[fuser-invent]

UPDATE: After trying out a Kindle Fire screen protector. Added to the "Specifications and accessories" section:

Quote

I got a Kindle Fire (not the HD version which is larger) screen protector and used a hole punch to cut out a place for the camera. The screen protector fits really well with about 2mm or 0.08 inches between the edge of the screen protector and the edge of the tablets face. So it's not an exact fit but because you can find much higher quality screen protectors at a fraction of the cost of the Ainol screen protectors, I'd go with a Kindle Fire one. The Kindle fire screen protectors do have a small hole cut out in one corner of the screen but that doesn't bother me. Most of the screen protectors that are sold for Ainol 7" tablets are roughly 6.25" x 3.75" or 158.75mm x 95.25mm rectangles that only cover the touchable area of the screen. They are also really poor quality, scratch very easily, have no anti-glare and reduce touch sensitivity.

This post has been edited by fuser-invent: 15 November 2012 - 07:57 PM

[CrimsonFury]

An extremely well written guide. Excellent Work!

I have very little technical knowledge. I wanted to ask something. You said you charged your device with your 5V 2A charger and it took about 6 hours.

Quote

Using the 5V 2A charger that I charge my HP Touchpad with, the Ainol Crystal charges from 0% to 100% in about 6 hours.

Since the Crystal has a 3700 mAh battery, shouldn't it take around 2 hours to charge completely with a 2A charger?

Thanks.

This post has been edited by CrimsonFury: 10 November 2012 - 02:54 PM

[Tzul]

CrimsonFury, on 10 November 2012 - 02:51 PM, said:

I have very little technical knowledge. I wanted to ask something. You said you charged your device with your 5V 2A charger and it took about 6 hours.

Since the Crystal has a 3700 mAh battery, shouldn't it take around 2 hours to charge completely with a 2A charger?

Yes, if the charging current were 2A and constant all the time, then it would take about 2 hours.
However, that's not the case.

First, the Ampere output rating of a power supply indicates the maximum current that it can provide. A 2A charger doesn't output 2A all the time, but only as much or as little current as the connected device actually draws from it.
The Crystal is probably programmed to use a battery charge current of 1200mA. Thus, a full recharge will take at least 3 hours. Actually almost 4 hours. More about that here.

[CrimsonFury]

Tzul, on 10 November 2012 - 06:55 PM, said:

Yes, if the charging current were 2A and constant all the time, then it would take about 2 hours.
However, that's not the case.

First, the Ampere output rating of a power supply indicates the maximum current that it can provide. A 2A charger doesn't output 2A all the time, but only as much or as little current as the connected device actually draws from it.
The Crystal is probably programmed to use a battery charge current of 1200mA. Thus, a full recharge will take at least 3 hours. Actually almost 4 hours. More about that here.

Excellent, Thanks! I have to recommend to a friend who has a crystal. So I'll tell him to just go with a 1A or 1.2A USB Wall Charger.

Edit: I wish I could rep you one more time!

This post has been edited by CrimsonFury: 11 November 2012 - 03:16 AM

[Tzul]

CrimsonFury, on 11 November 2012 - 03:15 AM, said:

Excellent, Thanks! I have to recommend to a friend who has a crystal. So I'll tell him to just go with a 1A or 1.2A USB Wall Charger.

You're welcome.
Just two more things:
Get a 2A charger, if possible. If you'd like to use the tablet while it's being charged, 1.2A isn't enough (the power supply has to provide enough power for both running the system and charging the battery).
Get a charger with a barrel plug (or at least a USB to barrel cable, if it has to be a USB charger). That keeps the USB port on the tablet free for use and avoids running into the 900mA limit. I'm not sure that's an issue on the Crystal, but given its similarity to the other Ainol 7" Amlogic models, it probably is.

This post has been edited by Tzul: 11 November 2012 - 09:16 AM

[CrimsonFury]

Tzul, on 11 November 2012 - 09:16 AM, said:

You're welcome.
Just two more things:
Get a 2A charger, if possible. If you'd like to use the tablet while it's being charged, 1.2A isn't enough (the power supply has to provide enough power for both running the system and charging the battery).
Get a charger with a barrel plug (or at least a USB to barrel cable, if it has to be a USB charger). That keeps the USB port on the tablet free for use and avoids running into the 900mA limit. I'm not sure that's an issue on the Crystal, but given its similarity to the other Ainol 7" Amlogic models, it probably is.

Wow, Thanks! Very nice suggestion. I plan on buying a Crystal for myself soon and will keep this in mind.

[Rayrob]

CrimsonFury, on 12 November 2012 - 06:36 AM, said:

Wow, Thanks! Very nice suggestion. I plan on buying a Crystal for myself soon and will keep this in mind.

I've just received my Crystal and sarted playing around with it, with stock ROM. Looks great so far except I can't use it while it's on charge because the touch screen goes mad - random touches registered, using keyboard produces a stream of random characters.

Is this likely to be caused by the charger as above, or down to the ROM?

BTW, this site is fantastic, and the starter guide is excellent - good work!

[Sonic-NKT]

Rayrob, on 12 November 2012 - 07:08 AM, said:

I've just received my Crystal and sarted playing around with it, with stock ROM. Looks great so far except I can't use it while it's on charge because the touch screen goes mad - random touches registered, using keyboard produces a stream of random characters.

Is this likely to be caused by the charger as above, or down to the ROM?

BTW, this site is fantastic, and the starter guide is excellent - good work!

this is definatly charger related.. had the same on another smartphone using a thrid party charger.
What happens if you charge it through usb only?
For me touchscreen sensitivity went up with a custom rom but its definatly not that bad with stock

btw, is it dangerous to use a charger that produces this kind of problems?

[Rayrob]

Sonic-NKT, on 12 November 2012 - 07:24 AM, said:

this is definatly charger related.. had the same on another smartphone using a thrid party charger.
What happens if you charge it through usb only?
For me touchscreen sensitivity went up with a custom rom but its definatly not that bad with stock

btw, is it dangerous to use a charger that produces this kind of problems?

It looks like it's OK on USB charging so that probably confirms that it's an AC charger problem.

[Tzul]

Rayrob, on 12 November 2012 - 07:08 AM, said:

Looks great so far except I can't use it while it's on charge because the touch screen goes mad - random touches registered, using keyboard produces a stream of random characters.

If the touch screen is affected in this way, then the charger produces noisy power output.
It's a sign of a crappy charger. While it probably won't cause any damage (at least not immediately), it's better to avoid using such chargers.

[Rayrob]

Tzul, on 12 November 2012 - 01:13 PM, said:

If the touch screen is affected in this way, then the charger produces noisy power output.
It's a sign of a crappy charger. While it probably won't cause any damage (at least not immediately), it's better to avoid using such chargers.

Anyone know where I can buy a good quality charger for the Crystal in the UK?

[fuser-invent]

UPDATE: Made "Troubleshooting" it's own section and thanks to pierwiastekz2, I added "Random reboots, occasionally "Sleep Of Death" (SOD) and tablet unable to enter Deep Sleep in stock based ROMs and CM10." He gathered all the information in his quest to solve his own random reboots and SOD issues. On top of improving those problems a ton, his steps also solved my problems with being unable to get the Crystal into deep sleep.

This post has been edited by fuser-invent: 15 November 2012 - 07:57 PM

[pierwiastekz2]

fuser-invent, on 13 November 2012 - 06:01 PM, said:

UPDATE: Made "Troubleshooting" it's own section and thanks to pierwiastekz2, I added "Random reboots, occasionally "Sleep Of Death" (SOD) and tablet unable to enter Deep Sleep in stock based ROMs and CM10." He gathered all the information in his quest to solve his own random reboots and SOD issues. On top of improving those problems a ton, his steps also solved my problems with being unable to get the Crystal into deep sleep.

thanks to fuser we've come to an almost-solution, if you're facing random reboots problem - keep an eye on this thread - TROUBLESHOOTING PROBLEMS section, also - if you have any ideas, you may help us eliminate the problem completely, write your suggestion, test settings, and let us know.

[fuser-invent]

UPDATE: Today I've confirmed that the Ainol Crystal does, in fact, fit in the original Kindle Fire cases, including the ones with the hard backs. The only thing you need to look out for is where the cut outs are, so you have access to the buttons and that you don't purchase a case for the Kindle Fire HD, which is a different size than the original Kindle Fire. I'm going to purchase a case online and take some pictures when it comes in. I'll be posting them to a new thread and linking to that thread in the guide.

I've also added the follow section on the dreaded SOD to the Troubleshooting part of the guide:

Quote

4. Random Reboots/Sleep of Death - NEW SOLUTION
This solution was found again by pierwiastekz2 and he has reported that the above steps are not needed to get this to work. He's also reported that, as of now, it has completely solved his SOD problems.

- Install the free app called Wake Lock - PowerManager or any other power manager app that allows control of your wake lock settings. The following steps are for the Wake Lock app only.
- Open the app and set the mode to "PARTIAL_WAKE_LOCK." You'll see a colored, numbered box appearing up to Orange 4.
- Touch the three dots in the corner of the screen to enter the settings menu. Set "autostart on boot" and "notification" to be On.
- Go to the device settings and set WiFi in sleep mode to "never." as described in part three of the troubleshooting section.
- Restart

You should see little gray "Wake Lock" icon on the left side of notification bar on your screen if everything is set up correctly. According to pierwiastekz2, the battery stays up to 24-26 hours max (in this semi-sleep mode).

WARNING! - Because of constant activity = CPU always up, it is NOT RECOMMENDED to use this solution when overclocking your CPU, even with governor changing. If anyone leaves it with, for example, "performance" mode set, the Crystal may overheat.

This post has been edited by fuser-invent: 16 November 2012 - 09:28 AM

[MaxO]

I've been reading through this thread and it's full of useful info.

However for the class of Micro SDHC card required for a tablet a class 4 card should be fast enough for whatever you're doing.

( Disclaimer: I'm not an expert but I've done my research so I would regard myself as a well informed idiot. )

The only things that the class of memory card would have a real effect on would be time it takes to transfer files onto the card and the boot up times of games. It shouldn't have any effect on SD or HD video playback.

The sort of HD movie file you would be playing back on a tablet wouldn't be like the 20-odd gb size of file you'd get on a blu-ray for an average movie. You'd instead be playing a compressed HD movie file of around only 4-6 gb for an average movie which translates to a file that is around only 35-50mb per minute of the movie which is less than a mb per second of the movie. As most people use SD files (especially on a 7" screen where HD won't make that much of a difference) you can see that having a class 4 card isn't going to bother you in the slightest. This is because a class 4 Micro SDHC card should be reading at a minimum of 4MB per second which is more than fast enough to play back HD videos let alone SD videos.

If you are watching an HD video file and it's stuttering then it's more likely to be apps running in the background affecting your playback and all you have to do is turn them off to fix the problem.

So as I said before the only real advantage of getting a higher class of card would be that it would speed up the time it takes when transferring files to the card and it would shave a few seconds off the time it takes to boot up games or load new levels in games.

The higher class memory cards are really aimed for people using HD video recorders as the write speed required to do that has to be much, much higher (they use about 11gb per hour of footage) compared to a compressed HD video file (about 2-4gb per hour of the movie) playing back on a tablet.

After saying all that however if you can get a higher class of card for not much more money then there's certainly no harm in doing so.

If you're on a budget though a class 4 card should suffice and the only disadvantage you'll have is when you're twiddling your thumbs waiting when transferring files on to it or having to wait a few extra seconds for games to load up.

[fuser-invent]

MaxO, on 16 November 2012 - 06:45 PM, said:

I've been reading through this thread and it's full of useful info.

However for the class of Micro SDHC card required for a tablet a class 4 card should be fast enough for whatever you're doing.

( Disclaimer: I'm not an expert but I've done my research so I would regard myself as a well informed idiot. )

The only things that the class of memory card would have a real effect on would be time it takes to transfer files onto the card and the boot up times of games. It shouldn't have any effect on SD or HD video playback.

The sort of HD movie file you would be playing back on a tablet wouldn't be like the 20-odd gb size of file you'd get on a blu-ray for an average movie. You'd instead be playing a compressed HD movie file of around only 4-6 gb for an average movie which translates to a file that is around only 35-50mb per minute of the movie which is less than a mb per second of the movie. As most people use SD files (especially on a 7" screen where HD won't make that much of a difference) you can see that having a class 4 card isn't going to bother you in the slightest. This is because a class 4 Micro SDHC card should be reading at a minimum of 4MB per second which is more than fast enough to play back HD videos let alone SD videos.

If you are watching an HD video file and it's stuttering then it's more likely to be apps running in the background affecting your playback and all you have to do is turn them off to fix the problem.

So as I said before the only real advantage of getting a higher class of card would be that it would speed up the time it takes when transferring files to the card and it would shave a few seconds off the time it takes to boot up games or load new levels in games.

The higher class memory cards are really aimed for people using HD video recorders as the write speed required to do that has to be much, much higher (they use about 11gb per hour of footage) compared to a compressed HD video file (about 2-4gb per hour of the movie) playing back on a tablet.

After saying all that however if you can get a higher class of card for not much more money then there's certainly no harm in doing so.

If you're on a budget though a class 4 card should suffice and the only disadvantage you'll have is when you're twiddling your thumbs waiting when transferring files on to it or having to wait a few extra seconds for games to load up.

It's funny that you mentioned this because I just found an old class 4 SD card lying around and decided to test it out recently. You are correct that it doesn't make much of a difference at all in the daily operation of the tablet. I just used it for data though and did not use the SD card switcher to install any ROM onto it. It played a video just fine but I did notice that games loaded way slower than usual which was kind of frustrating, since I'm a casual gamer who only gets time to play for maybe 10-15 minutes at a time. What was really frustrating though was the time it took to transfer videos onto the card. Sometimes I just want to throw something on my tablet and run out the door but transferring a 1GB video took way too long for my comfort level. I'm sure some people don't care about that sort of thing but it really bothered me. So yes, they are sufficient for everyday operation but do have drawbacks when it comes to transfer times.

[fuser-invent]

UPDATE: Added a link to my forum post with pictures of the Ainol Crystal in a Kindle Fire case and with a Kindle Fire screen protector. If you are interested, you can see that post here.

[Oleg M]

Driver for adb https://docs.google....d1JFemNXcTc1Tm8 I fix inf file for Crystal.

[tayfelix]

The screen protector applied on the tablet sucks :/ having scratches on the 2nd day already

[fuser-invent]

tayfelix, on 21 November 2012 - 09:19 AM, said:

The screen protector applied on the tablet sucks :/ having scratches on the 2nd day already

Same here, by the end of the first week I could barely see through it. The Kindle Fire screen protector doesn't have a single scratch on it, totally worth it.