Saw that you ar selling SD with Adroid installed for Vero 2. Can i use Netflix and HBO using Android. Can I switch to OSMC and back in an easy way? Where can I download Android and which version of Android?
Hi
I am going to release Android for download on Sunday 21st August. This will run off an SD card. The image will be available from the OSMC Installer and the OSMC download page.
I believe Netflix and HBO are Google Play apps, so you should be able to use them, but they are subject to geoblocking and DRM restrictions. You can install APKs on the system if you enable âUnknown sourcesâ.
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Thatâs very good.
What about switching between Android and OSMC?
Thatâs covered. You can learn more about switching on the Wiki. You just need to leave your Android SD plugged in
What do you mean by DRM restrictions? I know what DRM is, just curious how it applies here since that should be transparent to the user if we have the official app and a corresponding account.
Just to clarify what I read on another thread (and presumably benefiting the OP): the android image will not come with the play store. (Android source builds never doâAFAIK Google does not distribute the code for that app.) This means downloading a few APKs from the internet somewhere, hopefully a trustworthy source, and installing them directly (this is why you need the âunknown sourcesâ checkbox ). After this you can install any app directly from the play store.
According to the wiki, this release will be Android 4.4.
@sam_nazarko Just reading the wiki and itâs stated that the android release will be pre-rooted, are there any plans for this to be optional as some apps donât like rooted devices?
Which ones?
I think only Banking ones donât like rooted devices, and I wouldnât advise doing your banking on the big screen.
Wow, wasnât expecting a reply this time in the morning.
Only one I can think of is Sky Go, I think netflix had issues judging by the XDA forums.
Donât think Iâll use anything personally thatâll not work, I just prefer to have the option.
When you try the Android build, let me know if you have problems. We can always make rooting a manual step, I am just of the opinion that as you own the device you should have full (root) control over it.
Sam
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I installed root checker becouse i need the xposed tools to fake that i am on wifi for some streamings services but i get the message i am not rooted? how could this be, xposed installer also tells me i donât have root so it canât be installed. do you have removed the root?
how can i enter the custom recovery to install the supersu.zip?
Thanks
I do not know what needs to be done to root the device. My understanding is that there are root privileges available for the normal user, but I am not an Android expert.
- I have build the ENG build which should set system.prop up appropriately so that there are not restrictions on the system.
- I have patched âsuâ, so that any user so we donât check the userâs uid/gid before escalating.
- I was able to run âsuâ and become root in a Terminal Emulator. I believe this means that the user can escalate privileges.
I am not aware of a recovery for SD Card based installations of Android, but you should be able to mount the SD in a Linux PC and move apps over that way or make changes to the root filesystem.
What is in this ZIP? I assume stuff to root the device, but if you can tell me what they do then I can bake this in by default.
ok no problem i will figure it out on my own.
SuperSu is a Zip which will root the device by changing some files. Normally u have to install a custom recovery.img to the device and when booting to that u can install zip files, than all goes automatically
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1538053
this is the thread to the actual SuperSu file and there u can see what it does, but as i am just be able to do about 3% of what u here are doing i am not the right man to explain this to you. sorry 
SuperSu appears to replace two files:
/usr/bin/su
/usr/bin/reboot
- Replacing su allows applications to escalate their privileges. I have patched this binary and it should already work.
- Replacing reboot allows reboot to recovery etc, but this isnât necessary on the Vero 2.
I think I will download Root Checker and work out how it determines if the device is rooted or not, then I may be able to get it to realise the device is rooted.
Sam
thanks a lot for all your work.
Rooted android devices have a GUI component (APK- it was probably in that zip?) that allows root requests to be confirmed by the user. for example you donât want to give any application the ability to execute su and then read/write every other applicationâs data, remount /system as rw to start writing things there, etc.
An unrelated question to this (I can start another thread if this generic âAndroidâ one is getting too spread out) is how do we actually interact with android? Thereâs no way to start any applications other than browser and contacts with the remote. Iâm guessing a usb mouse?
I also have no internet access or way of setting that up. does it only work with the ethernet port at the moment?
@sam_nazarko I built android (also 4.4) for a imx6 based custom hw tablet a few years ago. do you have a public repo/bug tracker or some other way to get community assistance for the android part? I could probably donate some time to help out.
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@sam:
iâve tested the android build these days. you and the osmc dev team did a great job. it runs smoothly 
are you planning to update the android version to a newer build? perhaps to 6.x or 7.x?
there are some APKs that have discontinued to support the 4.x build and need a newer version.
thanks for your precious help and support!
regards
dan
Hi Dan
What apps in particular are dropping 4.x support? I can produce 6.x builds but not sure how theyâll perform on V2. It might be possible to hack things in to shape so that these APKs run on 4.x.
Sam
Hi Sam,
I am talking about one particular app: The BlackBerry Hub App, which only works on devices starting Android 5.0 (link to APKmirror: https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/blackberry-limited/blackberry-hub/blackberry-hub-1-3-1-11404-release/blackberry-hub-1-3-1-11404-android-apk-download/). So in this case it is actually the other way round, the app never supported Android 4.x.
No need for you to hack the APK, this would only produce extra work. But thanks for offering!
As far as I understand you, there are actually no plans to switch to 5.x/6.x/7.x. Correct?
Regards
Dane
Itâs not ruled out, but I had considered 4.4 would be a stable enough base.
Thanks for the Blackberry App.
Did you do it in the Android emulator?
What Terminal did you use?