How to revive a “dead” Nexus 7

Hello again. It’s been a (really long) while since I last wrote in my blog. First I would like to apologize to those who were following my blog especially to those who were expecting to see new stuff. I’ve been in a very busy year but now that I’m on vacation I should be able to write stuff again and hopefully stuff that would be useful to others like this one. So what is today’s article about?

Last week I bought myself a 32GB Asus Nexus 7 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia a few days before my scheduled vacation back to the Philippines. It was awesome. I loved it and I didn’t have any issues with it. That was, until today happened.

I was drinking with my brother and some pals here at home last night. My Nexus 7 was beside me and its battery level was already on the low side. I knew that it won’t be good to completely deplete the tablet’s battery but I was rather lazy to plug it in. When the drinking ended I totally forgot to plug it in because I was so sleepy already. I guess gadgets and alcohol just don’t mix.

Anyway, I was able to plug it in when I woke up in the morning and that’s when I noticed a weird problem. When the charger is plugged in the screen would switch on and static would pop up randomly like what you would see on those old CRT televisions. Sometimes the static images are of random colors too. Nothing else happens and that was what got me concerned. What the hell was wrong with my new tablet?!

I tried searching for tips and similar problems around the interwebs and all I saw was either to do a hardware reset by pressing the power and volume down buttons together for around 10 to 45 seconds or to send it for repairs. I tried the first and it didn’t work. I can’t do the second because it will still take around 2 months until I return to work in Saudi Arabia. What else could I do before then? If only I could remove the battery…

Oh yes! Why not? The Nexus 7 has a non-user replaceable battery but that doesn’t mean it can’t be replaced if needed be so I started searching about how to pop the cover off. After a simple search I found that the cover wasn’t really very difficult to remove and I was able to take it off using only my fingernails by prying it at the border between the plastic back cover and the metal edge. The easiest part to pry open seems to be at the top corners. Just slide your nail along and it should pop open easily.

The battery is the big white thing with black borders. It is connected to the board via that 6-pin cable with red, yellow and black cables. I immediately saw the cause of the problem after prying the cover open – the connector was loose and it was almost removed. I knew it had to be the problem so I pushed it in and tried to turn it on. Tada! It worked!

One thing I noticed about the battery of the Nexus 7 is that it is simply glued inside it while its size is quite small to where it is located meaning the potential of the connector getting loose is very high. Just look at the open space around the battery and you’ll know what I mean.

Taking the back cover off could potentially void warranty but being able to do it myself have saved me the waste of time normally associated with relying on technical support. So if you’re having that static screen with no charging issue, the battery or a loose connector could be the problem. If you’re one of the “victims” of this issue then I hope this post has helped you.

Reflashed! My Galaxy Tab is running CM10 again!

Here’s a screenshot showing the current version the ROM running in my Galaxy Tab. Also notice that the UI is green instead of the original Holo blue. CM themes work on the latest CM10 preview!

A little more than a month ago I tried to install CM10 preview build for the original Galaxy Tab (P1000). Unfortunately, wireless tethering doesn’t work on it. Since wireless tethering is very important to me – I use my Galaxy Tab as a mobile hotspot for my phone – I had to go back to CM9… until now.

So, yesterday I went back to the CM10 preview thread to check its status and I was greeted by a new build (Build 4). As usual I used XDA’s search in thread function for wireless tethering and found one post that says it still doesn’t work. I kept my hopes up though and found that the HumberOS build along with a matching kernel has the feature that I need. I have experience with HumberOS ROMs and have used it until I switched to pure CM9 so I didn’t think twice about installing that version.

Hello again Jelly Bean!

This version looks and feels a lot smoother. It still lags (and I expected that) but it’s a lot more usable than the first builds that I tried. Nevertheless it seems stable enough as long as I don’t overclock. I tried overclocking a few times and my Galaxy Tab rebooted without warning. Of course, it’s not completely bug free like how the Gallery force closes when I try opening a high resolution (around 4000 x 5000) image which used to work well on CM9 among a few other things I’ve seen. Well, It’s a preview after all and so I can’t (and shouldn’t) complain.

I wouldn’t recommend the ROM to be used as a daily driver but, if you wish to do some tinkering, head to the link to the HumberOS article I posted above. I expect you to know what you are doing of course. I can’t be held responsible for whatever happens to your precious device.

SkyDrive web interface gets a Modern UI face-lift, jumps into Android territory with official app too

I’ve been a SkyDrive user for a long time though I have not used the service much because of its limitations back then. I preferred Dropbox over SkyDrive because it allowed no file size limits and an easier way to synchronize files. I started to use SkyDrive more through automatic backups of photos and videos I took with my HTC 7 Mozart Windows Phone but not much else. Their web app was clunky and cross-platform syncing of files through an official app was missing so I stayed with using Dropbox as my main cloud-storage solution.

Things have changed for the better though as SkyDrive underwent a transition that I think makes it a better service than it was before. Microsoft introduced a Dropbox-esque Windows (Vista and higher) and Mac OS X Lion app – a feature I’ve been waiting for (you can grab them here). Apps for Windows Phone 7 and iOS devices were also introduced. Windows 8 has it integrated. Only two problems left: the web interface and Android official app availability.

Not anymore…

CyanogenMod starts working on CM10 for the Galaxy Tab (P1000)! Preview is out for testing!

Cdesai, a CM device maintainer for the Galaxy Tab, has released a preview of their CM10 Android 4.1 Jelly Bean ROM. I have tried it and took the screenshot above. As for every preview ROM, it is not yet ready for daily use. I wanted to test it a little longer but, unfortunately, I needed WiFi tethering which wasn’t working properly in this. Until WiFi tethering works, I’m sticking to CM9.

Want to try it yourself? Head to cdesai’s CM10 for the Galaxy Tab thread in XDA. Like I said earlier, this is a preview and therefore it isn’t feature-complete. There’s bound to be several unsquashed bugs. Not recommended as a daily driver but it could work as such for some.

 

CyanogenMod will give us a taste of Jelly Bean, CM10 to come after stable CM9 release

CyanogenMod has recently announced through their Google+ page that they would be working on CM7 (Gingerbread) and CM10 (Jelly Bean) after they release a stable version of CM9 (Ice Cream Sandwich). They don’t have the source for Jelly Bean yet which will be out in the next following weeks therefore they cannot really say what their release will be like. Fortunately though, Jelly Bean does not seem to be a major change over Ice Cream Sandwich and they should be able to do it without much fuzz… well, hopefully.

Anyway, most if not all devices that could run CM9 should be upgradeable. The Galaxy Tab is one of them, of course. Let’s wish the CM team the best and offer them our full support! Cheers!

VLC for Android is available for download, still in beta

I was never a fan of VLC but some people might be happy to know that VLC is now available for download, albeit in beta. There are some limitations, such as the architecture of your device’s CPU for instance, but Google Play should be able to determine if your device is compatible.

Chrome for Android is out of beta

I wrote about Chrome for iOS earlier but forgot to mention that Chrome for Android is now out of beta.

So yeah, Chrome for Android has now shed beta from its name and is available for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich or later devices. The latest version comes with some stability and performance fixes and some minor adjustments to the UI especially for tablets. Grab it from the Google Play Store now if you’re interested!

As an added note, it seems like the Nexus 7 has Google Chrome as its default browser. This could mean that Android 4.1 Jelly Bean in its entirety may be switching over to Chrome for its browsing muscles. We’ll see when updates for other devices start getting rolled out. Until then, let’s enjoy the release of Chrome for Android!

The Nexus 7 is a tasty slab of Jelly Bean

The rumor that a $199 Nexus tablet from Asus was spot on. Named Nexus 7, Google announced the new 7-inc tablet which runs Android version 4.1 Jelly Bean in the first day of Google I/O 2012. So what does the Nexus 7 have under its sleeve?

I wish I could have played with one myself but alas I’m on the other side of the globe from San Francisco. My opinions will then be based upon multiple sources and my experience with similar devices when it comes to size and materials involved. As for the software, I will also refer to my sources and to my experience to Ice Cream Sandwich which it appears to be most similar to.

Native Firefox browser for Android looks fresh, adds Flash and HTML5 support, and is faster

Google might have released Chrome for iOS today but Mozilla also brought out something good a few days ago – native Firefox 14.0 for Android! Sorry, I forgot to blog about it! My bad…

The new mobile Firefox is faster, supports Flash and HTML5, and has a new look as well. You can, of course, sync your bookmarks, tabs and other settings with your desktop Firefox installation.

Interested? Get it now from the Google Play store. If you’re like me who had trouble downloading this app into my ICS-encrusted Galaxy Tab through the Google Play store – seems like the Galaxy Tab is not listed as a compatible device despite mine running CM9 – you may download the APK from unofficial sources which you should be able to find quite easily with a simple web search.

Videos to showcase the new browser after the break:

Google Chrome is now available for iOS

One thing I hated about iOS is Safari. Call me whatever you want but I just completely and thoroughly hate it and only used it when I really need to. I don’t really surf the web much on my iPad anyway so it’s not such a big deal for me but I still wish I had a better alternative. I tried Dolphin HD but I was never fond of it even on Android (I love real dolphins though but that’s not really important right now). I use Chrome on my PCs alongside Firefox and IE (9 and 10 in my case since I’m using either Windows 7 or Windows 8 Release Preview). I use Chrome 90% of the time though and have been using Chrome for Android for quite a while now. I love being able to easily sync my bookmarks and opened tabs back and forth with the browser I use most often so I was stoked when I learned that Google has now released Chrome for iOS. I downloaded it immediately! You may grab Chrome for your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch through the App Store. Oh! And here’s a promo vid: