..
Click the center tab listed near the top titled Backup/Restore.
Once your apps show, tap either the soft menu key at the top right, or press the menu key on the top of the tablet (or side depending upon perspective), and then select "Filters"
Filter:
Status: All
Type: System
temperature: All
location: Internal
now select apply in the top right corner.
Once the list populates we are going to go through and weed out the unnecessary stuff UNLESS you wish to keep it.. It is your decision not mine.
***IT IS IMPORTANT NOT TO MODIFY OR DELETE THE FOLLOWING:***
Account and Sync Settings
Adobe Flash
Adobe Reader
ADSL Dialer
Calculator (unless you just don't want it.. the file is too small to make a difference if removed really)
Calendar (unless you do not want it)
Calendar 1.0 (same as above)
Calendar Storage (Surprisingly, removing this will cause some problems.. leave it alone)
Certificate Installer
Alarms Clock
com.android.providers.applications
USER DICT com.android.....
Com.android...
Contacts/Calls..
SMS/MMS/APN Dialer Storage (DO NOT TOUCH, EVER)
Download Manager
DRM Protected Content..
Email 2.2 (unless you honestly don't use it.. I would suggest leaving it tho)
Ethernet Settings
Gmail (removing this will effect sync with the market and possibly cause other issues)
Google Services Framework (DO NOT TOUCH)
GSensor calibration
HDMI Settings
HDMI ServiceIPC
HTML Viewer
[DESKTOP] Infotm Home 2.2 (This is the default launcher. On my HTC Incredible the home launcher can be removed once another launcher has been installed, and selected as the default launcher when pressing the home key. Removing the launcher without another launcher to use will result in bootloops and you may as well say goodbye to your tablet unless you know how to flash os firmware. Although I have not deleted my original launcher, it does not hurt to leave it as it is not even 1MB in size. I would suggest not touching it)
Market (DO NOT TOUCH) for some reason, playing with this will cause you world's of problems and fc issues.
Media Container Service
Playlist Media Storage
My Pad (unknown what will happen if this is removed.. honestly don't know? For now don't touch)
Package Installer (without this, apk's can not be installed.. it's a necessity)
Pico tts
Wallpaper settings (DO NOT TOUCH)
settings Bluetooth Settings Storage (NO TOUCHY)
VPN Services
Wi-Fi Settings
Phew! Long list of DO NOT TOUCH's. Generally, Games can be deleted. I unfortunately do not remember what all came on here when I got it.. I got rid of so much. I do remember however, the Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja were the first to go. Those aren't system apps come on... Delete them, and simply re-download them from the market. They will then re-install as a user app (as it should be). Some System Apps however, can be converted to USER apps! However, converting apps through Titanium Back-up requires the purchased version and it's about $8 USD I believe.. May not be worth it for you.
Apps that can be converted from System to User are:
Camera
Contacts
Documents to Go
Dolphin Web Browser
eReader
Es Task Manager
Es File Explorer
Google Voice
Maps
Music Player
Video Player
Voice Search
Weather Forecast
Some of those listed may have already been a user app or may have been downloaded by me later.. However they work as a User app.
ALWAYS, before deleting or converting any of these, tap on the item, and select "Backup!" on the left side. this backs up the app to either your external sd card or your built in storage. Once backed up, click wipe data (NOT DELETE because that's your backup!) and then Un-Install. it will remove it and uninstall it but leave it as an entry for you to bring it back if you want it by simply clicking on it and selecting restore APP+DATA.
If you have any questions about what is safe to remove or what isn't please message me first.. Deleting the wrong thing can be catastrophic
Tomorrow I will go into the 2nd part of clearing room from the System folder by actually taking you to the system folder and showing you how to remove certain media that is taking up a good bit of space.. Media that by choice, you may or may not want anymore.. Remember, you can always back it up and bring it back later if you want.
REMOVING BLOATWARE AND MEDIA - PART 2
for this part, I recommend using an app called "Root Explorer". It is not free, however it is not very expensive either. As a matter of fact, you can probably find it for free if you google around a bit as it was free once..
Should you choose not to use root explorer, then use (called exactly) "Root Browser Lite"
If it does not show in your market and considering it is free, I have made it easily available for you to download from my dropbox here:
After the download, it's going to ask you if you want to enable the root access features to which of course, you will tap "yes".
Doing this triggers Super User to approve this applications root access. Grant the access.
Welcome to your operating system! You can literally destroy your phone in here so be careful!
For what we are trying to do, we will be focusing on the "System" Folder so go ahead and tap it.
although there are a good bit of things you can get rid of in here, we're only going to focus on the bigger/media related files.
If you're using Root Browser Lite, then you have already mounted the System Folder as Writable (RW allows you to modify files)
If you're using Root Explorer, you will need to press the icon at the top called "Mount RW". It wil then (to the left of it) tell you that it is now mounted as r/w or "re-writable"
Ok so the first decent sized file that you come upon is your boot animation! If you remove this file, your tablet most likely has a hidden fall back animation that will have an animated "ANDROID" type scroll across the screen. You can delete the animation if you don't want it anymore. If you like it, and just don't want to use it for the moment and will want it back in the future, long press it and move or cut the file. Navigate out of the system folder and put it elsewhere (where you can remember where it is). Should you choose to keep the file, then skip to the next step.
Click on the audio folder.
You will have 1 folder for all your alarms, 1 for all notifications, one for ringtone (wuuuh? lol) and one for the ui like camera click, keyboard tacks, and such.
Basically, you can go into each folder and decide what you want to keep and what you don't want to keep. Delete what you want or move them out of the system folder for use in the future.. you can sort the view of files by size in descending order by tapping menu while in the file browser of choice and selecting the option or preference.
There is a trick to playing the sound to test it and see if you want to keep it tho..
For some reason, your tablet doesn't recognize the file format .ogg right off hand (unless you've installed a custom player) so what you will need to do is long press the file, select "open with", Click on the Apps tab,check off "Always perform the selected action for this type of file, then select "Music Player".
Now every time you click on that media file type it will open the player and play the sound for you
You can always go back into Titanium and see how well you're doing on space and such.
If anyone has anything to add, let me know.
The next section will be about tweaking your RAM performance settings to improve available memory and help the system run more lag free! I will be uploading this info on Tuesday as I am leaving in a few minute for my mini New Years vacation.
Happy New Years everyone
HOLIDAY TREAT for the brave and for the risk takers!
ROMS (FIRMWARE)
Because the information has been made available recently in this thread, I felt it necessary to go ahead and provide it for those who may have bricked their device or have chosen to take the risk of testing out other firmware on the sole trust of members they do not know who have successfully flashed the ROM.
This section will be updated from time to time to include new firmware releases that have been tested with our particular Mercury Tablet to ensure they are safe for you to try. A post will be made to the thread indicating the change to Post #2 and provide you of detailed info of what was changed or added.
For today, I will be uploading two (ROMS) firmware o.s. that have been tested by a couple users and not yet by my self.
EDIT: My uploads keep failing for some reason.. So as not to provide you with missing or corrupt data aon what DID upload, I am re downloading them to my desktop to compare with the real downloaded builds to see what is missing... For Now, I will only be providing the links to the files for you to go and download yourself.
They are in .RAR format so you will need to extract them to your PC first. Detailed instructions of exactly what to do with these RAR files will be provided after the rom posts.
For RAR extracting, I personally use "7ZIP".
The first that will be provided to you appears to be a "Tab10" build or, as the included change-log suggests, "Android 10".
The second is the official ibex release for Flytouch 4/5 I believe. I also have not tested it.
Feel free to test both of these but
PLEASE TAKE CAUTION. Flashing new firmware erases everything and puts your tablet into a "factory" state. Should this happen, I will do my best to help bring you back to a stable working tablet, but I will not be held responsible for your brick.
As I listed yesterday, you can use Titanium Backup to backup any applications you want to keep including their information. Like if you had a game with saved files and such..
Once you reboot after the fresh instal, you will need to re-download Titanium Backup from the Android Market.. Although I'm unsure with the tablet, you may even need to re-root. I will be confirming or denying this suspicion once I flash the rom. I plan to try both firmware and give as detailed a report as I can on their stability and handling.
Ok, on to the roms..
ROMS
android 2.3 10inch gps Imapx 2011-11-14 android10 (as the name suggests, the build was most likely made Nov. 14th, 2011)
This was found off of a Russian website by SlateDroid member
thel2dab and although he did not create the rom, he is being given credit for finding it and testing it himself.
Credit for this rom goes to
4PDA.ru
This Russian site is tricky! Once you have submitted the Captcha, it gives you the link to press and download the file. HOWEVER! Pressing it will take you to a page where they want you to download and install their software/plug-in.
This is unnecessary!
What you must do, is right click the link and select SAVE AS or SAVE LINK AS and that will be the file.
Official ibex Flytouch4 YOSpad (Resistive)
This was found by SlateDroid member
clone_victim and although he did not create the rom, he is being given credit for finding it and testing it himself.
Credit for this rom goes to ibex and Apad_tv.
Unfortunately, this one is not as easily available as I'd like to provide for you, but it's still pretty simple!
As I've noticed today, this file needs to be downloaded from this site from something other than an Android device. My only successful download was from a pc.
Once you get to the site, Select Slow speed (or fee). You will then be taken to a page to enter in the "Captcha". This may be extremely difficult to read. You can either hit the reload arrow next to it, or give it your best shot. If you fail the captcha, it w ill re-load with a different one. I'm not sure as to how many you can get wrong..
Once passed, the download link will appear. Click on this and your download should start. Don't mess this up or stop it because you won't be able to attempt the download again (for free) for another hour.
Sawee10
This was found by SlateDroid member
icabob4 and although he did not create the rom, he is being given credit for finding it and testing it himself. (I have not tested this rom. Further build/name info will be provided after I do. For the moment, I do not know who made the ROM)
Credit for this rom goes to Apad_tv.
Sawee10 (different build)
This was found by SlateDroid member
icabob4 and although he did not create the rom, he is being given credit for finding it and testing it himself. (I have not tested this rom. Further build/name info will be provided after I do. For the moment, I do not know who made the ROM)
Credit for this rom goes to Apad_tv.
Here are the flashing instructions provided by thel2dab:
1 - Download file to your PC.
2 - Card microSD card readers connect to a PC.
3 - Copy complete the contents from android folder in the root directory of the microSD card.
4 - Insert the microSD card into the tablet ensure the power supply connected.
5 - Press home + Back + Power it will then as you to press buttons for factory reset - release buttons and press home + back again before the countdown from 5 finishes. It will the load files from sd card
6 - The firmware update is performed automatically.
7 - Remove after performing the update files from the SD card
The first boot will take a long time but it will boot.
As he stated about your first boot, it will take longer. This is because it has to build the Dalvik Cache (if like an android smartphone) and others caches for the apps. First boot always takes much longer so don't fear.
****IF THIS FLASHING PROCEDURE DID NOT WORK FOR YOU, HERE IS ANOTHER ONE TO TRY:****
The following info has been provided by SlateDroid member Adamc
There are two ways to flash, via USB and SD Card. SD in my opinion is the easiest, once you have prepared the SD Card... this only needs to be done once. I suggest you get hold of a 1 or 2GB SD Card and keep it for flashing only, this process means only 705Mb is available
1. Prepare the SD Card (Warning this will wipe the card)
Download this file to your PC:
http://www.mediafire...chtva7c4r3u3q73 and unzip.
Browse to:
http://www.androidta...b-flashing.html
Scroll Down to the Flashing Images / Alternative Solution section.
Follow the procedure and use Winhex to create a 705Mb partition and install the boot block, format etc when it gets to #10, copy the firmware files from either of the two links posted in post #1 of this thread.
2. Flashing
Create an android folder in the root of your newly prepared SD Card, note the case – its all lower case.
Copy the following files from the firmware posted in this thread into the android folder.
ramdisk.img
system.img
uImage
userdata.img
zSYS.img
Safely remove the sd card from your PC. Power off your tablet. Remove your normal SD card and insert the newly prepared card.
Warning at this point you will wipe anything on the tablet! You have been warned!
Insert card, power on. (Note this takes all of about 40 seconds to complete).
The tablet will boot immediately off the SD card, you do not need to press any buttons.
There will be several Black screen white text progress bar in middle,
“Updating Image Android” will be displayed, followed by “Burnning File System.”
Eventually “Take off SD and reboot.” will be displayed.
Ejecting the SD Card is enough – it reboots automatically.
The first boot always takes a couple of minutes, whilst caches are built etc.
Once Complete you'll get the Screen Calibration screen. Complete this and then you'll be presented with a familiar screen! All done. You can now proceed to root (using the procedure in this thread), and customise!
TIPS, TRICKS, AND OTHER DOWNLOADS
How to install a PIN/Pattern lock to your Tablet
*****WARNING!***** You may get locked out of your Tablet! FYI! This has only worked for a few and you do not need to be rooted to lock yourself out of your tablet! Proceed with caution and only if you have a firmware you know works with your tablet!
The following info has been provided by SlateDroid member Adamc
Install Launcher Pro (if you uninstalled it after rooting)
Press the Home button and select Launcher Pro
Long press desktop
Select shortcuts
Scroll down, select Activities
Settings / Settings / com.android.settings.ChooseLockGeneric
Set the name to Lock Settings.
Start the Lock Settings app and choose your lock settings. Now when powering on/Waking, the tablet will ask for your pin/password/pattern.
Tablet-PC USER MANUAL
I chopped my manual up, scanned each page, resized the images, etc etc etc. Since many may not be able to view pdf's, I simply left them as jpegs that can be printed out. I made the aspect ratio the same as an 8 1/2 x 11 standard size sheet. The manual itself is actually quite small..5 x 6 1/2 or something like that. Attached you will find the zip file containing the images. They are numbered from 1-40.
If you are using Tapatalk fear not! The file is right here:
Tablet-PC-User-Manual
Please note that it is only in black and white simply because that is how it came.
I hope this helps a lot of you.
-Neo
This post has been edited by IAmTheOneTheyCallNeo: 04 June 2012 - 04:45 PM
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