Reader R103.... Android Market?

Hey guys, new here with a Cruz Reader R103... let me just say that I really like it! I'm not sure why so many people are having problems, but I haven't so far. Screen is far more responsive than I expected (Some people say theirs barely works??) Wi-Fi is stable with my Linksys router, it hasn't crashed yet or anything. However... I thought I read somewhere that I CAN install Android Market, but so far haven't found anything yet. Anyone had such luck with installing it?

Oh, and is Froyo able to be installed yet on these... or will it eventually happen later on?

Either way... it's not going to bug me to death if I can't install Froyo... I mainly use it for Music, Internet, Facebook and email, and books of course.

Thanks!

-William

 

I don't know if there are instructions in this forum or not, but there are stickies here for how to get the most out of your Reader.

Note that the instructions are for the READER, not the TABLET (which I'm bemoaning because I have the Tablet, and so far, I've not found any instructions for beefing up the Tablet, or accessing Android Market on the Tablet. Oh well, good luck to you!

 

I was not able to get the market to install when I did find a download. "Could not parse files" ...something like that. I first thought it was a memory issue because everything installs to the stupid internal memory, the lousy 256mb... that 256 wouldn't be any big deal if things would install to the 4gb micro sd... but in any case, even after dumping some things and making there there was plenty of room, it would not install.

 

You have to root the reader to get the Market to install.

 

Soo not gonna happen, lol. I got it mainly for the reader, the rest is just a little bonus as far as I am concerned!

 

Well if you have an hour and you want to try to root the unit follow these instructions: CRUZ READER ONLY - Step-by-step for Update, Root and SetCPU I did it last night and its so much faster and the Android Market is worth it. BTW the hour is mostly waiting for things to install.

 

Thanks SO MUCH Omnicron... that worked perfectly. I now have the Market and set my CPU to 800MHz and it works so much better! Almost everything works... I seem to still have a problem with Angry Birds...but I'm not worried. I still think for $120, I got an excellent deal. I guess I am one of the few that is thoroughly satisfied with their Cruz Reader!

 

Ok...

4 days later after rooting and I am unhappy with my Cruz, and am returning it after resoting it to OEM.

Problems -

Crashes too much, even with OEM firmware/software
Angry Birds and a few other apps simply don't work or are too slow.
Web browser consistently crashes.
Ran a benchmark test, and the the results are subpar compared to other 800MHz Tablets/Readers
WiFi is touchy, especially laying on my bed, about 20ft away from the wireless router... I can turn one way and it will stop working, roll the other way and it works again.

Pluses? It's a solidly built machine and looks good, has great battery life, however it's not for me... Honestly I think I would be happier with a Archos 32 or 43.... I may end up getting an Archos 43.


The first few days it seemed great, but I finally realized that it's not as good as I made it out to be.

Anyone have recommendations for a good Android Tablet under $200? I just want to play my games and access the Market... and maybe have a capacitive screen.. however resistive screens aren't going to prevent me from buying one.

 

Been doing some heavy shopping myself. Games generally require a more powerful cpu. Under $200 takes you into the "no name" China pads at Pandawill and Merimobiles, hard to return if you have probs. Brand names? The hot buzz seems to be the Nook Color, powerful and easy to hack, $240.

Or wait a couple of months and the whole scene will have changed with the intro of Honeycomb. I'm hanging on to my Cruz until April or May (and will keep it as an E-reader). I've been able to find alternate sources for my "must have" apps so I don't need the Mrkt.

 

Yeah..I was looking at the Chinese ones on eBay, and frankly they make me nervous if I have a problem as a lot of those chinese eBay sellers only look to peddle their junk for a while, then take off when people start complaining.

 

Joe Atlanta, would you mind sharing a couple of the most useful alternative sources you've found for Android Market items? I'm suffering from the lack of Market access as well with my Cruz Reader. I especially need to find a decent pdf reader app -- hopefully one that will let me annotate and highlight pdfs.

And, I've ordered a USB keyboard from China on eBay that is supported by some Android tablets and phones. When it arrives I may find that I need to download and experiment with some "remote keyboard" apps in order to get Cruz to recognize it.

I mainly want to use this as a reader for the thousands of pdf docs and books I have on my hard drive and as a portable writing machine -- via a full-size portable keyboard. Don't know yet whether it is going to work well for either.

The pdf reader that comes with the Cruz doesn't reflow all docs well. Some, even in landscape mode, require scrolling from left to right on each line in order to read. That's not good. And there is no highlighting or annotating or bookmarking function for pdfs.

Any help with accessing Android apps WITHOUT access to Market -- or a simple hack that gives access to the Android Market -- is highly appreciated.

Thanks,
ken

 

Ken,

Try clicking on my Twitter link below:

@xdadevelopers Thread: **Want Different Markets For Apps?** **Want Different Markets For Apps?** - xda-developers

There are several markets mentioned in this thread.

Good Luck.
Rick

 

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the first thing needed to be done on a reader that has touch screen problems is to CALIBRATE IT through your settings. That should be part of the quick set up instructions. Maybe it gets tossed around in transport or something but before you beat it up it just has to get calibrated and the touch screen problem disappear. Androin mktplace cannot be downloaded. use the andappstore or go to the site of the app you want to download. most sites aare making their apps accessable on their sites.
The op sys is 2.0 and I do not think froyo or flash can be downloaded (you need 2.1/2.2 for those apps) and this cruz cannot be upgraded.

 

Thanks, Joe!