Overview
In addition to OSMC, Vero 2 supports the Android operating system. OSMC have developed an Android build for Vero 2 to enhance the software experience and allow users to run applications and take advantage of features not available under OSMC’s Linux distribution.
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Please note that the Android software is not intended to replace Kodi on OSMC and OSMC will usually deliver a better media playback experience.
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Our current version of Android is based on KitKat (4.4). We have chosen this version because it proves the best performance and compatibility for Vero 2. Most Android applications will run well on this version of Android. We have rooted the system so that you have full control over it.
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The Android software is being constantly improved, however the main development focus is targeted towards the OSMC experience on Vero 2.
Requirements
Vero 2 supports booting Android from an SD card. We recommend that you use a good quality SD card for the best performance. At the time of writing, you will need an SD card with a capacity of at least 8GB. All Android data will be stored on this SD card, which means that it will not overwrite your existing OSMC installation and can be used alongside it without issue.
Installation
You can download the latest version of Android from the OSMC Download page. You can image this to an SD card manually or via the OSMC installer.
Once your SD card is ready, insert it in to the Vero 2. Your device will still boot to OSMC.
Switching between OSMC and Kodi
As OSMC resides on the internal storage of the Vero 2 and Android is ran off an SD card, they can coexist and it is possible to switch between them.
You can reboot from OSMC to Android in two ways:
- Via the GUI: go to Programs → Reboot to Android (Not ready until August 2016)
- Via the command line, by executing the following command:
sudo reboot androidv2
You can reboot from Android to OSMC in a number of ways:
- Pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL on a keyboard
- Opening an application which allows you to reboot your system
- Running ‘reboot’ in a Terminal application
We will improve this in the future, possibly by putting a reboot button on the home screen.
Installing / side-loading APKs
You may wish to install Android applications on the system. You can do this by downloading APKs from a web browser and installing them. We have also added an application to make installing APKs from removable media (such as a USB drive) simple and easy.
Please note: before you can install third party applications, you will need to go to Settings and enable ‘Unknown sources’. This will allow you to install Android applications from sources other than the Google Play store.