Hi there,
I just received one of these great machines yesterday, and I have to say it does not disappoint in the least, right now i have posted a youtube video of the review here:
YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.
The only disadvantages I can think are:
- the touch buttons on the side do *not* light up, however soft-keys mostly remove the need for those anyway
- all firmware updates *must* be done via a purpose-built WINDBLOWS software called LiveSuite - will cover that in a mo.
so to start off, I will say this machine is the dog's nads! for $160 that I paid for it, you cannot go wrong, seriously, I am amazed at the truly great value.
out of the box:
- the machine is installed with Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread), both cameras work fine - front and back, no problems
- android market works perfectly, no force-closes, and google registration succeeds without a hitch.
There's not much to say about this, it's just great! the only improvement on this is to upgrade it to Android 4 (ICS)...
Warning: this process is not for the faint-harted,
or for the impatient! in order to do this,
ALL instructions must be followed to the letter. I spent a whole day working on this upgrade - pulling my hair out along the way and have only just managed to complete it. Therefore I feel a more complete set of instructions is needed:
So on that note, I will guide you through the ICS upgrade process, follow these steps for the most painless ICS upgrade process :
The steps
i/. download the following zips, and extract each of them, taking note of where you extracted each of them to:
(I have stored these downloads on my own server to save you from scouting around trying to find the right ones - this would have saved me a hell of a lot of time I can tell you)
a/.
http://www.transmatt.com/android/ain...sbm_upload.zip <-- the actual ICS install rom
b/.
http://www.transmatt.com/android/Liv...sb_drivers.rar <-- the actual rom installer/flasher
c/.
http://www.transmatt.com/android/lor...r_ics0.131.zip <-- utility to fix the market and other apps
d/.
http://www.transmatt.com/android/nov...b_driver_2.zip <!-- this was the missing link for me to finally get the adb working
ii/. you may need to install the Google USB driver - revision 4 (includes sdk package download):
Google USB Driver | Android Developers
I can't say for sure if this was necessary but this is what stopped me from banging my head against the wall in desperation, there's just no harm in trying this - follow all the steps on this page
iv/. from your downloads, within the Livesuit path (download b) LiveSuitPack_v1.07_usb_drivers/LiveSuitPack_v1.07 execute the LiveSuitPack_v1.07.exe file
vi/. turn off your novo, and remove the usb cable from it (
very important)
vii/. within the same path, execute the LiveSuit.exe file - a dialog box will come up, all written in sketchie english,
a) say no to the first dialog, that's just to bypass the wizard
b) the most tricky part:
the main livesuit window will appear with a load of buttons, just press the one with the box on it, locate and select the .img file within the folder you extracted your ICS rom to (from download step a), it is now waiting for your Novo7A to come back online for the upgrade - follwo the below steps closely:
i/. on your Novo7A, while still turned off press and keep hold of the volume-up button
ii/. insert the usb cable between your pc and the Novo7A - while still keeping volume-up pressed
ii/. quickly press the power button 5-6 times (again, do
not let go of the volume-up btn
iv/. you will shortly hear the pc make a couple of bleeping sounds, and a popup window will appear - you can now let go of the Novo7A btns
c) you will be asked if you wish to use the Format to upgrade option, just select yes/format button, and it should start the upgrade process, just sit and would for the it to complete and a chinese-test dialog box will pop up to say it's completed, then remove the usb cable, and restart your Novo7A
At this stage, you should have ICS installed, but certain things are best to be fixed - with the following script method:
1) locate the files where you extracted the "lordsbm%20script%20for%20ics0.131.zip" file - (Download c section above), and execute the
this script provides the script to fix the market and install the necessary apks into the ICS:
2) execute the "fullmarket.bat" file from the extracted directory.
- note: if this fails, stating something about device permissions or device not found - follow the following steps:
i/. within your windows system, find the device manager, and look for an "unknown" device that should have a yellow exclamation mark next to it
ii/. right-click the unknown device and find the settings to install the driver
iii/. located the driver that was extracted from "novo7_adb_usb_driver_2.zip" - (download d section above), select the /usb_driver/ path from there, and let the driver manager find the driver for you.
iv/. hopefully now, the unknown device will now have a name, and the exclamation mark removed.
If this doesn't happen, then I'm afraid you will have to find your own way to fixing the adb issue - maybe check out the code.google pages for help on ADB
Also, if this step didn't work, I mentioned above that it's worth installing the usb drivers via the android developers website (
Google USB Driver | Android Developers)
v/. if successful, then execute step 2) once more, it should trundle away, processing each package, with success statements as it goes along.
now if you have gotten this far, then you have a fully-patched up ics installation on your Novo Advanced, working market, wifi fix (prevents it from disabling after screen-locks) among other useful added apks.
I hope this guide was helpful
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Originally Posted by Vector66
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