amazon fire 7

mrcheez

conjon wrote: »

Folks,

Could I ask a stupid question.. from someone whom isn't as technically gifted as other posters!! I bought two of these for the young fellas and both came with 5.0.1. I've managed to root them this morning with the Supertool, block the system updates and got Google Play working. Here's the question, how do I go about installing a custom rom such as Nexus? Can I do this with the Supertool?

Thanks in advance
Conor.

You might also consider just sticking with the current OS depending on what you need to use the tablet for. I didn't get a clear response on the why nexus was like night and day compared to the FireOS with custom skin.

I use mine as a media/game player and browser and no performance issues so didn't bother taking it further

stimpson

It's better because performance and security.

UsedToWait

stimpson wrote: »

It's better because performance and security.

Isn't the security thing a bit questionable though, if someone has root access and isn't too clued up on what that entails?

conjon

Flashfire worked a treat. Thanks very much to everyone that responded.

That's one 4 year old happy! Now onto the other one.

Thanks again
Conor.

mrcheez

stimpson wrote: »

It's better because performance and security.

Curious, what security issues are there?

stimpson

Just as an example there is the fact that they just decided to dump device encryption one day:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/03/amazon_kills_fire_os_encryption/

ted1

stimpson wrote: »

Just as an example there is the fact that they just decided to dump device encryption one day:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/03/amazon_kills_fire_os_encryption/

Not really an issue for most users.

stimpson

ted1 wrote: »

Not really an issue for most users.

Until their tablet gets stolen.

ThisRegard

Has anyone managed to downgrade from 5.3.2 to 5.3.1? When I boot up in the bootloaded ADB cannot see the device not matter what I try and therefore can't side load the 5.2.1 ROM.

stimpson

ThisRegard wrote: »

Has anyone managed to downgrade from 5.3.2 to 5.3.1? When I boot up in the bootloaded ADB cannot see the device not matter what I try and therefore can't side load the 5.2.1 ROM.

have you enabled Developer mode and ADB on the tablet?

ted1

stimpson wrote: »

Until their tablet gets stolen.

Not many people will keep sensitive emails and such in their 40 euro tablet.

Anyway they have renabled it, so your link is out if date.

novarapid

stimpson wrote: »

Are you sure it was on 5.3.2.1 when you bought it? It may have updated quite quickly.

Both of my Argos ones were 5.3.1

Speaking of which... I got 4 out of 5 rooted yesterday. I came back to the problem one and decided to reupload the 5.3.1 image and try again. When I did so it bricked the Fire. It's possible it had updated while I wasn't looking, but whatever...

This moring I went back to Argos and told them it was DOA. They tested it there and then and replaced it without any fuss. I got home and it rooted first time. Result!

Yeah think you're right, it may have upgraded, any way of getting it to roll back? Just want play store on it thanks

stimpson

ted1 wrote: »

Not many people will keep sensitive emails and such in their 40 euro tablet.

Anyway they have renabled it, so your link is out if date.

2 minutes on google popped up another one - the Fire's Silk browser passing all google searches through http instead of https: http://www.zdnet.com/article/amazon-silk-browser-ignored-ssl-searches-failing-to-protect-your-privacy/

I don't want to get into an argument over it. There are valid reasons for not running FireOS. Running an up to date, stock Google ROM gives me some hope that exploits have been patched. Running FireOS 5.3.1 means that you could be vulnerable to any new exploits discovered in the last 9 months.

ThisRegard

stimpson wrote: »

have you enabled Developer mode and ADB on the tablet?

Yeah, but once I boot to the boot loader ADB no longer sees the device. ADB DEVICES sees it until it's in the boot loader, tried 2 different machines.

When in bootloader and connected it's seen as KKFOWI rather than Fire, and hence can't find the drivers. I've seen something on XDA about manually trying it so will give it a go later.

The unit I got from Curry's had OS 5.1 I think it was so managed to get stock Android on that easy enough.

mrcheez

stimpson wrote: »

2 minutes on google popped up another one - the Fire's Silk browser passing all google searches through http instead of https: http://www.zdnet.com/article/amazon-silk-browser-ignored-ssl-searches-failing-to-protect-your-privacy/

I don't want to get into an argument over it. There are valid reasons for not running FireOS. Running an up to date, stock Google ROM gives me some hope that exploits have been patched. Running FireOS 5.3.1 means that you could be vulnerable to any new exploits discovered in the last 9 months.

interesting, thanks

bazz26

Gone back up to €65 (8gb) and €80 (16gb) again in Argos.

ted1

stimpson wrote: »

2 minutes on google popped up another one - the Fire's Silk browser passing all google searches through http instead of https: http://www.zdnet.com/article/amazon-silk-browser-ignored-ssl-searches-failing-to-protect-your-privacy/

I don't want to get into an argument over it. There are valid reasons for not running FireOS. Running an up to date, stock Google ROM gives me some hope that exploits have been patched. Running FireOS 5.3.1 means that you could be vulnerable to any new exploits discovered in the last 9 months.

As I said before I wouldn't be too worried. Your seaarches aren't secure. Sure every app you download gets all the information. If You are that worried about security and privacy you'd not use any social media or apps on your phone or tablets.

stimpson

ted1 wrote: »

As I said before I wouldn't be too worried. Your seaarches aren't secure. Sure every app you download gets all the information. If You are that worried about security and privacy you'd not use any social media or apps on your phone or tablets.

You obviously don't under the implications. A possible scenario:

User types "gmail" into search
Fake link is injected into response
User enters credentials into a convincing gmail replica
Users credentials are stolen
User is locked out of google services
Users other accounts are compromised

ThisRegard

ThisRegard wrote: »

Yeah, but once I boot to the boot loader ADB no longer sees the device. ADB DEVICES sees it until it's in the boot loader, tried 2 different machines.

When in bootloader and connected it's seen as KKFOWI rather than Fire, and hence can't find the drivers.

Just in case anyone else gets the same issue, when in the bootloader there's no communication with your computer it's connected to. You need to select the option to receive the file from ADB first and it will then show up in your device manager. You can then update the drivers for when it's on ADB mode and flash away.

whiskeyman

Hey lads,

Need a basic tablet for my Dad - I presume Skype and browsing / checking mails.
This would be fine, yeah?
Or should I look elsewhere?
Budget of around 100.

thanks

SachaJ

whiskeyman wrote: »

Hey lads,

Need a basic tablet for my Dad - I presume Skype and browsing / checking mails.
This would be fine, yeah?
Or should I look elsewhere?
Budget of around 100.

thanks

Yes the tablet will do all that I believe but remember it's only a 7" screen which I think is the same as the Galaxy Note so not that big. If he's hard of sight at all a bigger screen would be a better option.

mikeoneilly

OT but how difficult is it to replace a usb port on a 2 year old fire 7 ?

ThisRegard

bazz26 wrote: »

Gone back up to €65 (8gb) and €80 (16gb) again in Argos.

Curry's still have the 8gb for €49.99.


Has anyone tried to unroot their tablet after flashing? Apps like Sky Q/Go and others won't run on rooted devices so I don't want to bother unrooting if they still detect they have been previously rooted.

mrcheez

stimpson wrote: »

2 minutes on google popped up another one - the Fire's Silk browser passing all google searches through http instead of https: http://www.zdnet.com/article/amazon-silk-browser-ignored-ssl-searches-failing-to-protect-your-privacy/

I don't want to get into an argument over it. There are valid reasons for not running FireOS. Running an up to date, stock Google ROM gives me some hope that exploits have been patched. Running FireOS 5.3.1 means that you could be vulnerable to any new exploits discovered in the last 9 months.

Actually I later realised I use Google Chrome on my FireOS and removed the Silk browser, plus Encryption appears to be re-enabled on my tablet.

So no security issues I can see so far.

d31b0y

mikeoneilly wrote: »

OT but how difficult is it to replace a usb port on a 2 year old fire 7 ?

Probably a lot more difficult than just buying a new tablet. At the price of the fire 7, it's just not economical to repair.

UsedToWait

mrcheez wrote: »

Actually I later realised I use Google Chrome on my FireOS and removed the Silk browser, plus Encryption appears to be re-enabled on my tablet.

So no security issues I can see so far.

Can I ask how you removed Silk browser?
On the one I got that couldn't be rooted, there didn't seem to be the facility to uninstall the pre-installed apps..

mrcheez

UsedToWait wrote: »

Can I ask how you removed Silk browser?
On the one I got that couldn't be rooted, there didn't seem to be the facility to uninstall the pre-installed apps..

I rooted my tablet, just didn't bother installing Nexus

Mr McBoatface

mrcheez wrote: »

I rooted my tablet, just didn't bother installing Nexus

Leaving aside security issues (which in all honesty don't concern me as I use my PC for any financial transactions) the speed and interface on the android rom is better , the user experience is just much better. I originally only rooted the tablet blocked updates and switch to nova launcher with playstore but found the tablet experience poor. Switching to the Android roms makes it so much better.

It's easy to switch back to stock and rerooted if you don't like it.

ThisRegard

Mr McBoatface wrote: »

It's easy to switch back to stock and rerooted if you don't like it.

Are you on the Nexus roms? What's the easiest way to reroot? I unrooted and removed SuperSu, the check root apps tell me I'm not rooted, but Sky Q still insists I am.

mrcheez

Mr McBoatface wrote: »

Leaving aside security issues (which in all honesty don't concern me as I use my PC for any financial transactions) the speed and interface on the android rom is better , the user experience is just much better. I originally only rooted the tablet blocked updates and switch to nova launcher with playstore but found the tablet experience poor. Switching to the Android roms makes it so much better.

It's easy to switch back to stock and rerooted if you don't like it.

Is performance on the home screen interface the main benefactor? I haven't noticed any slowdown in apps which is the reason I didn't bother with Nexus.

The speed of the interface seems fine for me, but if my apps were slow I'd be bothered and be considering switching the OS.

Also just to be sure, can you get access to all the Amazon content if using Nexus? Free games, etc.